One of the most influential economic sectors in India, the
IT sector, has come up with their newest weapon to harness (I insist you read it as
harass in capitals) the true potential of its Resources. Please do note
that we, the people working in IT in India, are mere ‘Resources’, and we truly deserve
this name due to our over-the-board competitive spirit.
India has been in constant battle with her ‘Yellow’ neighbors
in field of IT for a considerable time now, and they have proved to be worthy
contenders. China’s minimalist labor laws, and Philippines’ low cost resources
have put forth a mammoth challenge for India's IT market to provide low cost, and high quality IT solutions. And thus began a war, where only entity making the sacrifices is the Resource (be it of any country).
In 2008, a trend of 9 working hours a day came to picture; a decision taken by almost all IT companies in India unanimously to so called provide economical solutions to our clients. Technically, it means your company asks you to be in office and work for 10 hours, as they don't think eating food (the one hour lunch time) is productive for their resources. With a fear of losing their jobs in recession, IT professionals accepted this change with a heavy heart. Not that we don't like our companies or work, it is more about their hypocrisy - At one point they advocate about your work-life balance and on the other hand they just throw it off the balance by such inhuman expectations.
It is an untold rule in IT firms, that if you need a promotion, get visible which necessarily doesn't mean - 'by your good work'. Now, I don't have the liberty to mention all of them, however the most common among them is 'Pretense'. Yes, pretending that they work a lot and that they work late sacrificing the precious moments they could have spent with friends and family. I have just one argument or rather advice for these Pretenders - 'Do something about your low productivity, Dude!!'. I fail to fathom what our Masters think about it. Working more than the working hours means any of these - the resource is incompetent - 'A misfit', resource is new to work - 'Benefit of Doubt', he's been given more work than he can handle - 'A beast of burden' (bring in the HRs who claim the company is best in work-life balance here and of course the leadership that fails to estimate correctly!), or a plain 'pretender', to name a few. I have seen all types in my 6 years of career in IT, but the biggies haven't, or they just ignore!?
But, the main reason for me to write about IT miseries is not all this. The last nail in the coffin was when I found out that many companies have now started spying on you like the insecure wives. When you enter the office premise, how much time you were in breakout area or cafeteria, when you are leaving the office, when you logged into your system, which sites you visited (Ok! that is one place I think they are doing the right thing. IT guys can't be trusted!). You get an Angry-Email if you are found that your productive hours found in system are less than the norm. Wow! None sends any email when people work all night and weekends to make unrealistic deadlines met, and I can't even question why as I don't know the Organizational Strategies (big word! just learnt a few days ago, so thought of showing off).
I am fine with such arrangement if they agree that they won't ask me to work overtime without a compensation (I work for money, no charities please!), they won't ask me to sacrifice my precious sleep when system goes down at wee hours, and if they don't ask me to work on weekends or holidays. I understand a few people do dupe the company, but there are better ways of tackling it. Having such inhuman rules will only make it difficult to love one's job, specially in IT where half the junta doesn't like what they are doing for a living.
It is a sincere request to all the leaderships of IT firms in India to reconsider and find 'out-of-the-box approach' (yeah biggies, it's the payback time) to deal with the situation, than making such annoying rules that can backfire. Till then, I will just work with my mind, not heart.
In 2008, a trend of 9 working hours a day came to picture; a decision taken by almost all IT companies in India unanimously to so called provide economical solutions to our clients. Technically, it means your company asks you to be in office and work for 10 hours, as they don't think eating food (the one hour lunch time) is productive for their resources. With a fear of losing their jobs in recession, IT professionals accepted this change with a heavy heart. Not that we don't like our companies or work, it is more about their hypocrisy - At one point they advocate about your work-life balance and on the other hand they just throw it off the balance by such inhuman expectations.
It is an untold rule in IT firms, that if you need a promotion, get visible which necessarily doesn't mean - 'by your good work'. Now, I don't have the liberty to mention all of them, however the most common among them is 'Pretense'. Yes, pretending that they work a lot and that they work late sacrificing the precious moments they could have spent with friends and family. I have just one argument or rather advice for these Pretenders - 'Do something about your low productivity, Dude!!'. I fail to fathom what our Masters think about it. Working more than the working hours means any of these - the resource is incompetent - 'A misfit', resource is new to work - 'Benefit of Doubt', he's been given more work than he can handle - 'A beast of burden' (bring in the HRs who claim the company is best in work-life balance here and of course the leadership that fails to estimate correctly!), or a plain 'pretender', to name a few. I have seen all types in my 6 years of career in IT, but the biggies haven't, or they just ignore!?
But, the main reason for me to write about IT miseries is not all this. The last nail in the coffin was when I found out that many companies have now started spying on you like the insecure wives. When you enter the office premise, how much time you were in breakout area or cafeteria, when you are leaving the office, when you logged into your system, which sites you visited (Ok! that is one place I think they are doing the right thing. IT guys can't be trusted!). You get an Angry-Email if you are found that your productive hours found in system are less than the norm. Wow! None sends any email when people work all night and weekends to make unrealistic deadlines met, and I can't even question why as I don't know the Organizational Strategies (big word! just learnt a few days ago, so thought of showing off).
I am fine with such arrangement if they agree that they won't ask me to work overtime without a compensation (I work for money, no charities please!), they won't ask me to sacrifice my precious sleep when system goes down at wee hours, and if they don't ask me to work on weekends or holidays. I understand a few people do dupe the company, but there are better ways of tackling it. Having such inhuman rules will only make it difficult to love one's job, specially in IT where half the junta doesn't like what they are doing for a living.
It is a sincere request to all the leaderships of IT firms in India to reconsider and find 'out-of-the-box approach' (yeah biggies, it's the payback time) to deal with the situation, than making such annoying rules that can backfire. Till then, I will just work with my mind, not heart.
