Too few Googles and Apples out here!
Imagine paying for a five-star hotel suite just to discover that the air-conditioner isn't functioning. This situation is somewhat similar to what employees across most private Indian companies are facing. They have the job but they are just not allowed to work on stuff that interests them. I know this particular statement has all the makings of a huge controversy but then for how long can one run away from facts.
These days we talk a lot about the high growth rate of the Indian corporate sector. But something that everyone seems to have ignored is the fact that there are way too many people doing the wrong job. People who are motivated to the core are badly held up just because their employers want them to perform tasks which doesn't interest them. On a personal level its really painful for me to see some of my friends who used to be highly motivated professionals, being reduced to tatters just because their company failed to understand their source of motivation. One could argue that its we who need jobs and hence need to adhere to what our company demands from us. I'm sorry to say but the relationship between an individual and his/her employer is a mutual one. Both are equally dependent on each other. If employees can go out of their way to make sure that they stick to their responsibilities, shouldn't employers at least make an attempt to understand their employees?
Lets take the case of the much famed Indian IT industry. The top Indian IT MNCs employ thousands of skilled professionals and report huge profits quarter after quarter. However, the question to be asked is can their growth be further enhanced with the same set of resources? Ask the executives of these companies and they would say they always try to create an environment wherein the best possible results can be extracted from the given set of resources. The problem lies in the fact that these answers are coming from top notch executives who can never be cent percent sure of whats going on at the root level. The facts that are generated at the root levels are probably lost somewhere up the hierarchy.
A friend of mine joined an Indian IT MNC a year ago. He was arguably the most motivated professional one could ever come across, possessing amazing technical skills. He would slog throughout the day, be sincere towards his job and would make sure that he gives his 100% towards the company. With this kind of a commitment, talent and dedication, one would have expected him to make some signifcant progress over the course of 12 months. But guess what, the guy has lost all his confidence and is in a serious state of depression. He is contemplating leaving the company which once happened to be a dream workplace for him. Reason? He just wasn't allowed to prove himself, forget failing at it. Every now and then he would look for opportunities to prove his mettle and every single time he would be made to sit idle. Guess what? His is not a one off case. I'm aware of several others who've been facing similar situations and yet this just doesn't make a difference to those executives are way too happy and occupied with their great results. Or may be they aren't even aware of this extreme form of job dissatisfaction at the lower levels.
Being a part of the IT segment myself, its really sad to see talent being thrashed and neglected at this rate. Lack of proper resource utilization is probably one of the reasons as to why despite all the hype, India is placed at a pathetic 48th position in the IT competitiveness index....And we thought India was a super-power in the IT sector. Isn't it depressing to accept the fact that despite possessing an enormous wealth of skilled resources, Indian IT cos fail to etch a mark on the global stage. Effective resource management is exactly what innovative American companies like Google and Apple are so good at. According to the Google employees, the biggest reason behind their high job-satisfaction level is the fact that they are allowed to work on stuff that interests them and no... high salary packages don't even feature in their top 3 preference factors. Compare this to the state of IT professionals working in Indian MNCs basically known to provide decent solutions at extremely cheap rates. Working on areas of interest is not even an option for them(specially for the ones who lack significant experience) and oh if this wasn't enough, the compensation is way below the global average. How do you expect the majority of your workforce to be motivated when such is the reality? For once lets even forget the medicore compensation packages but what about the inborn desire of working on interests. How can talent be nurtured when its not even allowed to see daylight? No wonder then that the attrition rate in the Indian IT sector is always on the higher side.
The question that the Indian IT executives need to be asking themselves is, are they happy with their decent 20-40% growth margin or would they like to see themselves and the industry galloping ahead of the world. In case the answer is the latter one, its high time they started digging into the hearts of their employees, not just their minds. After all these are days when Emotional Quotient(EQ) holds higher regard as compared to the once dominant Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Author Info: Vedant is an IT Professional working with a top notch Indian MNC. He is a huge Web 2.0 addict and revels in writing stuff related to the Indian IT sector.
These days we talk a lot about the high growth rate of the Indian corporate sector. But something that everyone seems to have ignored is the fact that there are way too many people doing the wrong job. People who are motivated to the core are badly held up just because their employers want them to perform tasks which doesn't interest them. On a personal level its really painful for me to see some of my friends who used to be highly motivated professionals, being reduced to tatters just because their company failed to understand their source of motivation. One could argue that its we who need jobs and hence need to adhere to what our company demands from us. I'm sorry to say but the relationship between an individual and his/her employer is a mutual one. Both are equally dependent on each other. If employees can go out of their way to make sure that they stick to their responsibilities, shouldn't employers at least make an attempt to understand their employees?
Lets take the case of the much famed Indian IT industry. The top Indian IT MNCs employ thousands of skilled professionals and report huge profits quarter after quarter. However, the question to be asked is can their growth be further enhanced with the same set of resources? Ask the executives of these companies and they would say they always try to create an environment wherein the best possible results can be extracted from the given set of resources. The problem lies in the fact that these answers are coming from top notch executives who can never be cent percent sure of whats going on at the root level. The facts that are generated at the root levels are probably lost somewhere up the hierarchy.
A friend of mine joined an Indian IT MNC a year ago. He was arguably the most motivated professional one could ever come across, possessing amazing technical skills. He would slog throughout the day, be sincere towards his job and would make sure that he gives his 100% towards the company. With this kind of a commitment, talent and dedication, one would have expected him to make some signifcant progress over the course of 12 months. But guess what, the guy has lost all his confidence and is in a serious state of depression. He is contemplating leaving the company which once happened to be a dream workplace for him. Reason? He just wasn't allowed to prove himself, forget failing at it. Every now and then he would look for opportunities to prove his mettle and every single time he would be made to sit idle. Guess what? His is not a one off case. I'm aware of several others who've been facing similar situations and yet this just doesn't make a difference to those executives are way too happy and occupied with their great results. Or may be they aren't even aware of this extreme form of job dissatisfaction at the lower levels.
Being a part of the IT segment myself, its really sad to see talent being thrashed and neglected at this rate. Lack of proper resource utilization is probably one of the reasons as to why despite all the hype, India is placed at a pathetic 48th position in the IT competitiveness index....And we thought India was a super-power in the IT sector. Isn't it depressing to accept the fact that despite possessing an enormous wealth of skilled resources, Indian IT cos fail to etch a mark on the global stage. Effective resource management is exactly what innovative American companies like Google and Apple are so good at. According to the Google employees, the biggest reason behind their high job-satisfaction level is the fact that they are allowed to work on stuff that interests them and no... high salary packages don't even feature in their top 3 preference factors. Compare this to the state of IT professionals working in Indian MNCs basically known to provide decent solutions at extremely cheap rates. Working on areas of interest is not even an option for them(specially for the ones who lack significant experience) and oh if this wasn't enough, the compensation is way below the global average. How do you expect the majority of your workforce to be motivated when such is the reality? For once lets even forget the medicore compensation packages but what about the inborn desire of working on interests. How can talent be nurtured when its not even allowed to see daylight? No wonder then that the attrition rate in the Indian IT sector is always on the higher side.
The question that the Indian IT executives need to be asking themselves is, are they happy with their decent 20-40% growth margin or would they like to see themselves and the industry galloping ahead of the world. In case the answer is the latter one, its high time they started digging into the hearts of their employees, not just their minds. After all these are days when Emotional Quotient(EQ) holds higher regard as compared to the once dominant Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Author Info: Vedant is an IT Professional working with a top notch Indian MNC. He is a huge Web 2.0 addict and revels in writing stuff related to the Indian IT sector.
'In The Orbit' Designation: Associate Author
In case you too wish to contribute an article, please click here
Post a comment
Email the article
Add Site to Technorati Favs
Stumble Upon
Del.Icio.Us
Digg it
Subscribe by Email
Contribute an article 
Contact Us 
0 comments:
Post a Comment