Think: April 2010

Recession hai…. down turn hai….depression hai….loss mein hai…Lay offs hai……Job crunch hai…down sizing hai…. aur kahi tho…right sizing hai….
Yes… this is what we all have been hearing for the past year and half or so…
Some of us have had to take a salary cut to remain employed. Other few of us had our promotions postponed indefinitely. Almost all of us had to go without our regular hikes/bonuses. And yeah, there were the unfortunate few who had been laid off, as well.

So, on the whole… professionally it was a really nightmarish financial year that we had….

Now add to the money shortage, the inflation … (you know what at shell you gotta shell out Rs.60/ltr petrol…shoot me down if it is not day light dacoity)

But amidst all this we had one thing that was aplenty… that was WORK.

Right sizing doesn’t mean that a system/business analyst will be assigned on your project; it means that if you are the person designing and developing the application, then why can’t you do the work of a system Analyst as well??

If you are a QA guy, then right sizing means to take up the work of the technical writer.

But, more I think about it, it is the development guys who were hard hit by this. It’s always them to whom everyone in the organization will turn to. Right from the support guy to the testing team, from the client admin to the manager of the release team.

Yes, we did get a HIKE…a big one; albeit in WORK not in MONEY!!

The only thing that kept us all going was the hope of getting a consolidated bonus and other incentives, once the so called “Recession” ended.

During this period there were many changes that were put into practice to beat the recession effect, by the management in the various companies. Let me point some of them which amuses me.

1.Shortened the working week to 4 days. But, you must work 2 hours more everyday.

2.Switching off of the AC in the night shift; considering that nights are “cooler”.

3.Stop Company sponsored transports.

4.Stop Company sponsored snacks and tea.

5.Morning shift guy and night shift guy sharing the same system.(in development teams. Come on… it is the heights one can reach)

6.Turn off the elevator during night.

7.Asking the employee to buy a laptop and start working from home for 2 days in a week.

8.By default all the employees will be given a rating of B.

The weird list goes on… in fact if you know of any such steps that were taken in your/your friend’s company let me now.

Yeah coming back, then as 2010 began everything had settled down… more job opportunities…boom in employee referral schemes and huge recruitments were back….

Companies had started hiring best of the top managements, shelling out god knows how many dollars.

Then suddenly there was this rumour in the air in almost all the companies that the pending hikes, bonuses and promotions will be implemented soon.

There was a new renewed and increased level of energy in us. But, we didn’t have too keep that up for long as we all received our much anticipated HIKE…a grand hike of 5%, a greatly appreciated bonus of INR 500 and many such fancy figures.

We were all back to our dark mood of anguish, frustration and pessimism.

This mood is aptly displayed in one of the forwards I received last week from my friends.
where in a cap-gemini employee had been presented with a bonus of INR521/- as if it was the greatest of deeds, an employer could have done in the "troubled" times. And the employee, not to be left behind replied back to the HR, saying that

"I can understand that FY 2009 was very difficult for our Organization to meet its financial goals.
So I would like to contribute to some extent to ease the difficulty faced by our organization in monetary terms. My humble request is that please keep this Bonus amount for any future crisis.

Thanks for your great efforts, which you have put in during the
recession period for our unexpected benefits."

Now then that sums it all up....; you have received your most anticipated hike/bonus. End of story… get back to work… and wait for the “Eagerly awaited” stuff next year same time…(as the met dept says, the Monsoons this year have been limited or have been delayed; we might well hear this wrt our “eagerly awaited” stuff)

Now did any of you say…? “Hike is okay, jo mila wo sahi… lekin what about promotions?”
To those of you …

Have you heard of people saying world is comming to an end ? Yeah… you have?

So it’s only a thing you will ONLY keep hearing about….
and when it actually happens, it won’t really matter anyway.

I am resuming my blog here with a poem..
A poem I feel many can identify themselves with….

BETRAYAL

Life breathed a heavy sigh,
The fire of hopes drenched,
In the emotional rain.

Love had lost meaning,
Heart wept silently,
Tears of blood rolled.

My dear, I love you.
Still….. I love you.

The moments of trust,
Days of hope and promise,
Words of love,
Everything Broken, shut and put down…..

Your voice, your song,
You, oh dear haunt me.
The past comes back to me..
Time runs back
Wish I never lived that moment.

My dear, I love you.
Still, I love you……

That moment of betrayal,
Oh dear, how much I love you.
I don’t ask why or how.

But still,
My dear, I love you,
Still, I love you.

I Love you for our betrayal!!

Think

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Hike….(not in money, but in work)

Friday, April 9, 2010

Poems Continue

Betrayal: A Poem