Nightmare on Code Street

Beware those in software - you could be next!

A very connected HR source in the Bangalore software industry says the nightmare has already begun. Each morning this person - a senior HR manager - sends a polite message to a software programmer to come to the conference room for a meeting.

Simultaneously, a copy of this message goes to system administrator and security. While you are in the conference room with HR. The meeting discusses how your skills are now out of sync with the company's needs and why they have to let you go. One month's salary is offered to you as severance.

While you are still recovering from your shock, your Internet and WAN connectivity is shut down, and your workstation disabled, while a security personnel empties your cabinet in to a brown box and keeps it in reception.

This incident is played out with 4-5 people in a day, and continues for the week. The revered HR manager has now metamorphosed from recruiter to terminator.

The company I am referring to has 1600 staff and is based in Bangalore. I have withheld the name on request of my source.

The conclusion is that serious retrenching is currently on in the Indian software industry. The parameters for deciding who is to be let off are performance and last-in first-out (LIFO). LIFO is one reason why the attrition rates have dropped in the IT industry, because people know that the newer ones are sitting targets in a retrenchment strategy.

It is important to note that Pune and Bangalore real estate are driven by information technology, and programmers are the most egoistic of the lot, often spending beyond their means.

If you work in software, there is every reason to dread each morning.

P.S: I advise you to negotiate hard and throw a tantrum if you are in this situation. The HR source tells me that the severance budget is 3 months pay - but this is not given to the "lambs" who leave quietly, but to the "tigers" who create a ruckus. So in case, you are called for this meeting, be sure to make it as nasty and noisy as you can. It's worth the money.