{mosimage}'Welcome to IT!' This is what my friend told me when I was shocked at the sudden lay off in our company. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I was not one of the victims, but the experience was shocking, sending shivers through the spines. This is an inside of otherwise extremely glossy IT field. Here just the revenue generated by you is counted, there is nothing like recognisation of your talent, humanity, blah.. blah.. Of course every industry retains the employees who are productive for the company, but only in IT the axes fall based on the life of the project. No matter how much talented you are, if your project ends / terminates, automatically your service also is terminated without indication. I just am concerned about the well being of my friends who faced termination recently.
One fine evening, around closing of the working day, the manager calls the guys individually to his cabin. These guys go inside expecting some instructions or news or some chat. All they get was the shock of their life that they were no longer needed by the company. Their service ends effective immediately. Even before the shock sinks in, they undergo a wide gamut of emotions travelling right from disbelief to disappointment to anger to frustration to lowering of self esteem. The tone of "Why me?" turns feeble and settle with a hurt feeling of "May be I lack talent". They look at their seat, their PC, drawer shelf... Whatever they looked at with love, a sense of own-ness suddenly becomes alienated in a snap of a finger. Some look at the "left out colleagues" with a spewing venom, sometimes with the doubt whether "he" could be the reason for my exit. Sometimes a feeling of anger precedes "I am not less talented than this colleague. Still he / she managed to stay afloat". In some cases the scars of the wounds last forever. Some people manage to get over the bitterness with things getting better / for good, but a lay off definitely makes that evening memorable... forever.
In our case the good thing happened is that those guys were given a month salary as bonus, a relieving letter dated in future and give positive reference to their future employers. Also they had been given access to their systems for 10 days to practise in the platform to docment their knowledge, for their future interviews. Ofcourse even though we all are upset, the management's gesture towards the victims deserve a mention.
In our case the good thing happened is that those guys were given a month salary as bonus, a relieving letter dated in future and give positive reference to their future employers. Also they had been given access to their systems for 10 days to practise in the platform to docment their knowledge, for their future interviews. Ofcourse even though we all are upset, the management's gesture towards the victims deserve a mention.
Most of the guys, my colleagues / friends, who were terminated were wonderful in their subject. Given any problems to them, getting a solution for the issue is the only thing that will go in their mind. But unfortunately they were the first ones to be laid off. Rather than going on what could have gone wrong, I just want to empathise with their initial reaction of getting the shocking news. In our case there was not even an inkling to the victims that they were being targetted till the moment the news was broken out to them. Some people might argue that they must have kept abreast of the happenings around them, but in most of the cases, the management keeps the things dark to the victims.
I always noticed that it is MANDATORY to keep oneself in limelight or "visible" to top level management, so that when it comes to ticking off the lay-list, the management should be reminded that this guy / gal is the one who did this / that. Whomever prefering to stay in the back end were the first one to get axed. This is what the management calls as "Communication". In my colleagues' case, the guys who were terminated were the ones despite being talented, didn't take much efforts (proactive) to tim-tom their talents.
Right now all my prayers are that they mustn't mind whatever happened, keep the past aside, let them get into good assignments. We all are trying to get them placed through our friends network. They all deserve more because they are really talented. No doubt they will land in something better that where they were. All they lacked was the knack of marketing themselves / position themselves as "inevitable" to the company. Above all, they must not become cynical about the loyalty and relationships towards the workplace. May be they might have learnt a lesson "Never fall in love with the working place".
I always noticed that it is MANDATORY to keep oneself in limelight or "visible" to top level management, so that when it comes to ticking off the lay-list, the management should be reminded that this guy / gal is the one who did this / that. Whomever prefering to stay in the back end were the first one to get axed. This is what the management calls as "Communication". In my colleagues' case, the guys who were terminated were the ones despite being talented, didn't take much efforts (proactive) to tim-tom their talents.
Right now all my prayers are that they mustn't mind whatever happened, keep the past aside, let them get into good assignments. We all are trying to get them placed through our friends network. They all deserve more because they are really talented. No doubt they will land in something better that where they were. All they lacked was the knack of marketing themselves / position themselves as "inevitable" to the company. Above all, they must not become cynical about the loyalty and relationships towards the workplace. May be they might have learnt a lesson "Never fall in love with the working place".
