The baffling world of Indian employment
Tuesday, 14 December 2004
Western managers who think they can simply hire a bunch of Indians and save money are in for a bit of a shock. A column in this week’s Computer World by Gita Dang, head of Korn/Ferry’s global technology market for India should give pause.
He says even hiring Indians can be very different from hiring Westerners, and employers should be prepared for a big culture shock.
“For this intricate market, the most important piece of general advice that I can offer is to abandon all preconceived notions,” he says, “how a job should be structured, the types of candidates that are available, what profile would be most effective, and even where a job should reside geographically in India.”
Finding a suitable candidate can be difficult, as Indians generally don’t like to move, and are very secretive when hunting for jobs.
Even once an employee is secured, things can get tricky:
“In addition to performance bonuses and standard benefits, packages typically include perks such as housing allowances, paid utilities, furnishings, a company vehicle (including driver, maintenance, fuel and insurance), education, medical insurance and expenses, club memberships and dues, and unlimited business entertainment expenses,” Dang says.
For cheap and supposedly plentiful workers, good Indian employees sure are hard to find.
“But even companies taking positive measures to help attract local talent can find their efforts thwarted,” Dang says. “Anxious to retain employees in a highly fluid labor market, Indian companies will take radical, aggressive countermeasures ranging from dizzyingly generous compensation packages to extreme emotional pressure not to leave the company.”
He is, however, confident that with time and effort, Western employers should get used to the difficult situation over there. After all, you can’t expect to save bucketloads of money without some effort. Look forward to months and years of struggling to get, retain and understand employees sitting half a world away.
Or alternatively, you could just not bother with this whole offshoring nonsense.
Read the full story at Computer World.
Paul Knapp (editor@brainbox.com.au)
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().()Or you can bring them here instead. Roger Ramjet, 12/14/2004 12:20:53 AM
Yes!!!!I think that IT belongs in India and other 3rd world nations in order for them to realise the benefits of globalisation. It's not all take, take. You have to give too and you have to give in order to receive. I think this board is frequented by those who life has passed by or those who were in IT and have transmigrated into another livelihood. There's no point in holding on to a skill set that is as cheap as chamomile tea, just move on and progress East-European-Anglo-Saxon, 12/15/2004 10:06:50 AM
OffshoringYou have to ask what is the point of the whole offshoring business if you don't save money? Why not support those in your own country, whether Indians, Chinese or Anglo? I sure would like to work for someone who could give me lurks and perks. No one pays my rent, food or entertainment bills, so I think it's a bit rich for the Indians in India to be demanding that. Suzanne Day, 12/16/2004 07:18:18 PM
Not always as it seemsI have worked with a number of Indian IT contractors, and I really cannot fault their professionalism and knowledge, sure there are some horror stories, those however are what we are keen to recall. As an oracle prof contractor, with 18 years , I occasionally see an amusing naieve comment onthe tech forums (from indian outsourcerS), but you know, i never seem to see the same question twice, they will eventualy reach their level of "known self worth" and its currently just as expensive to hire a local as it is to hire a loss leader consultancy. There is good and bad everywhere, its not the monopoly of one ethnic race. Pete, 12/19/2004 08:53:56 PM
Something that is been forgotteni think something is been forgotten in this entire offshore outsouring idea, and that is that people like to deal with people that they can see and meet. Up until the end of next week I'm supporting a client down in Melbourne (Im in Canberra) and a very common question is can I simply get an onsite person to come up and speak with them. What will probably happen is that it will hit a point where a companies big selling point is that you can sit down and have a coffee with them and meet the people your dealing with. The extra business opertunities for such companies will be far greater than the cost savings of sending the company to india. harvyk, 01/20/2005 11:43:17 PM
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