Work Phones - Nice One

The phone bill was exceptionally high and the man of the house called a family meeting...
 
Dad: People this is unacceptable. You have to limit the use of the phone. I do not use this phone, I use the one at the office.
 
Mum: Same here, I hardly use this home telephone as I use my work telephone
 
Son: Me too, I never use the home phone. I always use my company mobile
 
Maid: So what is the problem? We all use our work telephones

How to Ask for Onsite .. ?

ANT & Grosshopper - A Story about Indian Reservations

The story of the Ant, The Grosshopper – A Wonderful Moral as its really happening in our country INDIA…

 An Old Story:-

 The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and
 laying up supplies for the winter.

 The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the
 summer away.

 Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or
 shelter so he dies out in the cold.


Indian Version:


 The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and  laying up supplies for the winter.

 The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the
 summer away.

 Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and
 demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed
 while others are cold and starving.

 NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper  next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled  with food.

 The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor  Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

 Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

 Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that  Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .

 Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for
 not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

 The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
 Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt
 support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

 Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for ' Bengal Bandh' in
  West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
 CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard  in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and
 Grasshoppers.

 Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway  Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

 Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational  Institutions & in Government Services.

 The Ant is  unable to   cope with the Resesrvation  and having nothing left
 to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government
 and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

 Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

 Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.

 CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '

 Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General ssembly. 

 

Congress takes the credit for always caring about the AAM Grasshopeer. 

Many years later...

 

 

  The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,

 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation omewhere
 in India ,

 

 .
 ..AND




 As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the  grasshoppers...,.

 

INDIA is still a developing country… !!!

 

When Petrol Prices Goes High (Video)

Variety Love Letter

My dear FAIR and LOVELY (ek chand ka tukda) , after WIPRO (Applying Thought) so much ,I dare to say that You are my TVS SCOOTY (First love)  and  BOSCH (Invented for life)    and my AIWA (Pure passion). I always BPL (Believe in the best)  and you are SANSUI(Better than the best). You are DOMINO'S PIZZA (Delivering a million smiles)   for me. This is a COLGATE ENERGY GEL (Seriously fresh )  feeling for me.
   I want you to be my life partner but I think you are worried about your father who is KAWASAKI BAJAJ CALIBER (The Unshakable) and my father who is CEAT (Born Tough)  but don't worry as I am also FORD ICON (The Josh Machine) and rest of our family members are KELVINATORS (The Coolest ones). 

  If they say no, we will run away and marry and PHILIPS (Let's Make Things Better). They will feel MIRINDA (Zor ka jhatka dhire se lage) but I believe in COCA COLA (Jo chahe ho jaye).  For our marriage SAMSUNG DIGITALL (Everyone's Invited) and after marriage we'll be WHIRLPOOL (U and ME - The World's best homemakers)

  Trust in God who's always NOKIA (Connecting people)   who love each other. And we are WILLS (Made for each other) . Now that HYUNDAI(we are listening) the song of love, you must know that love is DAIRY MILK (Real taste of life) , SATYAM ONLINE (Fun, Fast, Easy ) and PARX (Always Comfortable). So never forget me. Ok bye!

I wrote little but PEPSI (Yeh dil mange more).

What Is Wrong With You ? Why Are You Still In Your Old Job ?

"What's wrong with you? You are with the same Organisation for 3 years. You will soon be called a fossil."

– Employee comment, ITES industry.

"I plan to work here until I retire." This was a statement in our Great Place to Work® Institute's employee survey, which is popularly known as the Trust Index survey. Our experience in India over the last few years convinced us that this is a wrong statement for the survey in India. The best employers would all have high positive scores in most areas, except this one. In fact, this statement had the lowest score, even for the Top 25 GreatPlaces to Work.

There is an old adage. If you can't improve your employee scores, change the survey! About a year back, after a great deal of debate, the statement was changed in our survey. Today, we have a statement that says, "I plan to work here for a long time." Only now, have the scores gone up for this statement.

Much has been written about the talent shortage in India and why people do not stay for a long time, let alone till retirement. Most good companies analyse exit interview data to find out why people leave.

I spent a good part of last month visiting four Organisations to find out why people stay.The Organisations vary from ITES to hospitality to consulting to brand services. The only thing common were the profile of employees. While the Organisations and the employees by themselves can be called a convenient sample, the employees had one thing in common.Almost all employees interviewed were less than 30 years, with a majority being less than 25 years of age. Considering that more than 50 per cent of our population is less than 25 years in age, the focus group discussions I did might have some significance. I asked one common question to all. "What makes you stay in this Organisation?" Here is what I found.

1. Compensation

While none of the Organisations were in the top quartile in their industry on pay, compensation was a key driver not just in deciding to leave, but in deciding to stay as well. As one employee put it

-"Give us money or give us a life." The only consolation for Organisations is that regardless of compensation levels there is a wide variance in retention levels in various teams, which to some extent may be attributed to the difference in the nature of work and the leadership style of the manager, amongst other factors.

2.

Personal convenience

Employees who have stayed longer have quoted personal convenience with respect to location, transport, shift timings and security etc as influencing factors. Ease of access to workplace and pick up and drop near their home is an influencer in their decision to stay. Importance of personal convenience seemed to be inversely proportional to the skill level/complexity of the job. Employees in jobs that call for a higher level of expertise seem to be less worried about personal convenience. For example, employees in the creative department of a brand services firm would rate the "Creative culture" as more important than personal convenience.

3. Learning and exposure

This is perhaps one of the biggest drivers for the new generation. In all the four Organisations a large component of learning came from working with clients, and meeting their requirements. There was also a pegging order for various departments/processes/projects with some perceived to be better learning opportunities than others. In fact some of the above departments/ processes seem to have a stronger employer brand than the Organisation's employer brand. For example, employees do not join Organisation X, but they join the marketing department of Organisation X. The challenge for many Organisations in some new economy industries with their division of labour is to sustain the learning curve after the first one year. Unlike the Apprenticeship models of the past, in most Organisations, learning comes from the job/ process or the client, rather than the supervisor.Some common tools used by Organisations to enhance learning and exposure were internal job postings, training programmes, certification courses, and global exposure.

4. Career Growth

Career growth (read rapid promotions) is the single biggest reason for staying back for those employees who have got rapid promotions. There are significant social pressures to quit, on employees who do not get rapid promotions. In three of these Organisations employees gave examples of fulfilling career growth inspite of not having requisite technical qualifications, e.g. housekeeping person heading sales or a matriculate doing design production work. The high growth of many organizations poses serious challenges with systems, processes and infrastructure forever lagging behind. However, high growth is also what enables many Organisations to give rapid promotions, which subsequently becomes a stated and expected need. If you are riding the high growth tiger, you will find it difficult to dismount.

 

5. Freedom and Empowerment

"One of our guests was unhappy with something in one of our restaurants. Our Associate (entry level employee) offered him our most expensive champagne on the house! When senior management came to know about it she was publicly ……. applauded!" Employees in this hotel know that customer service is not a poster in the Training room. This hotel has used Freedom and Empowerment not only to drive customer service, but also to build employee engagement. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

 

6. Camaraderie

Most employees, who have stayed a long time, talked about getting into a "comfort zone" with managers showing a high degree of flexibility towards personal and work life issues. It is common for employees to swap shifts between themselves, use flexi time informally when required and shift to more convenient shifts for specific period of time e.g. before taking maternity leave or after coming back from maternity leave.Interestingly, while there were many examples of supportive bosses, there were not many examples of leaders inspiring employees to remain with the Organisation or to give their best. In a recent interview in Economic Times, Nandita Gurjar, VP HR of Infosys BPO was quoted as saying, " Many top level and mid level employees have started hopping as many as 2-3 companies in a year. And these are the same people who once counseled entry level employees towards loyalty and persuaded them to stay put. At the end of it all entry level employees realize it is a hoax." In my days in manufacturing in the past it was not uncommon to have middle managers with high levels of integrity (Doing what they say). Today in the new age economy, this is a challenge with respect to retention. A manager can hardly inspire her team members to stay, if she is applying elsewhere.

7. Stability and Job Security

Interestingly, even in an industry teeming with employment opportunities, stability of the Organisation and by implication, job security, emerged as a key motivator for many employees. Employees gave examples of an entire process being taken out of the Organisation, but all employees being relocated to other processes

of their choice. While employees are no longer willing to commit staying for a long time, they nevertheless appreciate Organisations which offer stability and better security. If this is a factor in retention, Organisations should be able to make it a core part of their deal to employees, particularly in growth phase. Unfortunately, employees are no longer willing to believe that organizations will protect their jobs during any down turn, unless an Organisation has a track record of doing so.

8. Work- Life Balance

Interestingly, in many of the groups interviewed I found a small, but distinct group of employees who are willing to be reconciled with lower growth provided they get the work life balance they are seeking. Apart from obvious categories like double income families with child rearing responsibilities, some young people want more time to pursue their interests apart from work. This is, however, not a major trend, yet.

________________________________________________________________________

The author is CEO of The Great Place to Work® Institute, India. He can be reached at

pbhattacharya@greatplacetowork.in  Views expressed are personal.