Mall-nourished

After shelving our long weekend plans to Ellora Caves, we resorted to some mall hopping on Sunday. Sometimes retail therapy can do wonders to your mood like nothing else does. The Santa was entertaining a lot of kids yesterday afternoon at the Pune Central. Watched a bunch of movies - Apaharan, Ek Ajnabee and a few on TV. Don't be misled by their 3* ratings. Not good at all.

Lot of good food at home, tried out some new recipes on the Microwave. I'm sure that the pictures of the Indian recipes in the Microwave book are all actually made in gas and not in MW. From Phirni to bartha none of them come out as good and as crispy.

The weekend is almost over and so is my mindless blogging for now.........

Customer Service in India really sucks

Little doubt that Customer Service in India really sucks. Else attribute it to some freakish coincidence that ICICI Bank, Citibank, BSNL and Tata AIG Insurance are all equally bad in serving their customers.

Believe it or not we wasted over 5 hours of our weekend talking to some customer service reps for various year end/mundane tasks like paying insurance premiums, telephone bills and all of them outdo each other in acting stupid!

Consider it twice if you are taking your Auto Insurance from Tata AIG because you can be sure they wouldn't dispatch your policy hardcopy even 2 weeks after you've paid the money.

ICICI Bank requires their customers to visit the bank in person to change the address. Which is still fine. But for every task you got to visit them atleast 2 times for they never seem to get anything straight the first time, from issuing pins to changing addresses. It is quite funny to visit the branch..stand in long queues glaring at the 10 inch monitor over your head for your token number to go ting tong..so much for automation!

Citibank is the master of it all. On the one hand it charges their customers when they make a personal visit to the branch and on the other it resorts to ancient ways for getting the address changed. It requires them to post a hand written letter ensuring that your requests never get handled. It has taken me over 4 months to get a goddamn address changed.

BSNL, Pune is a black mark for BSNL. On the one hand you see pictures of Dayanidhi Maran and Bill Gates flashing all over and his attempt to make the connection process smoother and faster, and on the other you see such morons that makes you think, where is this country heading to. Telephone bills never reach home after multiple reminders but they are prompt enough to call up to disconnect the line.

Either I must be living in a very backward city of this country or Pune is totally not worth a place to live in. Atleast now I can partially empathise with Americans' experience of Indian Call Centers and their processes.

Corporate Culture in Pune

"Workplace Culture". What is it and does it really matter? I've often heard this term in conversations when you are talking about Google or Sun Microsystems. Or for that matter what is it that you really miss about your old job and bang comes the answer "the culture".

In my opinion, "workplace culture" is synonymous to the environment, the atmosphere you work in. Which has been created by the people who work there and over the years has been emulated by others who joined the organization. Be it good, be it bad it has all been carried forward. It is the "system". And as kids, we have been taught to adapt to the "system" and not "revolt" against it. "Workplace culture" defines how you treat newcomers into your Project family - you can either be hostile or inclusive and accommodative. It defines how you interact with your peers and superiors, the openness, the freedom to voice your opinions. It defines how much tension is always in the air as you swipe your cards in and enter the corridors of your workplace. It dictates whether you will live in freedom or in fear. It dictates when you come in to work and when you leave and how much time you spend on lunches and coffee breaks. Someone set the rules and they become graved in concrete for the rest of the lifecycle of the project. It percolates from the top management to the lowest orders.

Read more...

Now why should it affect one? It does because we are all social animals and not robots. We spend 8 hours or 3/4ths of a day if you are working for one of those top Indian Services Firms at work. And if you are not having fun what you are doing, then you got a problem. "Workplace culture" after all is nothing but "Social Behavior" at workplace.

The reason why I started off with this post was I found "Workplace Culture" in Pune quite different. I leave it to your discretion to judge if it is different good or different bad. I know it is politically incorrect to generalize as huge a thing as Corporate Culture for a place as big as Pune. But having worked in 2 companies and heard a few up, close and personal stories, I think I will do it justice. A few experiences...

a) Day 2 of a job - Manager introduces to two most senior members - persons A and B. While he is doing that, one does not even have the courtesy to look up. Leave alone standing up and shaking hands. What a great first impression!

b) Day 3 - A "hi" is met with a hostile unfriendly stare.

c) All this while, this has just been a dark place. No other introductions have happened except the 2. The others around don't even bother and refuse to acknowledge that there is someone new sitting behind them.

d) Week 2 - Person A refuses to address X by name. A comes and taps on the table - what a gentle way of addressing someone.

e) We don't really care if you are having your lunches alone.

f) "I've just returned from a trip to Germany. So I'm going to flaunt my travel stories by shouting loudly on the phone." How lame!

g) So what if you are from down South. We will all rattle in the local language even if you don't understand.

h) Manager A walks into a meeting and addresses Manager B sitting in the meeting so rudely that makes you think "What have I got into?".

Well, never before in the past 6 years have I heard or experienced of such stories until now. What is surprising is the fact that the same organization has cultures that are poles apart in different locations. Pune definitely needs a cosmo look to make it a choice of the preferred offshoring destination in India. On a closing note, I would also like to say that where there are such people, there have also been some very nice and supportive people.

Categories: Corporate, work, culture, Pune

Retaining Top Talent

"Retaining Top Talent" was the topic of discussion last night on NDTV Profit's program called "One Life to Love". The program featured interviews with Grow Talent's CEO Anil Sachdev, HR of Sasken Comm. Technologies and Chief People Officer of Scandent.

There are times when you can't point a finger to one reason as to why you want to quit a job. It happened with me when I quit my first job. It could be as trivial as "I just don't feel like I belong here anymore" or "the culture". But whatever it is, you sometimes feel the management isn't taking the right steps to retain its top talent even after identifying you are their top talent. Why? It is no secret that the services firms in India do treat their employees as commodities. Can they afford to do that? Ironically, their balance sheets show they can. But I'm sure it comes at price. Though opportunities are galore, highly talented people generally are not primarily motivated just by money. So they don't jump like rabbits every quarter. Go ahead and read the rest of the entry if you feel you can make a difference by going that extra step to take are of your talent.

A few takeaways from the program:

Top 3 reasons why people quit their jobs:

1. Performance Review.


2. Rapport with the supervisor - according to me this is the most detrimental factor. People don't leave companies, they leave their managers.


3. Personal Aspirations - lack of opportunities for cross border deputations, trainings and so on.

There was this interesting case where apparently the only budget the CEO of that company monitors is that spent on recognition and parties. I know you are dying to know which company that is...Frequent "Rewards and Recognition" is by far the most influential factor in keeping the morale of employees high.

How do you know when people leave?
No Sixth Sense. If people are absent from work citing reasons such as "uncle is unwell", "my car has broken down, gotta take it to the mechanic", then you know its time to leave and interviews are on! When a highly active employee who brings up issues all the time look withdrawn and wears that "doesn't really matter" and "don't care" attitude, you know its time for you to take care.

When do they leave?
Employees generally start looking out for options when they have been working for 2-4 years. Having started as freshers, expectations are low 0-2 years and the desire to learn is high. When aspirations increase, the urge to explore the market is high. If you've not taken the plunge then one tends to stick on. Again people with 40-45 years of age start looking out when they know they can't get into the big league in their own organizations. This also coincides with the time, most personal obligations have been met such as kids starting college.

What motivates people?
there is no straight answer to this. Ask people what motivates them. Talk to them. But here are a few pointers:

1. Show career paths to people.


2. Invest significantly in competency building.


3. Monitor the levels of employee engagement.


4. It is not just the HR manager's role to keep employees satisfied. It is primarily that of the Operating Manager's

Yet another person interviewed said, CEOs of today are social architects. The era of charismatic leaders is over. This is an era of leaders that pay attention, listen to you and thrive at making the workplace far more democratic, vibrant and participative.

This is the part I liked the best. How many of you remember your exit interviews? Were you already being treated as someone from their "yesterday"? Do not call people who walk out of your doors as ex-employees. They are your Brand ambassadors. The new mantra - "Forget Lifetime employment, it is lifetime affiliation" now.

On a closing note, an ex-employee of a company who joined a competitor said, "They could've kept me, but they never asked." So don't stop yourself. Ask them to stay only if you believe in that person and do it in a way that would appeal. Remember its not a bargain. Bargains are short lived!

Categories: work, talent, management, employee, morale

I'm back

After 3 weeks of forced break from blogging, I'm back. It feels GOOD to see the blogger screen again. No web-based e-mails, no regular dose of blog sites, no NY Times at work. It wouldn't feel like the day has started at all. Stupid Websense. Websense blocks just about every website ever made. Ok not really. Blogs are catgorized under "Message boards and Clubs". How nice! Its work, work and only work .. how boring can that get. The absence of broadband connection at home made it worse. But now I have one.
I feel alive again...more sooner.