downturn and companies

companies are cutting costs left. right and center.... jobs are being reduced... people are being asked to work for more than 9 hrs everyday... isnt it surprising that all these is happening in the information technology industry which was the darling of the employees, not so long back ? what i find more surprising is that, it seems to me that the companies have decided themselves that the growth is over... downturn or not...

how else would you explain all the measures that the companies are taking.... rather than asking employees to enhance their skills they prefer employees who are willing to do anything... employees are expected to leave all their preferences in the shoe rack at the entrance....

in times like these, if the companies do really feel that the downturn is temporary, they should be looking to build a relationship with the employees.... so that when the good times return, the employees support you.... in an industry like IT, where the capital is intellectual and not so financial, you need people.... that's why companies with a strong HR practice have done well in this sector...

even biggies are handling this badly.. wipro has given an offer to freshers, (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Wipro-to-honour-job-offers-with-a-rider/articleshow/4393269.cms) to whom they gave campus offers last year, that they will honour their offers but with a rider that they will pay only rs 6k if they aren't placed in billable projects.... first of all, it is a business ethic to honour your commitment even if you are on the losing side... in this case, the company blocked the candidates from applying to other companies (campus recruitment rule in most colleges, if not all). the candidates being placed in billable projects is a result of the managers in the company getting projects- something these freshers have little hand at...
what do you think the guys in bench and getting 6k salary (offered 4-5 times more than this during campus recruitment a year ago) would do ? they wud either prepare themselves for higher studies and hence leave the company after 1 yr (quite a loss for the company which invested in training them) or wait for an opportune moment to strike back......

employee loyalty is going to be a forgotten thing in india just because employers think it is one sided... any loyalty is mutual... from a culture where employer was regarded as one who provides livelihood, we are fast moving to one where any employment is business... one of the fallouts would be that ethical standards would fall down drastically... that would be quite a bad thing to happen to this country........