Jobs: IT professionals, wake up!

IN the first week of February, 500 employees were laid off from IT company, Tata Consultancy Services. But Chinmay Sahoo, an assistant systems engineer with TCS, Chennai, isn't worried. In fact he is confident of his position in the company. Here's why.

"Those employees who performing badly, consistently (getting a rating of two for performance) have been laid off. The message is loud and clear: if you perform, you are safe and will even be appraised," says Chinmay.

Similarly according to news reports, IBM laid off 700 employees (mostly freshers) citing 'performance in aptitude tests that were recently conducted in undisclosed IBM India locations'.

On a different note, revenues drive the IT industry and according to Dr Rafiq Dossani, author of the book India Arriving: How this economic powerhouse is redefining global business, and a senior research scholar at Stanford University, they are not rising. "In the fourth quarter the IT industry has witnessed a decline in revenue from 40 to 35 per cent, although the margins have been steady at 25 per cent," he says.

So, if employees are confident about their positions, don’t the falling revenues mean anything?

Good and bad news
"The current layoffs we saw are only a way for companies to re-align costs. But we cannot rule out the impact of the dollar depreciation," says Balu Pandian, Director-Business Development of Jobstreet.com, a jobs portal. According to him India’s value in the global ITES market has been due to favourable costs and quality work.

And this won’t change. "However, those large contracts that companies hope to sign will get delayed," says Balu, who also feels that the presidential elections in the US, will affect this, since corporate America cannot afford to announce more offshoring projects during this time.

Several smaller IT companies have used strategies like faster promotions with fancy designations, to help retain talent. "Smaller companies may stop promotions altogether and the larger ones will think 100 times before promoting their staff," he says.

Also, no more 20 to 30 per cent hikes. Your performance will be checked thoroughly before your appraisal. According to Balu, this year hikes will be in the range of 10 to 12 per cent. "The hike cut-offs will be liable only to those companies, which have dollar dominated revenues. Companies earning their revenue in Euros or the Japanese Yen have nothing to worry about," he adds. At the moment Indian IT firms, which have dollar exposure for revenue, are Infosys, TCS, Wipro etc

So, should you worry?

Don't worry, be pro-active!

"There's no need to worry, because the need for technology will always remain. At the moment what an IT professional needs to do is to cull out those high expectations in terms of hikes and hefty packages," he suggests.

So, though we advice you NOT to panic, it's a good idea to improve your skill sets.

How to pull up your socks!

Balu recommends smart mantras for IT professionals on how to leverage their positions in their companies.

i. No more allowance tantrums!

You may have been pampered to the hilt with various allowances. Well, you may need to reset remuneration expectations keeping in mind that ultimately it is your company's stock prices that keep it running. In order to meet shareholder expectations, companies will cut costs.

ii. Be prepared to work longer hours.

Forget those five-day working weeks, as most companies may expect you to work on Saturdays too. The number of billable work hours will be under strict scrutiny, since, the company will want to get maximum productivity at reasonable costs.

iii. Don't cut any slack.

Lax workers will be put to task! So, if you didn't have any projects to work on, very soon your plate will be full. Deadlines will be stricter. If your team leader expected you to finish a project in three months' time, he may ask you to finish it in two and half months.

iv. Reduce job hopping, sharpen skills.

Re-think switching companies just for better pay packages. Think of your career from a long term perspective. Use your free time to improve your capabilities and gain domain expertise.

v. Go easy on those EMIs.

You may want to buy a swanky new car or a that LCD television set. But think twice, before taking a loan. Those excessive Equated Monthly Installment can prove to be a huge liability!