Peopleware...

Everyone knows that the software business is people business. Its main assets

are people and their knowledge base. It is also the glamor business. Or at least

was till very recently. Behind the success stories of modern India, there’s a

huge workforce of people churning out software that makes computers hum and

businesses run. And getting lost in this din are emerging people issues. Is

there a toll that this hi-tech, high-growth, high-change business takes on its

young assets? And what is the impact of the slowdown?

Start with aspirants. Students who have recently completed their courses are

facing a reality crash. Riding a wave of optimism, they have just completed

their education. But the fat salary packets of a year or two ago and

international assignments have disappeared. Let alone jobs, they do not even get

interview calls. The sought-afters have become seekers. Companies are swamped

with "bench strength" and thousands of resumes on their websites–waiting

to be processed.

Friends and relations who are in employment become sore comparison points.

And the young aspirants–many of whom believe that they have spent minor

fortunes to complete the education–are left wondering where they went wrong.

They have not. They have just caught the trough of a business cycle. It will go

away and at least a part of the good times will be back. But a six-to-12 month

wait at the start of your career is a long wait. Many of them are depressed and

desperate to get any jobs–even work for free.

And there are companies that are using them. The argument here being, that

when the times were good, we paid them a lot. Now why should we? Sound business

sense. But sounds a bit crass. Especially if you remember that even after paying

hefty salaries, software companies made hefty margins. Lower salaries are fine,

but "work for free"...?

The downturn has also hit those who were employed. Many of them in

international assignments are without jobs. The Hari turned Harry has to become

Hari again. That’s not easy. Many of them cannot even return to India. There’s

too much shame involved. In any case, there aren’t any jobs waiting back home.

Just a few months back, these people were the toast of their communities. Now

they are jobless. And being jobless in India is a huge stigma.

Those who still have jobs find that there’s no easy way to back up. You can’t

just reverse, take a huge salary cut and then start of again as if nothing

happened. Not only are salaries down, ESOPs are now not even sops.

Financially, all three segments –to be employed, employed till recently and

the unemployed are facing a downturn. The better employers are trying to help by

having counseling, training workshops, psychological help etc. The not so good

employers let the employees fend for themselves. And many others are biding time–for

the party to start again.

Those who have retained jobs face other issues too. The blue-eyed boys are

now average performers. Targets and achievements went up from zero to 100 in two

years. For this year, the target was 125. Delivered so far is 60, or lower.

Young 25-year-old group leaders are finding such climbdowns difficult to handle.

And people are not people. They are resources. So a Java resource can be

moved to an assignment for periods as low as one week. The Java resource has to

walk into a project, take his little task–based on specifications made by an

analyst sitting somewhere else, go sit in front of his screen in his cubicle,

get the code going and move to the next assignment...all in a week.

It’s not that other industries do not face people issues. But software is

critically dependent on people. And it has just had the downturn of the roller

coaster. So the issues to be handled are more. It’s also a young industry.

While the downturn will end and many problems will disappear, it is important

to understand that resources need nourishment, grooming, replacement,

nurturing... The slowdown has exposed gaps which exist in most software

companies. It would be incorrect to say no one is doing anything about it. It

would also be incorrect to say all that is needed is being done. In fact, the

problem has not even been talked about and debated with any seriousness. This is

a good time to do so.

Shyam Malhotra