Employer-Employee relation

Today, an unexpected lady turned up for an interview. Probably a mismatch from the consulting firm we were working with. She was around 45 years old. Looked quite like a typical ‘aunt’. She had just passed class 10. She spoke exceptional English and always smiled.

From the conversation I had with her, she was quite disturbed currently with her job; Her current employer was mistreating her. She was working for a Marwadi group (Bhaijis as I’d call such people) and being a Christian was her mistake. She had been working in the firm as a front office executive for almost 5 years now and each year the Bhaijis gave her increments of Rs 200-300. I know this is not new with Bhaijis, but I was really shocked. Trust me, these Bhaijis increase 200-300 for their maid servants every year..

Shocked to witness as to how some employers take advantage of the people’s need. Just because the lady didn’t have any qualifications she couldn’t get a job elsewhere. This fact was very well understood by the Bhaijis and as a result exploited the employee. Earning millions and paying peanuts is not going to increase your status. You’ll still have people abusing you behind your back.

This is why people quit their job. She was very satisfied with her work, but highly unsatisfied with the caste/creed/gender biased bosses.

Another incident happened with a friend who works in the Hospitality domain. She happens to be at the managerial position. The moment she announced she was expecting a child, the entire attitude of her bosses changed from the very next day. They kept frustrating her with silly things which wouldn’t matter. Because they (the bosses) know quite well that they will have to provide all benefits to her as per company policies which they indirectly didn’t want and I’m sure they would keep on frustrating her until she quits.

And so as a result, people never care for their employers anymore. And then even employers don’t. Tit for tat. Both the employee and employers have become ‘professional’ and money minded. Its not uncommon that you’d read your friend’s status about they quick and funny comment expressing displeasure at work and bosses.

Employees have started jumping from company to company like a monkey. In another interview I took, I asked the lady, why did she want to leave her current job. She said she was quite satisfied with Job/Environment/Salary and practically everything else , but was looking for a better opportunity. I told her, “One day if you get married and have everything in life, will you still look for another husband?”. She never understood what I tried to convey.

As an Employer myself, Day by day, I lose interest in employing people. Giving opportunity to the needy first is what I believe in but it has always turned out that ‘the needy person’ back stabbed you without your knowledge forgetting every human relation. Not their fault, but the system has become like this where treating an employee as a Family member is like yourself being a vegetarian and expecting the Tiger to dine with you!

I have seen people who work for almost 10-15 years of their life in a company without even thinking to move to another company until they either have a problem or they are shifting to another location. Where are those people now? According to a survey, Indian salary class is the most mobile workforce in the whole world. I interviewed another candidate who had 3 years experienced but in 4 companies. He didn’t have work ex, but rather experience in how to shift companies!

Employers are cunning, lets face this. They don’t hire to create jobs. Trust me. They hire because they want to make money and expand business. And Employees reciprocate. Employees are big time opportunists. It has become a world of professionalism where employers stuff money into employees every growing mouths to keep them quiet.

On the other hand, among all this mean world out there.. We have an office peon from whom I have a great respect. He never says NO. ‘No’ or ‘not doable’ is not in his dictionary. He would do any work. From cleaning the office, to handling heavy bank and cash transactions. I must say that we’re blessed to have him and Its really hard to find such people. People who have respect for Employers gain back the respect they deserve. It is these kind of people who make me still believe that employees should be treated as part of the family.