They are
everywhere.
You can see
them pouring over their BlackBerrys while anxiously waiting to board the flight
at airports. You can see them talking on phone while driving through snail
paced traffic. You can see them in shopping malls over the weekends, trying to
spend as much as possible within the two days that they are unleashed. The
elements of the corporate world are omnipresent in today’s Tier 1 cities.
And the
numbers are on the rise. As more and more companies are formed, as more and more
multi-nationals are pouring in, not wanting to be left out of the race to second
fastest growing economy, more and more citizens are getting corporatized.
For a layman
(the non-corporate, so to say) or for those who have spilled over to the
Generation Next, they all look swell: Clad in neat business attire, up-to-date
on EVERYTHING (literally) thanks to the smartphones & notepads, driving
swanky cars, flaunting multiple girlfriends, shopping only in posh malls,
relishing continental cuisine, living in a gated community… Yes, the standard
of living has definitely improved with the coming of corporate culture.
Let’s scratch
the surface & peek beneath the shell, into the daily drudge of a typical corporate employee. We’ll take it in
steps – the steps a person goes through during his stint with the corporates:
Entry
Recruitment
can happen in 2 ways: through campus or lateral. Campus recruits have pretty
much nothing to say as they are fresh, innocent are unwary of the crooked ways
of the corporate world. Brimming with excitement, they generally get into the
first company that comes their way.
As for the
laterals, they are a bit well off – knowing the tricks of the trade, where to
squeeze, where to bend… the two hours
grind with the interview panel puts a price tag on you – the CTC. Now this is a
very tricky term. Something similar to buying your computer – you got to be
sure what’s in & what’s not, cos a lot depends on what level you enter the
organization.
Induction
Once in, there
is no turning back- at least for some time. The induction programme paints the
rosiest picture possible for your eyes, preparing you to get into the system
with full josh & vigour. You come out of it thinking “Man! I should be
lucky to be in here.”
The realization
The initial
days are fine. You are trying to learn new things, meeting new people.. It’s
all exciting.
Gradually the
unseen dawns upon you. You felt that systems were working with clock-work
precision, suddenly you realise “is there a system?” You are planning lot of
family expeditions. But you realize that you are visiting home just for a quick
nap. You don’t realize when that fat pay package which lured you into the
company suddenly shrunk. You also begin to realize that the petty bribe you
used to shell out at government offices, transport department or the traffic
cops are almost legal compared to the large scale of sops offered to clients in
order to bag orders.
However,
thanks to the inherent zeal (or more often the whip of top management) you give
your 100% to the company drowning into the torrents of targets, deadlines,
market-shares, bottom-lines, review-meets…
Increment & promotion
If Sidhu were
to describe promotion it’d go something like this: “Promotions are like Indian
rains. You always keep expecting it, but it always fails you.”
Note: In
corporate world, it’s not hard work that takes you to the top. It’s how many of
your superiors have you successfully patafied.
Hard work you put in throughout the year is long forgotten. Yes sir! A god
father is invariably necessary if you have to ensure that you get your due
credit.
Same is the
case with increments. While handing over your increment letter, your boss
always says, “Congratulations! You have got the highest increment in the
group.” You are flying high until you share the good news with your peers &
all of them say “Well, that’s what even I was told..”
The exit
How long you
can endure this melee depends on various factors: how patient you are, how
indifferent you can be to the downsides, how much has spiritualism inspired you
(Yes! Most of the corporates eventually resort to yoga & spiritualism to
find solace).
Anyways, at
some point of time the steam blows off & you decide “That’s it. I can take
it no more. Time to say good bye”. You draft a resignation letter, which begins
with “Due to unavoidable circumstances…”, & silently place it on your
boss’s table.
This simple
act triggers a series of actions aimed at convincing you that you are doing the
greatest blunder of your life. You are suddenly shot into the limelight. People
who never knew you existed become highly interested you. Tall promises are made.
Out of the blue it becomes necessary that you attend a training programme
abroad…
The outcome
depends on the combination of how effective they were & how vulnerable you
were. Whatever follows, you start over the same or similar journey… Yet again.
Of course
there can be exceptions: there are corporates people die to work for. There are
people who spend their entire career with one corporate. There are companies
who really understand “all work & no play makes Jack a dull boy”. But if we
again get into Sidhuism, we may come
up with a line like: Such things are like mirages in a desert. You feel that it’s
there, but you’ll never find it.
Survival tactics in the corporate world:
-
CTC (cost to company) has different meanings in different
companies. Be extremely cautious while deciphering the term.
-
Always talk what others want to hear; not what you want to
say.
-
Great knowledge & hard work does not catapult you to
the top. A godfather is invariably necessary, if you want to see growth greater
than the Hindu growth rate
-
If you found a clean deal in the corporate world, you have
not probed deep enough.
-
It’s not the work you do that matters, but making others
think how much you are working. Never stray from your computer. If not anything,
just keep playing Solitaire (That’s what most people do anyways)
-
Resignation is the simplest way to gain lime-light,
promotion or a pay hike.
