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Ramblings by Jaya Jha

Saturday, September 03, 2005

What does Infy do with people on bench?

Okay - I have no first hand experience, but I have almost heard "horror-stories" (there is a reason, it is in quote - do not take it too literally) about them. Is it that they really have no work to do. From what I hear, it is true. The idea apparently is that a company like Infy needs to have trained people ready, in case a project comes in. They can not bid for a project saying they *will* hire and train people. They have to *have* people. Fine, understood! But is that not frustrating for people on bench? Why not have something for them to do? Why not allow them to pursue a project of their own choice? Even if they have to be moved to a project in between, it does not harm anything the company is formally pursuing. While benefits could always come out of it. Who knows we could have something as good as GMail from Infy someday!

Or is it that it does not want it's employees to get too smart?

Categories:

posted by Jaya @ 11:02 PM del.icio.us  

11 Comments:

  • At Mon Sep 05, 12:22:00 AM 2005, Blogger pango said…

    Just using some management jaargons over here :)
    Infy and other service driven companies are more of a process driven companies.
    They want to achieve high CMM, SECMM, ISO levels. These levels are the selling points
    for these companies. It's essentially like a car assembly plant where people are just
    fitting in codes,instead of car parts.
    In such a scenario, why do they need people to innovate, or even think?
    Infy is slowly becoming a factory, rather than a company.
    Unfortunately, or fortunately, this is the strength of Indian s/w industry.

     

  • At Wed Sep 07, 03:44:00 PM 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Jaya donot judge people by your own standards... there are some people who are so lazy that they are perfectly happy not doing anything.
    And as for others they move out of Infy ASAP.

     

  • At Fri Sep 09, 12:07:00 PM 2005, Blogger Madhat said…

    Lakshmi, quite frankly, it is the failure of the management when there is no project for people to be assigned to. Because, even if people are sitting on the bench, the company has to pay them and that is a revenue loss. And no company likes that. Also, just because a person has graduated from IIM doesnt him/her a great manager (Similarly, all IITians are not great engineers). Looking at your comments, I have to say that you obviously have never worked in a company.

    Of course, there is no way for the company to start innovative projects as Jaya suggests as they are never sure when a new project would get assigned to them and they would have to leave the innovative project because of the very fact that such projects are long term investments and are risky ventures, which the services industry seek to avoid. Plus, no project would succeed if there is excessive flux of people working on it.
    And there are other reasons too which I suppose might not be appropriate...

     

  • At Sat Sep 10, 05:23:00 PM 2005, Blogger Madhat said…

    Quite frankly, if you think IT companies give a lot of thought for their employees, you are living in a dream. Are you working in Infy, by any chance?
    These days, the policy of IT companies is to hire when required and fire when not required. No company gives out jobs like our good, old sarkari naukri (except for some).
    right now, the IT industry is on a high (again) and people are not facing the problems they faced with companies during the downtime, which was just a few years ago. People's (even IITians) appointments were put on hold indefinitely (yes, even in your great infy) and people had real trouble finding a job. Why? Simply because the companies cannot sustain paying employess without projects/work for them to do and remember, services industry projects are billed by the hour. Is it the company's fault? I would say that it was wrong for them to hire people and not give them the joining letters.

    As far as IIMs are concerned, I do not think they produce great managers. They do take in brilliant people and impart them some knowledge and skills. But seriouly, no institute can really teach you to be a manager. It is something that needs some common sense and experience.

    Yes, there are people like Narayan Murthy who have come a long way and done a great deal. But consider this, IITs produce nearly 4000 graduates every year and that is not counting the MTechs. Even if you consider the last forty year, that number is 100,000 (considering that there were fewer people getting out of IITs before). How many of these 100,000 are Narayan Murthys or have done significant contribution in any field? There are definitely quite a few who have but not _all_ (or for that matter, a significant number in comparison to that 100,000). See my point?

    It is appalling that people do not get projects in services industry and are forced to sit on the bench... You always learn more when you are working on a real project. So, if you are on the bench waiting for a project to come by, you are not learning much and by the end of a year, you are rusty and are robbed of "experience". Thats what usually happens with people (usually, freshers or people with little IT exp) working in Infy. Not good for the employees, I am afraid.

     

  • At Sat Sep 10, 05:23:00 PM 2005, Blogger Madhat said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     

  • At Sun Sep 11, 02:24:00 AM 2005, Blogger Braveheart said…

    Well, Infy or something else, the situation is much the same in all the services companies. Infy is just a shade better than many others in terms of its forsightedness for their own cause. A very effective business strategy is what they have and their bench strength is what gives them considerable advantange.

    Coming to the other side of the table, well, some employees don't care a bit as they want to prepare for CAT and things like that. So precisely, more often than not, the ones on the bench are very often the ones who want to be on the bench. The others, however large in number have to keep pushing hard to get projects. In some time, the reluctant ones make way for them. So the system takes care of itself.

    Coming to your suggestion, my company creates a facade of the same implementation and often does more injustice than Infy as their 'Internal Projects' are either too stupid or almost non-existent. The point is, the services sector doesn't have much scope for what you see as a solution. Rest is up to the Managers of the future though :D

    -- Akshaya

     

  • At Wed Sep 14, 06:30:00 AM 2005, Blogger Jaya said…

    Just came back from vacations - and to sum up my reaction "Give-up - a total give-up. I do not have anything to say!!"

     

  • At Thu Sep 15, 06:04:00 PM 2005, Blogger Jaya said…

    Laxmi: This is not at all okay. I think you need to see a doctor for your mental condition.

    Listen, firstly I have no interest in knowing all that you are telling me. Next writing this as a comment on the blog (or any public forum) is a sure sign of insanity.

    I have told this to you earlier and I am repeating. Stop writing comments on my blog. From now on - all you comments will be deleted without my even reading them. Do not waste your and others' time.

     

  • At Thu Sep 15, 08:10:00 PM 2005, Blogger Madhat said…

    ROFL

     

  • At Thu Sep 15, 09:51:00 PM 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Lakshmi, take it as a challenge. If you succeed this world will be with you—

     

  • At Thu Sep 15, 10:11:00 PM 2005, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    First time I met a real guy. Lakshmi just go on with your mission. I am 100% sure you can make a place in every ones heart, even if it is made of very hard stones…….

     

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