The Hindu Business Line : Exit light on: IT cos sieve and churn as going gets tough

While HR managers feel that it is difficult to say exactly how many people leave the rolls of IT software majors, the key question here is: How exactly are people evaluated for performance?

What parameters do they score on to remain employed?

In most companies, goals are set at the beginning of the year. Employee and supervisor keep interacting to monitor performance through the period. Companies do offer those scoring below par an opportunity to retrain on required skills and come back to productive work.

But how different is it for a programmer, compared to, for instance, a consultant? How much of it is based on numbers and how much is subject to the whims of the employee’s boss, in other words subjective?

Assessment parameters

Mr Ajoy Mukherjee, Head, Global HR, TCS, says that typically, a programmer’s performance is evaluated on the basis of his ability to meet customer deadlines, number and kind of defects in his work and the overall quality of the code.

For an ERP implementation employee, his/her ability to understand the environment in which the product is being implemented and timely implementation are both important, he said.

Mr Somasajeevan T. K., Global Head - Talent & Change at Polaris, says it’s similar for his company, as well. “We have defined key result areas (KRAs) at all levels depending on the role and the position. It is fairly quantitative. For developers, coding productivity (i.e., how much of the code is reusable), defect-free coding and compliance to process quality are some of the KRAs.

For the first time

Most recruitment firms feel that identifying poor performers vigorously and weeding them out is something that is happening only this year, thanks to the toughening environment.

So, how long do employees have to keep looking over their shoulders?

No one is willing to hazard a prediction on when things would turn better.

But, Mr Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO and Managing Director of Head Hunters India, said, “IT companies were earlier hopeful of a turnaround in tech spending by the second half of this year, but have now realised that revival may only come around the second half of 2009.”

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