The Hindu Business Line : How far is it ethical to poach a rival's trained staff?

Story so far: I visit Naveen, a colleague, at his residence to enquire why he hasn't been coming to office. There his wife Puja laments about the market mania that has so much gripped Naveen that he has pledged all her jewels to buy more shares. Can greed make even otherwise learned people blind to realities, I wonder? Do families have to bear the brunt of a feverishly booming market, where its participants lose all cool?

Episode 124

In response to the episode on `Market boom and family gloom!' Mithun writes, "Theoretically we can say that they don't have to, but practically all families will be affected by whatever influences other members of the family wield. The very existence of family is in the sharing of feelings. But each individual member should ensure that he is not bringing only miseries to family, be it that of market or work. If this does not happen they will be soon forced to believe that divorce is the past tense of marriage."

Dangerous consequence, that is, of making family the victim of a crashing fortune at the bourses.

"Hi Swati, I read your posting and was touched," writes Gaurav, Santa Barbara, CA. "I am currently myself too much involved in this shares business and I can see how my life has changed into craziness. Previously I used to have time to kill and now I have no time for sleep too. It's not that I am making million dollars a day but now I do understand that stock market is just like a big casino. If someone loses somebody else wins.

"Sensex might have doubled/tripled in last few years, but once you shut down the computer and if you take the time to look around you, you will see that nothing much has changed. Only thing that has changed is you... who has gone crazy about some random number, the Sensex."

Poignant.

Be assertive, why fuss

Shruti Patil writes in from Mumbai. "I think Puja has to be assertive. Why can't she say `no' when asked for jewels? Investing in the market is okay, but it has to be within limits. Naveen can't jeopardise the family's survival by running his stakes too high." Wise words, but the pity is that most women are in the same condition as Puja — too vulnerable. Anupam Kumar of Delhi wonders what the problem is. "Swati, I don't see anything wrong. When Naveen brought in the gains, I'm sure his family loved him. Now, he seems to have increased his volumes. Markets being what they are, result can be either way, as in any business. I'm sure that, over time, traders gain good knowledge of the market. Why make a big fuss!" Wonder if Puja would agree with Anupam's logic.

Interest during interview

Responding to an earlier episode, `Are companies incapable of retaining young talent?' Rajkumari Achtani, Human Resource Head, Rapidigm (India) Ltd, Pune, had written: "Align the fulfilment of individual's core needs with organisational requirement." On this, Soni Achuthan of Alleppey has this to say: "I am a person who worked as a Marketing Executive and I quickly realised that I would do better in analysis and hence quit the job. I think youngsters might switch jobs till they identify the job most suitable for them. If the company does not want to lose a person it must recruit one whose interests, skill-set and talent match the job. This is easier said than done because most often during interview the candidate might seem to be genuinely interested in the job."

Quite true, which is why many recruitment exercises aren't effective either.

Stalking and talking

On Tamil New Year's Day, I was keen on watching the special TV programmes such as spicy debates and celebrity musicals, but my friend Ambika insisted that I join her for dinner at the Park. "Okay," I said, giving up after three attempts to evade from eating out.

Well, there we were that evening. And the restaurant offered a cool respite from the heat and humidity outside. The evening was precious for Ambika; because, she works in a BPO on a shift that cuts her off from much of social activity on most days. I didn't want to spoil her mood, and so was battling with starters to stir up some appetite.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice around, and turned. Raju, a colleague, was seated at a nearby table. He is a senior employee who works in Gupta's department, that is, production. `A key staff,' Gupta had once told me of Raju, in high esteem.

Noticing my distraction, Ambika asked me, "Want to get his attention?" and suggested, "SMS, simple mischievous service!" I waved off the idea. Raju's table was ahead of me and he was facing the other side. Anyway, I wasn't so eager to say `hi' to him; our interactions have but been few. Also, there was an overbearing person sitting opposite to Raju. Who's that? I was curious. In the middle of the cling-clang of cutlery, prattle of children in the hall, and my friend's gossip, I could still hear some snatches of the conversation at the other table, between Raju and the mystery man, X.

At one point X dropped the name of Ketan, an ex-employee of the company, who had to leave under situations far from pleasant, a few years ago. The systems department had come up with proof that Ketan was sending company secrets to rivals. Esaarem, the systems chief, known to all of us by the initials, had placed on the boss's table a printout of that day's email transcript from Ketan's id.

It said all, but Ketan protested in the name of privacy. He yelled at Esaarem, `You, KGB!' but the systems man was unperturbed. He said, "No, SRM." I was in the room then, along with Chandru, poring over a modernisation programme. We could see that the boss was quite pained, but poised. He told Ketan, "You can choose... to quit or be sacked." Ketan was taken aback by the bluntness of the options that stared at him; but he had his resignation letter in his pocket and submitted it forthwith. He went out and promptly told everybody that he was leaving for family reasons. The real reason, though, was known only to few of us...

Prodding on with prying queries

I hastily returned from my flashback to catch up with the present. "Raju, you know who gave me your reference?" X was asking. Raju shook his head. "Ketan!" announced X, happily. "Such a good friend of mine he is! Last week, we had gone to Singapore to finalise a deal." Ketan went on to join WarOmed a rival in pharma field, well known for its unethical practices. He became the GM in no time there.

`Dessert?' asked the attendant softly. Ambika chose `Vivian I-Sundae', a `vivacious high-scream,' as the menu-card described. I chose the traditional rasagolla for myself. X was asking Raju, "Did I tell you that WarOmed is looking for somebody bright? Like you?"

Raju seemed to enjoy the attention, and X was prodding on. "Hey, what do you guys do?" he asked, for instance, to elicit an elaborate reply from Raju. Occasionally, X would throw a hook, "I was told that there was a quality problem in that shipment to Europe?" And Raju obliged him with `classified' details.

At one point, I thought I should go, shake Raju by the collar and ask him to keep his mouth shut, but I had my head bent on the dessert.

It didn't seem to taste sweet. When we were leaving, Ambika told me, "Swati, I think I know the other man. Param from Dino, the headhunting firm."

On my way home, I was tossing in my mind a simple question: "How far is poaching of trained employees from a rival company ethical?" Send in your thoughts by Friday to Swati_CA@hotmail.com.

Don't forget to record your comments on my new blog http://swati-ca.blogspot.com

For archived episodes of this column click on: htpp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/nic/swati/index.htm

More Stories on : Human Resources | Swati CA

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
007 on the Wall Street

How to go about CA Examinations

Waiting for weight-gain

Getting overtaxed

`Delegation is a commitment to oneself'

Dept of Post gets nod to invest in markets

How far is it ethical to poach a rival's trained staff?

SBI's decision to go on strike

Just Do It

Sharing the cost of education

How to make it to the best B-school

Use active rather than passive prose