The Hindu Business Line : Workplace productivity weighed down by pent-up grouses

Story so far: At a restaurant, where I'd gone to join a friend for dinner, I find that my colleague Raju is getting conned by a headhunter to reveal classified information about the company. How far is poaching of trained employees from a rival company ethical, I wonder?

Episode 125

Over the week, it is quite possible that the headhunter Param, from Dino, has succeeded in extracting from Raju a firm commitment to join WarOmed.

"As the world becomes more competitive, this kind of unethical poaching is bound to increase," writes Saikat Nandy, Deputy Manager, Hindalco. "But, Swati, just think what a vicious circle it is? How can the rival company trust this person who is ready to compromise?" Important question!

"In the short term, may be both the person and the rival company gain; but in my opinion the person will be the loser in long run, as it is difficult that he will be viewed with good esteem in the new company." Practical insight, that is.

"But, of course, he can be just as shameless and move up the ladder using dirty tricks. Too many persons like this — and that is the end of the few remaining good, ethical companies." Tragic.

MBAs need not apply!

"Poaching means illegally taking something that belongs to another person. This itself makes the whole thing unethical," says Soni Achuthan, Haripad, Alleppey, Kerala. "Firms do not have many options to protect themselves from poachers. Many firms specify `MBAs need not apply for this post' while advertising for recruitment." Why so?

"This is probably because MBAs are notorious for being vulnerable to poachers. Some firms get a written undertaking from new recruits that they will not join rival firms." Hope MBAs don't take offence!

"Keeping company secrets to oneself may be possible in case of small-scale organisations. Another option, which sounds so theoretical, is to develop a unique organisation system, culture and values which serves as a competitive advantage to the firm, something which cannot be copied by rival firms merely by poaching a company's staff."

Theoretical, as you say. "But quitting a firm to join a rival and leaking secrets to rivals are two different things. The person doing the latter is a cheat."

Groomed at company's cost

Responding to Gokul Srinivas' post dated April 4, on `Three reasons for attrition', here is a comment from anon: "Hi, I work for India's highest profit making public limited company. It faced the problem of attrition, and the details are worth researching and reflecting." Oh. "The company offers the best pay and health package to all employees. They are being trained in the critical field of oil and gas exploration and production. In spite of that, the trained manpower is leaving and joining the competitors. Reason citied: Professional growth. Their age group is mid-40s, and experience is more than two decades."

The mail raises a few serious issues: "If the defence force personnel leave and join the enemy country, can we call it professionalism? People who leave forget that they are groomed at the cost of company, funded by public money. What happened to the national spirit? No political party or media talks about this issue. It is the country which is at loss and the trusted taxpayer." Forceful argument!

Pell-mell in production

On Wednesday, I was dozing off at my desk after a sumptuous lunch when the boss called me over the intercom and said, "Something to beat your sleep... work." As I entered his room, I said, "Hope you aren't going to give me budget numbers to crunch." He laughed and said, "No. There's a more important job. It's about the production department. A state of apparent pell-mell."

Seeing my clueless looks, the boss explained: "Swati, I guess Gupta is having problems. This morning, he told me he needed help." I asked, "What sort of?" The boss let out a sigh and said, "It is so uncharacteristic of him to ask for assistance. The hassle isn't with targets, because his team has been meeting the production goals on the dot. Seems fuzzy. Which is why I thought I'd ask you to go over and have a chat with him."

So, like James Bond on a mission, I marched off to Gupta's cabin, expecting to have a friendly gappa, to be topped by a few cups of coffee. But what happened there was totally different.

Complaints brought forward

Gupta was alone, poring over a big schedule and marking it with his red and blue pencils. "Hi," I said, sitting down. Taking a break from his analysis, Gupta leaned back and said, "What a relief to see you! I envy you, Swati. You find time to have a leisurely dinner at the Park." Well, he was playing his usual prank of trying to tease me. "Yes, Guptaji, my friend had insisted I join her... " And I wanted to tell him about his man Raju who was spilling the department beans at the restaurant... But held back, because Raju was coming into the cabin.

Suddenly, Gupta's mood changed. He knitted his brows and read with palpable scorn the sheet that Raju showed him. After a minute or two, Gupta scribble a big `No' on it, and Raju asked, "Please, sir. It is urgent. I need to go to my village." Then only did I notice that the sheet was a leave application. Gupta shouted, "No." Raju said, more woefully than belligerently, "I don't understand why you should be so unkind to me." Gupta shot back, "You're imagining things."

The yelling-in-progress brought more of the department people inside. One of them told Gupta that the remaining people could manage the schedule without Raju. Another spoke in support of Raju and said, "Sir, he has been worried about his parents in the village. Let him go." But Gupta wasn't going to relent. He was mentioning instance after instance of how Raju had under-performed. "I still remember how you botched up that report last year!" shouted Gupta at the peak of the tirade. And Raju fired his salvo, "You never gave us the raise you had promised three years ago." His colleagues nodded.

I felt quite bad that Gupta was belittling his senior team member Raju in front of the other colleagues, many of who were Raju's juniors. I was sure Raju wouldn't have liked to be insulted in front of somebody from outside the department, that's me, sitting there like a hapless spectator. After about ten minutes, everybody had left the room, but I was sure they all carried the heat of the argument within them. And Gupta was still fuming. I wanted to ask him, "When did you last check your BP?" but left, to ostensibly attend a call on my mobile phone.

On my way back to my desk, I wondered why people at work should at all carry grouses for years rather than settle them then and there. When piled up, wouldn't these grievances weigh down productivity? Send in your thoughts by Friday.

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