A recent interview with a Vice President of mobility and architecture Development in a leading IT firm opened up a Pandora’s Box for the At the age of 36, with lush office space in an otherwise cramped Bengaluru city, the young VP is all set to help his new employer of seven months scale up in the niche mobility domain.
With his rich 15-year experience, he has brought with him not just his technical and team–handling skill set but also his adept proficiency in managing excellent client engagements.
He proudly shares that two of his erstwhile employers’ clients have been happy to follow him with their accounts to his new employer. “That’s my secret client retention strategy,” he adds with unmatchable fervor.
A sudden lull envelops his voice as he shares that none of his teams’ projects have been able to take off, though, either with his new employers’ existing clients or with the two newbie clients that joined along with him. The reason, he quips, is the ever-plunging offer-to-join ratios – A menace that gets worse by the day for IT firms. He shares, “For the seven key, team handling & middle management roles that have been open for almost 13 months, the company has not been able to fill in even one position.”
Responding to our curiosity, he adds that almost 38 offers have been rolled out for these seven roles over the last few months—all accepted by candidates, and one even joined the company. 37 Offer Drops, he agrees, is an overwhelming number!
In addition to the time, effort, and staffing costs spent sourcing these candidates, his firm has had to bear additional ‘by the hour’ consulting charges to initiate the clients’ projects. “Either these costs or we lose out on the accounts; the choice was obvious to us.” The high consulting charges definitely eat into their profit shares, but that’s a small price to pay, given the slow IT scenario globally.
He brings the KP team’s attention to a strategy being employed by a few big firms worldwide to manage their offer joining ratios smartly.
The addition of a new clause to the offer letter means that candidates will pay 5% or 10 % of their offered CTCs back to the employer in the event of not joining the company. “It is a sharp move; I’m not sure how successful it can be in the Indian IT scene,” he adds.
“For something that will take me weeks to accomplish in top-of-the-game critical projects—for want of skilled and appropriate resources joining my team in time—I am lagging by Monday hs. It is a different experience but has definitely got me thinking a wee bit philosophically, so to say,” he shares candidly!
“If they say, ‘It is in giving that we receive,’ Have I somewhere in some invisible yet compelling universe broken some laws, exacting upon all individuals with the same intensity as does the law of gravity?”
The statement leaves our team baffled, only to find out later that he is referring to his corporate journey of 7 employers in 15 years and innumerable, unhonoured, yet accepted offers! At some level, he is beginning to correlate that the experience he has given to numerous Managers/VPs/HR professionals/Consultants is starting to catch up, and maybe it is time for him to clean up his game.
It set our team thinking—the more significant part of the IT industry is plagued at the moment by candidates’ deteriorated morals and ethics. The three-month notice periods are viewed as honeymoon time with their relieving employers, and they are diligently spent topping up their first offer with counteroffers from other companies.
Somewhere in their competitive quest to rise the corporate ladder and pocket hefty paychecks, the need to honor their commitment or word is no longer on their agenda. The time spent by innumerable people sourcing, scheduling, interviewing, negotiating, etc., to effectuate one offer letter is not even considered valuable.
But as shared wisely by our Vice President friend at this IT biggie firm, “It eventually catches. The message he shares with the IT employees, especially in junior & middle-level cadres, is this: “It is time to clean up our mess, boys & girls, cos no intention or deed, whether good or bad, goes unchecked in this world. There is definitely a higher, maybe an invisible force at play, so watch out, honor your commitments, and consider every aspect before walking out of an office. It is not just about you alone, in the end,”
Until then, Keep Smiling & Keep Trending!!
