The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : For techies, the day just got a tad longer

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Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

For techies, the day just got a tad longer

Deepa Kurup

At work: A file picture of an office of a software company.

BANGALORE: Across the city, several IT companies have informed employees of their decision to extend daily working hours, piggybacking on the financial slowdown.

Though companies such as Accenture forewarned its employees a month ago, in scores of individual project teams and mid-size companies, the unofficial decision came as an expected New Year “surprise”.

Unhappy

Employees are unhappy, and understandably so.

“Four people were ejected from my team last month. Yet, we are pushed to put in more work hours. It seems like those working are paying the ‘price’ for all the cost cutting,” laments an employee in an IT major.

With a blanket freeze on increments, promotions and even benefit rollbacks, this move further tightens the noose. And with retrenchments lurking around the corner, nobody wants to be seen protesting.

Accenture employees in December received an email from the Lead - Delivery Centers for Technology India, informing them of a decision to extend the work week from 40 to 45 hours, increasing daily hours from eight to nine.

“This will enable us to be more competitive,” the mail stated. An employee, working in IT services, says: “Stress levels are high and team leaders are handling multiple projects. But with layoffs on the cards, who will protest?” Ironically, the same email terms 2008 an “excellent year”.

Cost advantage

Consider this. This employee, who takes home Rs. 32,000 a month, earned Rs. 800 per hour till last month. Now, with an added work hour, his pay per hour slides down to Rs. 711.

“The company hopes to attract/retain clients by throwing in an extra man-hour for the same price, a.k.a. cost advantage,” the employee points out. The IT coolie, as aware as he is, cannot afford to raise such questions.

TCS, another IT services giant, sent similar communication extending work hours by 30 minutes, but put the decision on hold last week.

Incentives

While Wipro employees already work 9.5 hours a day (including lunch break), some companies, including Infosys, have offered incentives to early birds.

“Everybody is strictly enforcing work hours and trying to squeeze (out) every ounce of productivity,” an HR executive said.

Much worse

The situation is much worse with in midsize and small companies, where the slowdown led managements to cut down on manpower.

A senior employee in a mid-size company said: “While overtime benefits ceased to be applicable, my shift had been extended by two hours.”

Rights

UNITES, the Indian arm of the Union for Information & Technology Enabled Services, is filing a PIL against the “arbitrary policy” of companies accusing them of violating the “eight-hour working mandate of the Indian Factories Act, 1948”. Karthik Shekar, president of UNITES, says: “In the absence of laws tailor-made for the IT industry, corporates are getting away with “arbitrary policies”. However, companies maintain that the 48-hour upper limit on working hours is for a six-day week. An HR executive said that companies are using the extra hour only as a trade-off for giving employees a two-day weekend.

Objections

“Moreover, these are only technical objections that people can raise. An average techie at any time is bound by his project deadline, and more often than not they work much more than the stipulated time. The stress was always there,” remarks the official.

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