Good Performer Resigns, Should I Make a Counteroffer?

“Good Performer Resigns, Should I Make a Counteroffer?” was the topic for discussion posted in the forum in this week’s Workforce Newsletter. The question was catchy enough to draw my attention as I reflected upon the numerous instances when ex-peers, seniors and subordinates had resigned only to withdraw it weeks later after those closed-room “negotiations”.

My question to both sides.
Firstly, if you are a manager and a highly valued person in your team resigns. This can trigger a ripple effect demotivating the rest of the team members. What should you do?

  1. Firstly, would you make a counteroffer to anyone and everyone who resigns? my instinct says no.

  2. Secondly, would you try and find out the real reason behind why the person has decided to go? In most cases, there is more to the ‘money’ story. It is not just because of the money factor or a 30% increase that a person decides to go. In my cases, it wasn’t.

  3. Do you have the authority to make a counteroffer or is it just promises in the air for the moment?

  4. What are you reasons for making this counteroffer and is it worth it? Have you thought of the repercussions this can create? Wouldn’t this entice others to follow the same route and set a bad example?

  5. Now the trickier part, you are a good manager and you knew well in advance the person was looking out for reasons that are beyond your control to be changed. The pep talks help only for a week in keeping the person motivated. What should you do?

A counteroffer need not always be monetary based though in most cases it is. A lot of times it is a bargain for a designation or a location change - the ever so lucrative onsite assignment in the IT industry. To put it bluntly, I call it blackmailing or bargaining. It is a situation where you say “you either give me what I want or I go”.

Second scenario, you are the person creating this ripple - the one who has put in the papers. Counteroffers galore. What should you do? I have been in this position myself 2 times - once at Tata Infotech and the next at GE.

  1. Are you clear in the head? Do you know the reasons why you started looking out?

  2. If the counteroffer is a princely increase than your new offer, should you stick on overlooking all the other reasons?

My personal “Code book of Professional Ethics” has one golden rule - Never ever withdraw your resignation. You resigned for a reason and it is less likely the situation has changed. To believe that no one in the workplace would know of the “deal” is fooling yourself. I have known instances where managers making the counteroffer in a desperate attempt to retain the team member to keep the project going has resorted to revengous ways soon (sure, you make them feel a loser in the bargain). The water cooler gossip mongers wouldn’t stop either. To keep your word and dignity, I always advise to stick to your word and go. And for managers, “let go” if its all official. Don’t blame yourself for the situation if you know you have tried.

Career and Marriage - a reality check?

Forbes article titled “Don’t Marry Career Women” Michael Noer is controversial enough to trigger a feminist revolution. Noer defines a career woman who has a university-level (or higher) education, works more than 35 hours a week outside the home and makes more than $30,000 a year. I would fit into that description until the end of September. If you are a woman and reading this, there is a good chance you are one too.

Alright, he has gone a little too far by making a huge statement that “Do not marry a career woman” supported by his references to studies done in the past:

If a host of studies are to be believed, marrying these women is asking for trouble. If they quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, they will be unhappy ( Journal of Marriage and Family, 2003). They will be unhappy if they make more money than you do ( Social Forces, 2006). You will be unhappy if they make more money than you do ( Journal of Marriage and Family, 2001). You will be more likely to fall ill (American Journal of Sociology). Even your house will be dirtier ( Institute for Social Research).

A lot of “if’s” there encouraging successful career men not to marry. Does he realize the socio-economic imbalance this would cause? Neither of these high-flyers is going to be satisfied in their lives with just their careers by staying single. On the other hand, if this encourages a trend for women not to pursue their careers aggressively, is he suggesting we head back to the 60s/70s causing a gender disproportion in the workforce? Would people like me “who quit their jobs and stay home with the kids be unhappy?’ Is it about the money or is about the social networking and everything that goes with a full time job?

I fail to understand what the motive of this article was or what he was trying to convey. In either case, instead of getting offended outright by Noer’s remarks, I think it is good to read it with an open mind. There are valid points – ones closer to reality that is hard to accept. Sure, career woman fail to keep a home that is as clean as your neighbor who is a stay-at-home mom and I’ve felt this all my life. This guilt drives you to work hard at home over the weekends and before you realize life is a planned one full of post-it notes and to-do lists that never ends! With aspirations of being that perfect coworker, perfect wife at home, perfect mom like your mom was and an impeccable home..in short striving for perfection in everything just leads to an emptiness in life.

Salaries – should it be confidential or made public?

There goes a saying “Never ask a man his salary and a woman her age”. With increasing number of women in the workforce today, the saying may not be applicable. But politeness demands we follow this.
Time for some reality check:

  1. Do you know the salary of your college friend who joined along with you as a fresher at the same level?
  2. 5 years later when you switched organizations, do you know the salary of your colleague sitting next to you?
  3. Do you know how much your boss makes?
  4. Any idea how much the CEO makes?

While the response to the first question could be an overwhelming “Yes”, I believe the number will come down gradually to almost nil for the subsequent questions. It is fair to assume that people guesstimate the packages of people at different levels of the organization ladder that fit an experience-skill set bracket or “band” of job titles.
This school of thought –“Why secret salaries are a baaaaaad idea” on The Chief Happiness Officer blog - prompted me to write this post.
Alexander argues the case against secret salaries as –

  1. It frustrates employees because any unfairness (real or perceived) can’t be addressed directly.
  2. They’re not secret anyway. People talk, you know.
  3. It perpetuates unfair salaries which is bad for people and for the organization

He argues the case for open salaries as –
Making salaries public (inside the company of course) has some major advantages:

  1. Salaries will become more fair. The system gets a chance to adjust itself.
  2. It will be easier to retain the best employees because they’re more likely to feel they’re getting a fair salary.
  3. The pressure is on the people with the high salaries to earn their keep. Everybody has to pull their weight - the higher the salary, the larger the weight.

I believe in the policy that salaries should be kept confidential because —

  1. Avoid chaos: In an organization like mine that employs over 30,000 people, you would like the HR to perform other functions effectively rather than resolving conflicts that arise because of salaries known to everyone. You don’t have a choice to ignore because it is official. Cases such as “They’re not secret anyway. People talk, you know”, employees wouldn’t have substantial proof to question because it is hearsay! There are many instances where people inflate and announce their salaries to boost their egos.
  2. Respect Privacy: Just as the date of birth of a person is confidential known only to the HR folks, compensation and benefits is something that you have earned (by hook or crook) and should be respected. By allowing someone to question, you are basically allowing the person to question the decision making capabilities of all involved in the recruitment process – the interviewer, the HR manager, the candidate for his proficiencies and negotiation skills.
  3. Fairness does not mean openness:  Fairness does not necessarily imply openness. Organizations make policies and stick to them if they have to run efficiently and smoothly in the long run. Salaries cannot generally be prejudiced or subjective drastically. They don’t give a person $10,000 more in his/her package because he/she looked hot or was well behaved. Sure, that would have had an influence but the scope of variation would be a small percentage. To allow for this is why salary brackets are created. This takes care of human judgement errors if any.  Fairness does exist to an extent as employees in many organization do know what the salary bracket for the various designations.
  4. Are appraisals and salaries the same? While most people would agree with me that performance appraisals should be made public within a company, I don’t think the same can be extended to salaries. Just as your client contacts or list of customers is confidential information, so are salaries.

Would you like an openness that leads to more distrust and an environment where the camaraderie between employees is lost? Would you like to be in a workplace where you are constantly judged by yoru subordinates and peers if you justify your salary? Is this productive?

E-mail me your opinion on this –should a open book policy be followed or should it kept secret?

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Five Tips to Manage Notice Period Woes

Typically IT organizations in India impose either a 1, 2 or 3 months notice period for employees who quit. Of late, many are reducing 3 month period to a more reasonable 2. While there are overheads for the organization in forcing an employee to stay for this duration after he/she has put in his papers, in general, companies mitigate the risks of a sudden knowledge loss due to attrition by utilizing this time for planning transition and a smooth handover. Generally, the new organization pressurizes its recruits to come on board as early as possible to fulfill their requirements. In both the cases, it is the individuals who are caught in a catch 22 situation and have to negotiate their way, either by serving the entire notice period or by paying the shortfall in notice from their own pockets. Without proper planning on the part of individuals, this can be really stressful and financially damaging.

Here are a few tips on how notice period issues can be better managed:

  1. Know your Company’s Policy: Much before you plan on quitting or even attending any interviews, be aware of your company’s notice period policy. During interviews and negotiations , make it clear to the HR of the recruiting company what is the current company’s notice period .
  2. Plan your exit: Plan on leaving during a period when the project pressures are not high and no immediate deliverable is on the horizon. The chances of getting released will be relatively high. Be prepared on how you would want to take the discussion forward when your manager announces you will have to serve the notice period. Please ensure to maintain atleast a cordial and good working relations with your immediate manager for the next few days or weeks. He/She can make or break things for you and smoothen out your transition. So even if you have not shared a great rapport so far, keep it under the wraps and work out an amicable solution.
  3. Try for a waiver: As far as possible, serve a month’s notice and negotiate a waiver against your accumulated vacation. Thereby, you don’t have to pay any money either from your own pocket and neither does the new organization which you intend to join.
  4. Confirmation with HR well before the last date: It is a general practice for quitting employees to state “I would like to get relieved on xyz date”. And even if this last date has been mutually agreed between you and your manager, do verify with the HR so that you don’t end up paying money towards shortfall of notice period and under some mysterious rules which might be shown to you later. Make sure you get a confirmation by e-mail and let the HR do the calculation of your last date. From my own experience, there’s always a difference between how you calculate 60days and how they do, though it’s the same calendar.
  5. Negotiate Notice period with the new Company: In cases where you are being pressurised to join immediately at the new organization, discuss with the HR of your new company of how much you would have to pay if you were to join on the date requested. Most companies these days are ready to shell out to get resources on board as soon as possible. If there is a positive response, get this confirmation in an e-mail. Also , enquire in detail as to what documents they will need for reimbursement of this amount, such as a photocopy of the DD attested by the HR of your old company or an FFS (Full and Final Settlement) sheet etc.

Finally, remember to part on good terms with everyone at the existing organization. It’s a small world after all!

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Time to quit

So I officially communicate tomorrow. Two more months to go after that. It was simple to decide this time and almost like a dream come true or that’s what I think now. No debates surrounding “to quit or not to quit”, no interviews/negotiations and no what/where/when next. While this pregnancy made the reasoning for leaving easier, the truth is I had decided way back in April that this is not my calling and the only thing motivating about going to work is the pay at the end of the month.

It’s a temporary pause to the corporate life and whether this marks an end to the 7 year long career or not is too early to say.

Things that I’m apprehensive of:

  1. My paycheck every month

  2. Being recognized socially just as X’s wife

  3. Loss of independence in the head.

  4. Just a listener to all work related talks hereafter (how silly)

Things that I’m not going to miss (here at Pune):

  1. The cramped office space

  2. Getting up at 6:30 every morning to take the 8:30 a.m. bus

Things that I’m looking forward to:

Over the past few months that I’ve been contemplating of giving up my fulltime career, I’ve been compiling a list of things on tadalist that I would like to do before the kid arrives.

  1. Complete my writing assignments

  2. Tanjore Painting : Aladi Krishnar

  3. Glass Painting

  4. Take Keyboard lessons

My love for technology hasn’t come down a bit. It just gives me the freedom to pursue projects that I like and deliver it that suits my schedule and work out fo home out of a comfy chair. So if you know of any freelance projects, please do let me know.

Certification in Banking

100 questions. 2 hours. Last Friday, I took the Fundamentals of Banking Certification - an internal exam. An exam after 5 years tested my mettle to sit patiently through the 2 hours test. The last exam I took was the Sun Certification (SCJP) in 2000. With decent preparation for about 2 weeks for this exam, I scored a modest 72%. An official claim that one indeed knows the basics of Investment Banking, Investment Management and all about Capital Markets. My next goal is to clear the next level in Securities and Investment Management exam in May. Lets see how that one goes!

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Compensation: How much is enough?

You hear people cribbing about their salaries (compensation and benefits) all the time. The rat race just doesn’t end. There is always some Foo or Moo earning more than you. These are good times for India and its time we accept it. Thanks to Offshoring and outsourcing. There is a huge market for services. Though McKinsey reports indicate that there is a far greater supply than demand, I have changed three jobs in the past 6 months. (Ok! Don’t raise your eyebrows now. We’ll come to that later).

Probably there is a shortage in quality supply - supply of talent. In line with my principle of anonymity, these are fictitious names to the organizations I have worked with. Compensation increases have been to the tune of 50%-70%. I was shocked (in a good way ofcourse). It was time for some reality check to see if one is really worth so much.
Read more…

So I did a little bit of survey to find out if the compensation packages are really skyrocketing and is this a trend. What got me thinking was if Bangalore was going to pay such high compensation, then we would soon lose out on the cost advantage as rightly indicated by McKinsey’s report. On an average, one can expect a raise of conservative 25-30%

On switching jobs for generalized expertise such as specializing in Java or .NET. For niche markets like product or domain expertise, the compensation increase is quite high. I have seen many people accepting offers that give a 60% increase and then renegotiating for a 100% increase. I mean seriously...
Honestly, a demand for 15L with 4 years sent my temper flaring! So how much is enough?

On to my next question on changing jobs. There are some instances that I’ve known where people switch jobs every year to get a raise. 7 years, 7 jobs. Westerners are known to dread Indians for this. How much time should you spend on your current one before switching if you don’t have a valid reason? I won’t go into the definitions of valid now. I was told that too many jobs in too short a time makes a resume bad. The recruiters know it and the hiring companies know it. So why do they hire you then despite knowing you won’t stay for long looking at your history. Despite that you are offered a handsome package. Why? I don’t have concrete answers. Is it because attrition is accepted, is it because there is a lack of talent or is it because there is so much of demand?

Your opinions?

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Attrition


Technical (Java) Interview Experiences and Tips - 2

Numerous calls and e-mails from a consultant persuaded me to take a break in my vacation and come to Bangalore for 2 days to attend an interview. The promise that all the rounds would be completed the same day with an offer given made it all the more lucrative. I should have known better that it was too good to be true. The interview process was scheduled for 2 hours from 11:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. I had arrived just that morning after a night journey and looked a disaster with no sleep from the previous night.

Nevertheless, we drove to the avenue and I presented myself on time with the laundry list of documents that they had asked for. Thank God, they didn’t ask for my parents’ birth certificates!
Waited at the reception area to be called inside along with some 50 odd candidates. 11:30. 11:45. Still chatting with Vivek. A guy clad in black presented himself, addressed us and took us up. I still hoped to be out by 1:00 for lunch. After filling a form, the waiting continued upstairs with 25 odd people. No sign of any action. A bunch of referral candidates were whisked away to another building. I had a few referrals but people had warned me against it here as this org didn’t work that way.

More waiting. I kept myself entertained with SMSs to Vivek, gazing at the 10 odd clocks depicting times of various places across time zones. It was quite an entertainment as all were showing incorrect times from New York to London to Tokyo to Sydney.

Just I was beginning to get impatient, the black clothed guy that I would call P presented himself again and gave a very attractive offer of who wants to go and have lunch? No one was in the mood. We just wanted to finish it and be done for the day. Discouraged by a lack of response, he muttered, “you should cooperate. You should understand blah blah”. So many “shoulds” drove me mad. No apologetic tone. No courtesy. Zilch. That was it. I told him they needed to organize better. It didn’t matter whether I got the job or not then. He asked us to reassemble at 2:00 p.m.

Skipped lunch for a lack of place to goto nearby and came back at 1:50 p.m. More waiting. I finally went in at 2:40 p.m. totally exhausted from the 3.5 hour wait. The interview was ok and the interviewer was cooperative. I blacked out and my eyelids were closing but I survived. Lasted 30 mins and I moved to the next round. Little did I know that the next goddamn round would be at 5:35 p.m.

With no lunch no snack and meaningless waiting for 6 hours, I finally emerged at 6:10 p.m. My gut says I wouldn’t get the job because I was very aggressive. But I really don’t care. If you are curious to know, what was the place I interviewed at, it was IBM.

Today’s Tips :

  1. Get a good night’s sleep before an interview day
  2. Plan your travel ahead. If it is a last minute one, negotiate for a better travel deal with the company you are interviewing for. Else postpone the interview to a convenient date. That shows you are not desperate and works well in a services market.
  3. Do not take bullshit. If you respect yourself, only then can you expect others to give you one. Don’t be inhuman and wait for unreasonably long hours. Plan an alternate solution and suggest you would visit again for the next round. That gives you time to get things in perspective.
  4. Check your e-mail and ensure that you have all the documents that they asked for before you leave for the venue
  5. To avoid delays at arriving at the venue, make sure you find out where the place is a day in advance
  6. If you are waiting for longer hours at the venue, keep yourself refreshed by splashing water and drinking lots of water.
  7. If you have information that there are going to be numerous other people taking the interview, carry a book or iPOD to keep you entertained. And ofcourse some snacks to munch.

Was it my "Imagination at Work"?

July 29th was my last day at work. Exactly 75 days at this wonderful place. It is always difficult to leave your first job. But this was my second, so I didn’t have the emotional bondage. It was too short a period to have one either.

I admit the transition was difficult and the early days don’t bring back very happy memories. But that would have been true at any organization I would have joined. Technology was not their forte and they admitted it.
Too infatuated by technology, it took a while to come to senses and to learn how to balance both. To realize the fact that if one had the potential and the drive to change things for better, it was only a matter of time to be empowered to see those changes. I was beginning to feel that when I had to leave.

When you haven’t seen what can go wrong in how an organization functions, you start whining about trivial shortcomings and don’t appreciate how good the place is. So I want to take a moment and jot down all the good things that I observed in my short stint here:

1. Recruitment - Just as you can judge a person by the company he keeps, you can judge a company (read: organization) by its HR. If there was single biggest factor that persuaded me internally to join this place, it was the recruitment process. Amazing HR team. 3 round of interviews within 2 days and on the dot. Never did I have to wait for more than 2 mins. When I arrived for the interview once, I was escorted to and fro from the gate. Sure, for security reasons or courtesy. You are free to perceive as you want to, but I was impressed.

2. Between Recruitment and Day 1- Calls from immediate manager and HR to ensure that everything was going per plan and there were 2-3 hiccups my way and all were resolved with NO fuss.

3. Day 1 - I was floored. Same level of hospitality as I had witnessed before. The winning score however was a feedback form that I had to fill in at the end of the day. It had questions like –

Who did you have your lunch with? - Team, Friends, Alone
Did the joining procedure take long ?

Very comforting questions. The thought that someone had actually thought of putting such questions and not mediocre ones copied from somewhere was appreciable. Day 1 can be nightmare with hundreds of forms to be filled up, an intimidating feeling of a new place, judging eyes, the nervousness to be at your best to give a very good first impression and so on…But at end of Day 1, I felt GOOD. None less.
I did not have to grope for answers or lie for any of the above.

Can you believe I had a machine and place to sit within 3 hours? It is a big deal in India.

4. First week - I had to go on a 2 day emergency leave to attend to my hospitalized mom. That was no problem either.

A few things that I loved about the place:

1. Professionalism - No where ever have I seen such an universal display of professionalism. Respect for other’s time was so high that no meetings were ever conducted without a request placed atleast 2 weeks in advance. Having said that, it did not mean that you could not have ad hoc meetings if the situation demanded.

2. Transparency - They proved all the rules wrong. I have learnt the hard way to read between the lines in an offer letter or in a financial dealing. Whereas in this case, my suspicious mind tried in vain to find a catch point. There were none. It was all there in BLACK and WHITE.

3. Integrity - Amazing. The rules were the same for everyone. “All animals are equal. Some animals are more equals than the others” principle did not apply. Integrity across departments from HR until Finance and your managers. All read the same rule books, it flowed in their blood, there was no question of mending them.

4. Passion - People drive a company, cattle don’t. And passionate people drive a company better. In India where you can easily replace anybody’s job, it was good to see a place where people are given due respect at all levels and vice versa. The passion is clearly evident in the tone and every action. It is not just a job. You do it because you love it.

You may say I’m dreaming. But this is for REAL. It is a no-brainer to guess the name of the place I worked at.
I don’t know how to put this. But if I ever come back to Bangalore, I wouldn’t think for a moment to consider joining this place again. (and this is a BIG DEAL for someone who believes not going back to a place you have quit from).

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