Burn Out In IT sector

Guys last week i was on NDTV studio participating for a prog named Chennai speaks out. That was an interesting topic to fight on. Well the topic was like is the management responsible for the stress loaded on IT professionals or the employees themselves stress upon for thick vallets.

Well the topic started like this


To what extent the Role of HR in a company for turning burn out in employees
I would say HR has lot to do in a company. One of the HR was arguing saying " when we are recruiting a fresher they say you are my GOD. But after two years same fresher comes to HR asking for some increment and if they doesnt do that they curse them and even if HR gives a pink slip they curse them, what does HR has to do with Pink slip"


Now i say when a HR recruites an employee definitely the employee would be thankful for that but think once HR is not selecting an employee on their personal opinion rather they select an employee based on his or her strengths like Technical assets, communication, interpersonal skilss etc etc. Now Employee works the company for two years and company have earned ten times more that an employee being payed . Now that employee comes and ask for some increment or a good project, Management says why should we do???? come on this is business employees are not here to work for lifetime with the same package and more commitments. When coming to Pink slips, i would say this pretty unfair with employees in many situations. The Decision making is with the management and if the company runs into losses most probably that is due to pure managerial decisions, Now say why should employee get fired here.

And HR was saying i am not unfair to an employee giving him an pink slip. I dont say it is mistake of an HR. But imagine how many HR's at Fresher level get fired compared to normal employees. And more over Employee is the one who directly gets the money to the company but not the HR. Instead company has to spend money on HR to retain him, i mean HR doesn't earn a single penny to the comapny which an employee does. How many times HR comes to employees asking for the problems being faced by the employees.



Another question in the show was "How many employees say No directly when he or she asked to do some task"


Hearing to this i would rather say how many managers are there that they would LOVE to here No. i think count would be very minimal. Employees are not being faced to transparent situation but they are curved into such a shape that they are used to say YES even though it is tough to say YES. Imagine a manager fix up a deadline and comes to employee asking for can you do it and if that employee says NO it is like direct impact on his aprraisal. This is how Burn out Generates.Most of the times Managers treat employee as a piece of clay which can be moulded into shape they needed.



Are the project Deadlines by the PM's a reason for Burn out?


Here i will say most of the times it is YES. Bcoz how many PM's will have a meeting with employees before fixing up a deadline , if they are questioned on this they reply back "i assumed a deadline based on employee assets" now employees are not the computers these are human brains, even these are the same brains which a project manager has and these brains should not only think about managerial things but also think about technical milestones to be achieved. Deadlines needs to be flexible i mean PM's should be transperant enough to the clients saying what is rite and what is wrong instead of accepting the tasks in short time.


How much does recognition have an impact on Burn Out?


Recognition is the one of the main factor that turns out for burn out in employees. Imagine employees working day and night for achieving the deadlines and PM's get the credit for just managing the team ( boss they just managed the things nothing more than that, if employee doesnt work what does a managed can do but employee can work with out a manager.) .
The whole thing starts from being unrecognised by the management. I would every member in a team is valuable and every member in a team should be recognised for what he or she has done for the project may be a big thing or a small thing as they can only do the things which they were assigned to do. i will say my personal experience, i am very good member to my team every one says including the management as i never had an escallation in my 3 year career with the company i am working for and i take care of team building activities and also i work towards organization as a Event committee manager (basically i am a developer for a project). I am doing so many things. Now the time has come Appraisal :) PM told me how you are different from other member in a team i said the same things and i also said most of the time i am working for the project and when ever i get free time i works to wards team and the organization. Then immediate reply was " you are being paid for project not for team building activities and Organizational activities" i was stunned and asked him how many employees in your organization who are sitting on bench are utilising their time in a proper way " he replied nothing. And he said these activities are nothing. Man imagine if Management has such PM's in the organization they would definitely loose the employees like ne. I have least respect towards my Manger who replied to me in such a way.
What i am saying is Management should have clear vision what sort of people they are managing. The PM which i had conversation is leading a project who has got absolutely no work and they used to play "WORD PUZZLE","SUDOKU" (whole team) and he gave appreciations for that teams members as they are his freinds. Man how can guys like this are in the company.

He has least technical skills as a PM and worst communication skills as a PM and Worst Managerial skills now company is paying him high and bcoz of his behaviour my team size is half of the original. Now see , why should an employee work for an organization which doesn't recognise him????????????????



One of the CEO's on the show said

Many organization provide Gyms and Other health care activities why not employees utilise these things


GOD i want these management to open their eyes, employees are here to work not for work outs and imagine an employee working a fully loaded project and mentally stressed when coming out of office , how can he go for gym and start running on a thread mill. And if an employee doesn't have enough work how many PM's encourage that employee to go gym and do some work out. Guys think correct you are managers not chaprasis to give such foolish ideas.


Coming to health check ups. I accept most of the companies do health check up but that is just for the name sake saying to the industry that even we are doing health check up activities. How many companies take the feedback from the doctors who did the check up of the employee, i mean feedback on health conditions i would no company does that. Take a practical situation , if i would attend a health campaign organised by my company and doctor says you are weak , mentally stressed up you cant come to office for 3 days will the Management considers this , absolutely not. so what's my suggestion is instead of wasting money on Gyms, health check ups and Infrastructure like how well does my bulding looks,
spend the same money on the employee by giving some bonus , increments etc etc.




One of the CEO said you should change the company if you are being ill treated.


What he said was true but the question is why should an employee should be ill treated even he is an asset to the company. When does the question of ill treated rises. this raises only when employee is not satisfied with this managers and when management is clear on this why cant they sack manager rather than an employee. They managers are crucial towards the organization, boss when employee explaing the practical situation that he being faced by the manager how can company think that manager is an asset to the company. Imagine even if there is a small escalation on an employee that employee will be faced the consequences by the management why not this being implemented for the managers.

One big question is why should an employee change the company if he/she is being ill treated . I think they should have enough rights to question the management before they take a decision of quits. And after the arguements if the employee quits then i say management has lost in this arguement not the employee.



You should be like a family in a company.
Boss we are not here to make our famlies we are here to make money and you are here to make money. This is pure business , management is earning on employees and employees should earn
according to their efforts.

Look at the media they created hype for the death of Mr.Ranjan Das due to stress on his work and whole debate started now is really IT people are being stressed. I feel pitty for Ranjan Das but he is big shot got enough money towards his family , i am not criticising him but i want to take the situations of the employees who are getting fired and who got fired.
Imagine a employee who is newly wedded and bought a house on Loan and next day he saw a mail saying that "you are No longer allowed to work with this organization" as the company turing into losses. Imagine what sort of burden that employee has to weigh on his shoulders.

Media should not take issue of Ranjan Das and say there is lott of stress out there in the industry, there are many many employees who are suffering in this industry bcoz of poor management and poor and disguting PM's and Managers.

Managment is purely responsible for Burn out in an employee.