A brief introduction before I start the tirade: The whole issue which caused me to rant about it is that I joined a company called SHITTY* which no more exists because it got merged with another company called SHITTIER* which hoped that the combined entity would make them an indispensable 'skunk' who can dominate the market and would one day make them the SHITTIEST company in the world! And in the middle of this woolgathering moment that our CEO and management were going through, "we" the unfortunate employees of this treacherous company went through the most depressing state in our career!
Talking about salaries, it's a known fact that most of the Indian IT companies pay awfully low wages. But you might think "of course, why do you think the work gets outsourced to India?" Ok, look, I do agree that Indians are in the spectrum of choice for outsourcing, primarily, because of its cheap labor; but, hell no-way can an Indian engineer work for a puny salary of 350$/month!! WTF? I would rather drive an autorikshaw for rest of my life than to work as an engineer!
Now, that's called as wishful thinking…but you see, reality worked differently for me and it was bitter.
I joined a multi-national corporate soon after my graduation and I was extremely excited about my work and focused on the work with enormous dedication; my core intention from the beginning was to make sure that I prove to the organization that "I can be a valuable asset to it." And I proved the same in a short time -- and yes! I perfectly qualify to make that statement for having received multiple certificates for excellence and also for having received fantabulous performance ratings!
So much so for the record – now, I hope there wouldn't be any eyebrows lifted when I start ranting over the atrocities of the evil corp. I worked for.
In short, to explain the atrocities shown by corp. and some of my half-witted foolish decisions: I did work for an IT company as an engineer in India; I did get abused by its flagrantly low wage structure; in spite of our salaries being horrendously low -- we were subjected to a 2.5% salary cut in the name of recession; I did curse myself for working extra hours and weekends hoping to get promoted sooner which turned out to be wasteful; I did regret for having brought myself to the mercy of an ingrate evil corporate when I was begging them to relieve me earlier than the notice period after resigning – which they didn't; And, I also hate myself for not thinking of emancipating out from this miserable situation earlier! For 2 damn years I worked like a domestic ass hoping for a better day… In reality there was there was no positive impetus that me nor did any of my co-workers get in any aspect other than gaining knowledge/experience which is subjective; instead, we experienced constant subjugation by their corporate policies and norms.
The company showed complete disregard for the basic traits that a corporate multinational should practice; the trait being: "Salary given to employees must commensurate to the market level"
Forget salaries being commensurate with the market -- it is far below IT standards!
Adding to the glory, employees had to face the brunt of illogical salary cuts which was supposedly an "Organizational decision!". We got a salary cut of 2.5%! We were notified about the same through mail with a subject "Total Rewards changes"; what a joke. First of, folks out here never had a rewarding salary; secondly, we never even had our salaries aligned up front (alignment is to normalize salaries of all employees of a company when it gets acquired to that of the bigger company, so, better would be the pay when it gets aligned)!
For having restrained the wrath of sub par salary for more than a year, yet another fiasco by the management was like to plunge a puddle of oil into arson; a salary cut in the name of economic downturn exacerbated my resentment to the next level.
I realized the extent of callousness that corp. had for their employees. As always HR department couldn't make statements about decision taken by corp.; and, all they did was to bounce all questions with a sullen solitary answer "This is an organizational decision, not even the CEO is spared of this pay cut". Probably this statement has the lamest of any comparison ever made by a Cro-Magnon in this planet!
The above statement made by the HR proved the fact that they are genuinely nothing more than a marionette operated by a greedy corp. or they might just be extremely ignorant and indurate for not comprehending the gravity of the situation. As usual they made their way through the meeting talking and quibbling about trivial issues which couldn't get more serious than insufficient tissue papers in the lavatory! Can you believe it?
Damn it! After latching on to a company for 2 years with an amazing record, all you get in the end is a 2.5% pay-cut and a new tissue paper roll in the lavatory! Bloody hell! I couldn't think of anything else than to escape from this slovenly insolent corporate monster. I finally resigned after getting an offer from a relatively smaller organization who assured me a descent enough salary and a believable career growth.
But something unexpected happened; I didn't know that quitting a company would be such an ordeal. It wasn't an easy ride. Especially, if you are easily fleeceable -- which I am and I am not proud of it! If you are considered as a good resource, then, you would see a lot of baits hurled at you during one-one meetings with your manager and unfortunately I fell pray to one such bait: Onsite project in "Singapore"
I was blinded by the bait and totally fell prey to their devilish ploy -- The Retention Plan!
I was bitten by the "onsite bait"! I am a little embarrassed about that, but I don't completely regret falling for the bait because, you see, we Indians have a psychologically created mandate for going abroad; no matter what reason you're going abroad; no matter how many days you spend there; going abroad for the first time gives a sublime feeling… and, the best part is more than you, people around you are awestruck on just hearing about you going abroad -- for some uncanny reason. And yes, I relished that very moment of phony success!
The temporary moment halted one day with another outrageous decision made by the corp. Though I was poised, the decision made by the crop really gave me a jolt. The decision was divulged on September 26, 09. "The due salary alignment activity will not happen this year, hence after company merger your salary will not increase by any percent". Alas, the final blow; another transgression from a promise originally made; this decision made by them occurred to me as a lucid statement directed to all the employees working for the corp. saying "If you still stick on to me, then you are a looser!"
I immediately sent my resignation letter to the management; this time there is no looking back!
I might sound like a stupendous looser myself for not quitting this company earlier, and hence, in an attempt to not embarrass further -- I am going to stop bragging about the inglorious achievements of my company, myriads of its mistakes and its heady nonchalance shown towards us.
I truly do not understand the corporate jargon. And, I don't feel it is worth remonstrating literally against those gross iniquitous deeds of my company, for I believe: if you throw a stone on a pile of crap - it would backlash with a fresh mushy crap aiming right at you! A gross allegory, but you see, there is a point in my statement -- "Never love your company, but love your job."
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