Hiring and Firing now in India!

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

With every event in the globe some phrases become popular. Be it 'War on Terror' after 9/11 or 'Big Bang' on the ongoing scientific experiment. The global recession has resulted in the phrase 'Hiring and Firing' become a talk of the town. In India we are hearing it for the first time in such a massive scale. Till only a few months back most of us considered this term to be very 'American'.

What has happened to the Indian economy is like a tyre burst at a speed of 80 kmph when we were used to speed limit of 40 kmph till a few year ago. Non only did we panic in such a situation but in being so left the accelerator and the brakes on their own. To add to the woes the steering wheel was not used to steer the car out of danger but rather as an object to hold on to.

Over the last five years the economy was on a rise and the service sector grew rapidly. Jobs were not scarce anymore and the metros attracted people like a magnet. Most of the industries hired people not on their present requirement but on the projected requirement for the future. How could they have ignored the basic fact of the economy that after rise for a considerable period there is due to be a slump is a question to be asked. When the largest economy in the world US slowed down with its financial institutions failing the repercussions were felt in India.

Most of the people in the IT, ITES, Aviation and Real Estate sectors have a sword hanging over their heads if not actually but psychologically due to the never ending rumours in all the organisations. The employers may be talking of a lay off like in US but they are missing one basic point here the huge cultural and the economic difference between US and India.

US being a individualistic society has most of the workers fending for themselves where as in India the census proves every worker feeds a family of four. Also the citizens in US are covered under the Social Security net where as in India theses concepts are almost non existent. So firing an employee in India is not as easy as in US because the effects will be enormous here.

The immediate solution for the employers should be to cut costs wherever possible be it even in small fractions as it will promote a cost cutting culture. They have to overhaul the entire functioning to increase the productivity. In the long run they should make sure that unbelievable pay hikes and perks should not be given it times of boom rather a better safety net should be created for darker days. If required more people should be hired on contracts so as to counter such slowdowns as the people on contracts will do financial planning for the doom days in advance.

Its the responsibility of both the employees and the employers to come out of this depression without hurting each other. Hiring and firing does not seem too feasible in India and the corporates should not resort to such an act.