Moving Ahead...

Hello folks,


Thanks for being the honored readers of my blog these many days. I decided to move on with my own website for my blogging & sharing purposes.


Please visit my website: http://www.thitherwards.com/ (not yet built, but will be soon).

Direct URL for my new blog location is: http://blog.thitherwards.com/

Please keep reading and sharing your thoughts with me and with the world :) And let me be privileged having you as my followers there as well :)




Cheers!
Be seeing you!!

What Would You Name It - Humanity Or Divinity?!!?

What Would You Name It - Humanity Or Divinity?!!?

We live in the world which is full of stinginess, lots of expectations, we cannot expect something back once lost, may it be a thing or a person or any immaterialized matter. Reasons for losing it may be many - negligence, ego or whatsoever!

I wanted to share a real short incident that happened with me recently, an eye opener for me at least.

One evening, we realized that we are out of money and wanted to withdraw some from an ATM, which is like 20 minutes away from my place if we go by walk. When we went to that ATM, we saw a big queue out there. With having no other option, we stood in that queue & were waiting for our turn. After we joined the queue, many more people joined behind us.

At our turn, we went in and withdrew some cash, started walking back to our house. Half way through (about 10 minutes later), we thought why not we go for a long walk, & started walking slowly. We walked like 2-3 KMs away from our house, for over 30 minutes and started walking back to our house.

On the way, we thought of buying some stuff & went to a store, picked up stuff, went to the cash counter to pay for them. We then realized we don't have money with us! WTH!!! Checked every where, in all my pockets, yet no luck - concerned & confused thinking where did I keep that money.

We’d a strong feeling that once lost is lost, especially in today's world. Even if you lose 100 bucks, it's considered gone. Someone would have picked up & went away. But wanted to give it a try, walked back all the way towards ATM point, looking here & there on the road side like a mad person. As we approached ATM point, we almost lost hope that we won't get them back. Still went nearer to the ATM, there were no single person standing there, as it was over an hour that we initially came out from the ATM.

Disappointed & irritated on myself that why I do this all times, negligence!!

As we approached the ATM, a lady, youngster of early 20s covered her face with a scarf completely, walked near to us and said "I was waiting for you here since long time!"

We were traumatized, we didn't even know that lady earlier & weren't sure what she meant by that. She continued talking to us - "You are the one who lost the money, right? When I went inside the ATM, I found the money down on the floor. I picked them up & started looking for you, but with no luck. Since then I was waiting for you here & I was sure that you guys come here again!”


Strange & bewildered feeling! When we were standing in the queue, we did see who was standing just behind us & didn't find any girls there. And we were sure there was no girl behind us in the queue. If she was in the queue like far behind, there were people who were just behind us, would have went inside, & didn’t find any money down there?? I mean how come? No one else finds money in the ATM cabin, & only she finds them when she wasn't just behind us? The thing is I checked my pockets after we walked like 200 meters from the ATM cabin & they were right in my pocket. She was saying she found them in the ATM cabin itself!!


We were in some kind of unusual yet good feeling, thinking how good that person would be who picked up the money, waited for so long time at the petrol pump for someone whom she doesn't even know at all?? I mean, would you do that if you were in her position? I'm not pointing out your honesty, if we were really honest and don’t want to pick other's money, we would have handed that over to petrol pump station guys & would have told them to return when someone comes in searching for them.


And you know she also told us - "I wanted to hand them over to the station guys, but then I thought they would not be honest in returning them back & hence I was waiting here" - who would do that in this current world? A lady at late night? Will you? I myself wouldn't be doing that - waiting for long, with an intention to return that money back to whoever comes there searching for them.


We were very thankful to her & were willing to thank her in whatever the way we can at that point of time. We asked her email address at least to be in touch with such a wonderful person with succha wonderful feelings & thoughts, but she was like refused to tell us her name. We didn't know how to thank her, my cousin offered her some money from the total amount just as a token of gratitude, because we weren't able to think of anything else than thanking her in some form. You know what she said - "If I needed money, I would have taken all & gone without waiting for you here at this time.. " - We knew that, but still you know....


We tried asking her at least one form of contact or even name, but she refused to give her details & said - "Your blessings are  just enough..." - Touching...

Saying that, she started walking away from us, we just stood by the road side, astonished, watching her, adoring her helpful nature from inner self. She slowly vanished out of our sight...

We were like wondering is it really true or some kind of dream!! I mean, if someone in this current world is really good, he/ she would have gone to police station & handed over that money to them or to petrol pump guys or some other alternative which would have been easier, without having to wait for someone for a long time. She was like an angel for us, who helped us with loads of humane feelings, she also said - "I felt you must be in real need of that money & wanted to give it back to you at any cost...” - How divine!!!


Her statements sounded false to us – that she found the money inside the ATM cabin, she was just behind us in the queue - both were not true. But her had nature impressed us like hell & let us fall in love with her attitude. One thing that hits my mind is she must not be some mortal creature (Do you think I feel crazy?)... I still don't believe that some human, living in this cunning world, did all this for some stranger!! Whatever it is, it was an awesome emotional touching experience. Unfortunately we couldn't make our thought happen to keep in touch with her.


I mean in today's world, when someone met with an accident & in a horrible condition, on the road seeking help from someone very badly, no one approaches that person for any help so easily; Where there is so much of frightfulness in doing anything; where people are so freaking selfish - Does people like the one I've encountered really exist? I know for sure that I'm neither good nor a perfect person. Do you claim yourself one of those kinds? Or did you come across such incidents or people like her? Well, I am guessing there would be a majority of 'NO's when I take a voting for this question, which you would also agree with eventually.


To her: We hope you will read this blog sometime, we wanted to thank you for whatever you did to us. It’s not about money that you returned to us (we already lost hope that we will find them back), but it’s about your way of thinking to help people without any expectations in return. If possible, we would like to be in touch with such a wonderful heart. We don’t want you be anonymous to us & named you as SMRITI (Remembrance) :) Hope you like it or even if you don’t like it, hope you will respond to this blog with your actual name :)

I came across this over web and adored it: 

सर्वस्वरूपे सर्वेशे सर्वशक्ति समन्विते
भयेभ्यस्त्राहि नो देवि दुर्गे देवि नमोऽस्तुते

Oh Goddess of all Godesses, you are one who takes many forms, who is all powerful and worshipped by all. Oh Goddess Durga, I Salute to you and plead with you to save and protect us from all fears.


PS: Pictures here are taken randomly from the web and not not owned by me.

Hi-Tech Bribery - Recruitment Business in the Current IT World!

Just wanted to share this with folks around. I was thinking ‘Do such things happen?’. How offensive it would against the company if its employee takes bribe to fulfill the opening. He/ she who took bribe along with he/ she who bribed for the position will be sacked immediately and would be black listed in NASSCOM, if found guilty. I know corruption & bribery is there everywhere, but this is like ‘selling’ the jobs. OMG!

Why should one bribe for getting a job? I could think of only one reason – looking for a break in something in which he/ she doesn’t have any experience and which pays way much higher that what he/ she used to get. And why would one take bribe for filling an opening, again one reason I could think of – a sick and money minded nature of that person who is ‘selling’ a job taking ‘disadvantage’ of company’s trust on that person. We should be very careful with and keep distant from these kind of encounters, lodge a complaint against them as well with Company’s Compliance & Legal departments. Agree/ Disagree?

Below is the recent email from someone about ‘selling’ openings, which is awfully unprofessional, especially in the current IT market.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Me
Date: Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 6:35 PM
Subject: Re: We have opening for your profile
To: XXX YYY XXXYYY@gmail.com
Who are you and where did you get my email address??
That too 'selling' jobs to people from an unofficial email address?
I will be lodging a complaint against you with Cyber Crime.


On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 6:31 PM, XXX YYY wrote:
Hi
We have an opening for your profile we are charging 3 months Salary
If you are interested please send me your updated resume i'll call you
Regards
XXX

-----------------------------------------------------------------
I've come to know that one of my colleagues at my current work place did take a bribe to fulfill an open position. I just don't have any proofs for that, else I would have made his life tougher.

Not just this, I've heard that of late, TCS did catch hold of it's employee who took bribe from a candidate for filling up an open position. He just got sacked immediately and black listed in NASSCOM.

 

Each company, no matter big or small, should keep an eye in this recruitment field as well, without blindly trusting its employees. There should be multiple levels to be followed in the interview process before confirming the candidate based on just an interviewer's opinion. Only then these inappropriate and irrelevant recruitments can be stopped and worth candidates will be considered to fulfill a position.

If you can't go to your management to complain against the person who took bribe from you, lodge a complaint against that person/ organization in http://www.ipaidabribe.com/. Someone will be truely listening to your frustration/ anger :)

 

 

PS: The pictures are taken randomly over Web and are not mine.

Escalation: Why, When & How?

Hello Folks,

This is in continuation to my earlier post named "Does 'Professionalism' means 'Tying-A-Tie'?".

After facing all those stupid, unwanted problems, I've finally shifted to an other employer, who turns to be my ex-company's client. Actually, there wasn't any official agreement between my ex-employer and I that I should not join any of its clients within any specific time period. But, after I've joined this new company, I started facing that same old unprofessional behaviour from my ex-company again, after they came to know that I'm with one of their clients.

You know we have to get Form-16 from all of our ex-employers (with whomever we have worked in the same Fiscal year) in addition to our current company's Form-16, to file for IT Returns for the current Fiscal year. For this, I've started communicating through emails with my ex-company inquiring about my Form-16 couple of months ago, but as expected, there weren't any responses to my emails. I have started editing the subject of the email with Reminder1, Reminder2, Reminder3 etc each time I resent those inquiry emails to them, but no responses yet.

One good thing about me (not self praising :P) is that when I was quitting that company, I've noted down the email addresses of all the people in HR, Legal, Admin, Finance, IT, their hierarchical (first level, second level, third level... ) reporting managers' contacts including CEO, CIO, CFO, Chief Legal Officer, all VPs. And I got the email addresses of the Govt. of India IT Officers' from web, who manages that particular region where my ex-company falls under.

I've been emailing HR asking about my Form-16 since last 5 months (I know Form-16 will be ready by June, but I wanted to change my address in their records to where they should be sending my Form-16), but not a single time that HR responded back to me or acknowledged me on the receipt of my emails. He could have at least replied back saying that it will be taken care of or something like that. But never did he.

The corporate rule across the IT world is to respond to emails from whomever are they from with in 48 Hrs with the status of request at least, which they failed to do even after multiple attempts by me. Obviously this implies how pathetic and unprofessional that company's employees are, including HR who holds high responsibilities with regards to Human Resources.

The last email which I sent them was on the day before yesterday, with the subject edited as 'Reminder4'. This time, I've already lost my patience and copied all the people in that HR's hierarchial structure (his manager, his manager's manager, HOD, VP, COE, CFO, CIO, Legal Head) and the Govt. of India IT Officers under whom my taxes and PF are maintained.

If I tell you the outcome, you would probably be surprised :D

Well, I've got the response within 1 Hr from the VP-HR apologizing for the HR's behaviour and saying that my Form-16 will be sent to me ASAP sometime this week :)

You should know, in few companies, how pathetic HR will be as opposed to how well they should maintain relations with their employees and of course with ex-employees as well. May be current employees are 'building blocks' for that company, which doesn't mean ex-employees are already broken blocks :P LOL. After all, ex-employees are also one of the factors that builds company's reputation within the IT world. Few sick HRs think that they are the rulers, they should know HR will exist only when resources exists and they should understand how important are the decent Human relations within and outside the organization.

So, what I want to convey you finally? :) Well, not much but be aware of collecting all the necessary information while you leave the company which will be helpful for your future activities in one or the other ways.


- Keep all the people/ team'c contacts (HR, Legal, Admin etc - email addresses and phone numbers) while you leave the company, you may need them going further even when you would have joined another company.

- DO NOT send separate emails at different times if the matter of inquiry is same. Keep 'Reply'ing to the same sent email(s) with subject being edited to Reminder1/2/.... and copy one level higher official each time you resend the same email. Which means you are keeping the 'Chain' of emails, and not seperate emails. This way, when you escalate it, people will know since when actually you are trying to interact with the person and yet no help from that person.

- Have at least 48 Hrs gap while you resend the same email to that person (let them take time to look into the matter you are asking for, which is ethical).

- Wait until 48 Hrs after you send a follow-up email with subject having 'Reminder 4'.

- Still no response? Escalate it to all the Higher Authority people in that company. They have to respond now, because it's about company's eithcs we are pointing out.

In my case, that HR must have been 'ASHAMED' of his behaviour, because his VP did reply to my email (after escalation) apologizing me for HR's behaviour, copying that person, CEO, CFO, CIO and other people in the management. Truly, thats enough when someone apologizes on your behalf, keeping you and all your managers in loop.

So, does escalation help us in anyway? Well, yes it obviously does have an impact on the flow and the people, but we don't need to necessarily escalate for each and every small thing. We should give them a chance and/ or time and when there is really a problem with that person's professionalism, even though the request falls under his/ her scope, escalate it. Trust me, escalation also means how unefficient the people are, for not responding to requests even after multiple attempts and even after taking his/ her so sweet long time. Escalation will have a negative impact on the person whom we are escalating on and a positive impact on who are escalating. Oh btw, it could be the other way around as well, depending on what, when, to whom and how we are escalating. So, always remember, escalation should be professional as well, with genuine and valid reasons. Think twice before you escalate on anyone or anything, because it costs some impact.


PS: The pictures are not mine and are taken randomly from web!!

Motivation @Work

Just wanted to share with you my opinion on how important the motivational factors are @work place. Motivational factors plays significant role in keeping up the spirits of an employee and you know, that a motivated employee is one of the key factors for a break-through in the business. I'm not happy with my current occupation though I am contended with my work and pay.

Just 'work' and 'pay' aren't the only factors that motivates an employee, there will be so many other ways for an employee to get motivated. To name afew:

* Team Outings: Company Sponsorship or Team's Contribution - helps in filling the gaps among the team members, if any.
* Rewards & Recognition: May be once in a Quarter - highlighting the special achievements of an individual/ team towards making the business effective.
* Birthday Goodies: By the Company - Can be Anything, not crossing the budget constraints.
* Work Satisfaction: Reduce the Idle Time - utilize the resource(s) in all possible ways when the employee comes forward, keep them busy.
* On-time Pay: Salary, Appraisals - No one likes to wait for long to get their payments.
* Complements: Emails complementing an individual's or team's efforts.
* Surveys: Also, there should be some way to take each employee's opinion on how they feel in his/ her current role in terms of their satisfaction levels, in the form of Surveys (of course anonymously as an option) which helps management to take any necessary action(s).

There will be many other ways to keep an employee motivated and not limited to the above specified.

It all depends on the Company's culture and the retension policies which are in place. In my opinion, a company which doesn't work on retaining it's employees will have high attrition rate and may not attract new people to be part of it's family.

Any thoughts? More motivational factors that you feel are important as well? Your inputs are welcome and will be highly appreciable.



PS: Pictures are taken randomly from web.