India Shining Generation Wakes Up to Layoffs

arZan:

welcome back:)

Easy to say that, but it is always hard on anyone who gets laid off especially for reasons of economic separation. In India, where jobs are not in plenty supply, it is even more hard hitting.

Sourav: I beg to differ. Arzan is right that the current generation needs to wake up to the hard truth of corporate culture. They had the best of 2 worlds- socialistic costs for education and living off their parents' income and homes. Then they got these huge salaries that their parents had never seen and these young ones never saved nor created assets- rather they entered a "debt" trap by buying cars, bikes and in some cases homes too without job insurance ( a sure thing in a socialistic set up). Welcome to the global world of "economic liberalization". At least be grateful that these kids do not have a huge college debt on their heads to pay off- for most of them their parents would have shelled out the dough.

If every person's job is secured, then the corporte is not secured. Everyone is expected to perform in "chaotic calm" to survive, so that corporate gurus and art of living gurus can survive in tandem.

Temporal....thanks :)

sourav....read the next comment

blokesablogin......you said it really well.

suresh.naig....:)

I agree with 'blokesblogin'. This does not make sense at all. You cannot have the best of both worlds. I was watching TV yesterday they were making it sound as if some great injustice had been heaped upon them. Classic case of 'Capitalise profits and socialise losses(lay-offs)'.

Spoilt brats!

And can someone please airdrop Raj Thackerey in Masai country?

Well, there is the other side of the story, people from small towns work in the aviation industry and in call centers. Many of these kids actually work very hard and are the backbones of their families.

I know quite a few of them who have helped their families through tough times and being the sole bread winners of their families they worry about the fate of their families if they lose their jobs.

Deepti, I understand and I empathise with them. My own job is ending in a month and half and I know what a pain it is to be laid off even if I don't have a family to support. The fact is that this **is** the reality of a corporate job.you have to get used to the concept of lay-offs. You cannot give a dharna outside the company. And what happens if they take you back after a dharna? The company will wind-up and you will lose your job anyway.

Remember these people are earning much more than they would have in the earlier socialist set-up. You have to save for a rainy day and accept being laid off as the new reality. It is ridiculous to give dharnas and have political goondas put pressure.

And at the end of the day who pays for the bailout to Jet? The taxpayer!

Well Ritu, the way I see it they have the right to do dharna and the company has the right to give them month's compensation and say sayonara.

Politicians will do anything to make news. The management of the company should give them the finger and stick to their guns.

Mr Goyal didn't and he is willing to put up with the consequences. So be it!

Lay off indeed are a part of life, we did leave socialism behind but now we are facing recession and maybe depression. Its a different ball game altogether. Our grandparents lived through it and those were the toughest times.

I am not talking about those who work for the heck of it and live the life of ease with their parents. I am taking about people who have come up the hard way from the lower ranks.

Sure, they bought the bike or the car, even took home loans. I don't blame them - its called aspiration.

We have no way of knowing how many of them saved and who didn't. But these rainy days are gonna last a long time and eat up most savings.

Those from the lower ranks have no cushion to fall back on. No rich mommy daddy to return to. Mommy and daddy depend upon them.

As far as tax payer money goes in India unfortunately we are used to knowing that our money fills coffers of those in power and barely one-tenth is put to real use.

RBI already is doing bank bail outs and more sectors are gonna hang around with begging bowls.

Thats the reality of our current times.

Deepti I understand all what you say, but the bottom line is that aspiration is all fine. But in your aspirational climb upwards, don't lose sight of the ground. Good and bad times are cyclic. In the good times create cushions for the bad times if that means spending a little less then so be it. That is now capitalism works. Indians cannot expect and demand the job security of socialism

Yes, the times are bad and most certainly the lower strata gets hit worse than the middle class I sympathise with their losing jobs and I don't agree with their reaction and goondaism to force the coporate to take give them the job back.

Also, it might be noted that a large section of the people laid off are in-flight staff who are quite well-paid it really is not the lower middle class section of the society that is protesting

Ritu, many of the inflight staff are from towns such as Amritsar, Gurdaspur and there too the middle class looks down upon those who take up such jobs. Also the Naresh Goyal in the news conference said that most of those laid off barely made ten to twenty thousand and were in their early twenties.

How much can they save in that little an amount? Even a garment factory worker in Bangalore makes about six grand. Maids nowadays demand about five grand.

Saving doesnt come easy in India given the rate of inflation. And I do maintain that savings don't really act as umbrellas on rainy days.

The job freeze will probably drain the saved up resources pretty fast. Peaceful dharnas are fine, unions were supposed to do that. But if they get violent as it happened in Noida where a CEO lost his life thats something that should never be allowed and law should crack down upon them.

Employees aren't dish rags that can be used and thrown aside without a thought, a time frame should be provided say a month before people are bid goodbye.

Its always traumatic to be told - hey you are fired and a very American business model which never was part of our Indian work culture and no reason why we should blindly ape this model of American firing just because we have become a 'neo-liberal capitalist nation'.

Anyhow I was kind of touched by the Chairman's speech though those jaded said he bowed down to political pressure.

With the way things are now with people committing suicide, sliding into depression a glimmer of hope sustains many.

Edison's factory burned down and his employees began to cry that they probably lost their means of living. He turned around and said that they would together build a better factory.

A good leader doesn't bail out without a fight. If Naresh Goyal can keep his employees and pull Jet Airways out of the present crisis then he would be a good example to study.

I for one am willing to give him that chance to prove himself.

"many of the inflight staff are from towns such as Amritsar, Gurdaspur and there too the middle class looks down upon those who take up such jobs."

Just curious to know if fair-skinned Punjabis are given preferential treatment in being recruited compared to South Indians. Any statistics are available?

Deepti

"Its always traumatic to be told - hey you are fired and a very American business model which never was part of our Indian work culture and no reason why we should blindly ape this model of American firing just because we have become a 'neo-liberal capitalist nation'."

The reason India produced only poverty and unemployment is because India, egged on by welfare of workers and unions, refused to empower economic engine of growth. Businesses need the freedom to manage their resources - and be able to take business decisions in the interest of their businesses - that includes ability to hire and fire resources to meet their bottom-lines. That is not aping American business model or neo-liberal capitalism. That is practical economics 101. There is no other way to produce wealth, growth and employment.

"If Naresh Goyal can keep his employees and pull Jet Airways out of the present crisis then he would be a good example to study."

That is like banking on miracles. If a business has no ability to cut costs, even in economic downturns, even on the face of mounting losses - you know what - save miracles, it is going to lose most of those remaining jobs also. Indian's industrial landscape is littered with wastelands and sick units created by counter-productive welfare mandates imposed by politicians and unions.

"Employees aren't dish rags that can be used and thrown aside without a thought"

Employees provide services to businesses. And they get paid for it in return. It is a sales transaction - where employer is the customer and employee a service provider. Employer has to have the freedom to purchase the services from best possible source. Employment is not an entitlement, a welfare joint. Hiring decisions can not be mandated to meet political mandates or some sort of quotas. Layoff decisions can not be mandated based on who is going to suffer the most due to job loss. That is cheap populism that created grinding poverty and unemployment during socialist era. Unless India gives due respect to engine of economic growth and wealth creation, it will continue to specialize in poverty and misery and demagogues will rule the roost exploiting them.

Kerty:

""The reason India produced only poverty and unemployment is because India, egged on by welfare of workers and unions, refused to empower economic engine of growth. Businesses need the freedom to manage their resources - and be able to take business decisions in the interest of their businesses - that includes ability to hire and fire resources to meet their bottom-lines. That is not aping American business model or neo-liberal capitalism. That is practical economics 101. There is no other way to produce wealth, growth and employment.""

Perhaps France, Sweden, Italy, Germany etc. etc. failed Economics 101...never mind, they are doing pretty well economically without the right to fire workers at whim.

it's never an either or proposition considering layoffs, downsizing etc. Do the fat-checked CEO's take the blame and paycuts? last time i checked, the ration of the CEO vs. regular worker in most Japanese corporation was 35:1 (approx) and in the US it was more like 350:1 (approx). There is no single model to work with. laying off workers like some trash, in the end, comes to haunt society in general and that includes the economy too. after all, if there is high unemployment, people begin to consume less too etc. etc. There is no single one-size fits all model of capitalism. The US comes closest to the de-regulated "the market will take care of it all" robber-baron style of capitalism, and look at the results for the society overall. It may be a superpower, but heck, look at the other indices of development and well-being, compared to Europe, Japan etc.

CS

"France, Sweden, Italy, Germany etc. .........they are doing pretty well economically without the right to fire workers at whim"

Who decides how a company should tailor its payroll costs and staffing needs to meet company's business plans and economic cycles - employees, unions, mobsters, government, politicians, company's management, investors/owners?

Socialist-capitalism might work when it has to service very tiny population base, but it would not work where it has to satisfy employment and growth aspirations of very vast population base like India. Unless Indian socialists think economy should work only for small % of population so that resulting poverty and people left behind can be politically exploited for advancing socialism in India.

China is using communist-capitalism to make its communism fiscally viable - capitalism is geared to serve communism - but nobody expects it to serve majority of Chinese. And that is good enough for china because communism does not want people to be independent or prosperous, but rather depend on state for basic necessities and survival.

European countries are using socialist-capitalism to make their cradle-to-grave socialism fiscally viable - capitalism is geared to serve socialism. Their limited population base allows them to sustain their overreaching welfare socialism without blowing them up in bankruptcy. They are able to strike a right balance between socialism and capitalism to suit their smaller need base. However, when the same are extrapolated to humongous nations with vastly different needs, the same successful systems would lose viability and under-serve the people gravely. Historically, Europe had to colonize other countries to make their welfare states fiscally viable. Modern capitalism is advanced and robust enough to make colonialism redundant for sustaining their welfare socialism. But it won't be for too long. When capitalism falters and unable to sustain the welfare socialism, they will have to go back to their old tricks of colonizing greener pastures. They are already trying to acquire major economic and political stakes in 3rd world countries and former colonial nations.

Kerty:

""Who decides how a company should tailor its payroll costs and staffing needs to meet company's business plans and economic cycles - employees, unions, mobsters, government, politicians, company's management, investors/owners?...European countries are using socialist-capitalism to make their cradle-to-grave socialism fiscally viable - capitalism is geared to serve socialism.""

err, ummm, really? so why the need for the state in the US to spend 700 billion of tax payer dollars to rescue organizations that fucked up royally? where is that money coming from? and where is it going? isn't this using "socialism" to shore up "capitalism"? or is it when corporations are "welfare bums" all is forgiven??

CS

"why the need for the state in the US to spend 700 billion of tax payer dollars to rescue organizations that fucked up royally?........isn't this using "socialism" to shore up "capitalism"?"

Government is responsible for messing up Freddie twins, treasury department, regulations, money supply, availability of credit, interest rates, defecit spending etc. Government manages them and responsible for them. None of them are part of free market or capitalism.

Government turned the mortgage sector into housing welfare - fulfillment of American dream and ownership society - it promised free homes to all, housing as a matter of right - no need for credit-worthiness or down payment. Financial institutions responded with mortgage products and easy credit to make ownership society a reality. The demand for homes spurred appreciation in housing prices and new construction, and housing sector become the main engine of growth. To avoid recession, it became imperative to maintain the housing bubble and feds kept lowering the interest rate and availability of credit. In many markets, the housing prices had increased by 200% to 300% in matter of few years. Pricing correction was bound to happen sooner or later, and when it did happen, financial institutions were caught holding inflated mortgage securities. Such corrections and economic cycles are natural and nothing new - but what is dramatic this time is extent of bad housing loans, housing foreclosures and fall in housing prices. That means economic prosperity brought about by housing boom for last 10 years was a false one, and has go thru steep correction. Every penny that economy/people has made in last 10 years need to be taken away from the economy/people. Who is ready for such correction? This 700B bail out plan is seeking to circumvent such correction - it is another welfare program for the people. It is not about bailing out capitalism. It is about bailing out socialism.

Kerty:

""This 700B bail out plan is seeking to circumvent such correction - it is another welfare program for the people. It is not about bailing out capitalism. It is about bailing out socialism.""

Have you and desh thought about writing some comedy. You could handle the economic sector and desh will of course prove the non-existence of god :)

Kerty, my comment #19. In your comedy routine, you might want to include Ruvy too, to prove the existence of God while you are delivering your economics 101 lecture! It'd be a great show. Look forward to it.

The fact is that we are relying too much of bubbles. The high flying salaries of IT, finance, healthcare professionals are not sustainable over generations. The free marketeers ask "who decides?" when it comes to salary levels, hire and fire policy and so on. The point is this: while government should not get involved in the day-to-day running of companies, they should execute their authority when it comes to the growth of the markets. When the markets grow at an unsustainable rate, they create all kinds of unstable sub-systems.

We have seen this in the dotcom bubble, the mortgage bubble and now the financial bubble. These have a long lasting impact on the society. In the name of free market, no one should be allowed to damage an entire society willy nilly. The age of laissez faire market has come and gone. Time has come for a new model, one that takes practical necessity of wealth creation as well as the welfare of all the constituents.

Ravi