Chronicling the yearly appraisal wars

The bone of contention in the life of every employee in the corporate world boils down to two words : promotion and salary increment. Every year as the appraisal cycle approaches, managers brace themselves to deal with their team members and their only objective is to finish each employee’s appraisal without getting stressed and abused. Team members on the other hand gear up into combat mode to confront their managers. I have been through the emotionally charged stages as well but I was confused more than anything else because no one gave me clarity on what happens after the appraisal process.

Every employee believes their managers can wave a magic wand and get them promotions and salary hikes at their will. But the sad fact they do not choose to look at is that their managers are also employees who are managed by their managers and this loop goes right up to the top level of the organization. Contrary to popular expectations and beliefs, the authority of our managers extends only to being our representatives in the organization rather than our messiahs. They can pitch for our cause but the final decision is never in their sole hands. The CEOs of companies might sound like the all powerful all conquering rulers, but  they are actually just the face of the companies appointed by the stakeholders and investors and their primary responsibility is to make and keep the companies running as profitable. This is the reason why the CEOs are the first ones to get fired when a company nosedives. The point is, no decision in the organization is made by an individual alone. Even the CEO’s fate is decided by the investors and stakeholders collectively. This is a very simple fact that every employee, be it at any level in an organization should know first and knowing this will help set expectations accordingly.

Not everything is in black and white though. Favoritism is prevalent in all organizations and people who are in the good books of their managers do get to grow faster. Like it or not, favoritism is a part of the system. For me, trying to keep myself in the good books of my managers is a strenuous activity. It would stop me from learning and exploring new things and gathering new experiences. Moreover, corporate ladder is a pyramid so as we go higher up the space keeps getting less. Every employee’s growth will slow down after a while. Managers have to move up the ladder first before they can pull their team members up. The irony is, everyone wants to get promoted and they look at what their managers are doing to prepare themselves to take up those responsibilities, but the question they should answer first is, is someone ready to take up their current responsibilities?

What burns everyone though is salary increments and bonuses. Usually there is no perform or perish policy other than in sales but the uncertainty is in not knowing how much to perform to get the salary hike and the bonus. There are no yard sticks to measure someone’s performance, so what is usually taken into consideration is whether the employee has met or exceeded the goals set for him/her and the appreciation letters/emails he/she has received. In every department or vertical, there will usually be many managers who will be managing one or more teams and there will always be more than one above average performer in each team. There can only be a limited number of people who can be recognised as top performers because top performers have to be given promotions/increments/bonus or all of them together. Choices have to be made which means bridges have to be burnt. Disgruntled employees might still stay back and persevere but employees who are at a stage in life where money is more important than anything else might leave. It is simply not possible to keep everyone happy at the same level at the same time.

In one of my previous organizations, during every appraisal meeting I was told that what I was doing was part of my role and the question that was put before me was what more was I doing for the organization. I kept telling my managers that unless I have visibility towards what the company is expecting from me based on my skills and experience, it would not be possible for me to find something more to do. This is one of the reasons that pushed me to do my MBA. My managers had no clue on how to give direction to my career so I had to take that task upon myself. IBM, where I work now has set up a novel way to promote employee growth. After completing 18 months in a role, all employees are eligible to pursue new roles within IBM. There is an internal portal where employees can apply for jobs they are aspiring for but under the condition that they have completed the requisites required to take up the new role. This is a huge filter in itself. With the work load employees usually have in their current roles, very few take up the challenge of learning more and move successfully into what they want to do and they are usually the ones companies would want to retain at all cost. There is a significant point to note here. Employees are paid for the jobs they are hired for and every role has a budget constraint associated with it.  Unless employees are in roles where they are generating more revenue for the company (like a role in sales or consulting), it makes no sense to expect double digit salary hikes every time. This is where I like IBM’s approach even more. People looking for more money have the option of moving into roles where they will be generating more revenue for IBM.

I believe that what determines our growth is our attitude and perception more than anything else and we should never lose the focus and control we have over our lives. The moment we become dependent on the system for our way forward our journey stutters and slows down. Needling, pestering and abusing our managers for growth will take us nowhere. Rather, the focus should be on ourselves. As long as we are learning more and updating our knowledge and skills, we will keep creating demand for ourselves in the market. If we have enough confidence in the skills, knowledge and experience we have acquired over the years, we can also choose to become consultants and release ourselves from the cycle of hiring, promotions and salary increments. The choice is always with us and knowing and keeping the choice with us is the key to attaining moksha in our corporate lives.

Bangalore – Epitome of urban destruction

The growth and development of humanity in the modern age kick started from the time of Renaissance. The hub of all new thoughts and ideas was Europe and it was the Silicon Valley of sorts back in the days. Colonial powers carried the ideas and the mindset with them as they traveled and took control of lands across the world. It intensified as we made rapid advances in technology in the late 19th and 20th centuries. But something else also happened at that time. Humanity went completely out of sync with nature and we declared war on the ecosystem that had nurtured us from the time we were created. The consequences have been nothing less than disastrous and no place can exemplify this better than Bangalore.

My tryst with the city started way back in 1997 when I made an impromptu visit to meet an alumni from college to get ideas about the project I had to do in my final year of engineering. It was raining heavily that morning and after I reached my friend’s house and removed my shoes, I couldn’t keep my feet on the floor. It was that cold. I was in the city only for a day and the little bit I saw of the city was all lush green. One thing I remember distinctly is, M G Road, one of the busiest roads of Bangalore was a two way road. Millennium kids would say, impossible. From then on, I have been in the city every year till I moved and stayed here for 6 years. Through those years, I have seen and felt the city starting to change and lose it’s pulse. When I eventually moved out of the city, I had the inkling that the city was starting to become unlivable. Now I am back in the city after 5 years and what I foresaw was not wrong.

Before I go into the forlorn part of my story, let me relive the glory days of the city. From my childhood, I had heard of people going on honeymoon trips to Ooty, Mysore and Bangalore. As I  dug deeper and spoke to more people, I was blown away into bits. Everything about the past of Bangalore converged on to one fact in my mind. The peak summer temperature in Bangalore used to be 17 degree Celsius in the 1960s and 70s and people used to sit in their porches and balconies hoping to get some sunlight. I will never be able to wrap my mind around this. A black sweater used to turn white with snow flakes after riding on a scooter for some distance. Bangalore used to be a no fan zone in those times. All these stories come from people who used to work with the armed forces and were stationed in Bangalore during the 1970s. Now, the peak summer temperature is hovering around 40 degree Celsius. The fact that temperature has rocketed up by more than 20 degrees in 3 decades is astounding. But what is incredible to me is the reality that human beings can tamper with nature to such extremities.

It all started in the early 1990s when the central government decided to open Software Technology Parks (STPIs) to promote India as the new Silicon Valley for software companies and sought Kerala as the destination. That plan did not materialize and the state government of Karnataka welcomed the initiative with open hands. Bangalore being the capital city got chosen by default. This is how the whole saga of mindless destruction of the city began. When I came to Bangalore to meet my alumni in 1997, his work place was a house that was used as office space. That is how it started. IT companies started moving in and started to function out of any available buildings and real estate went into overdrive. The vast swathe of agricultural land in the south part of Bangalore was the prime target. It swung the state government machinery into frenzy as well to provide roads, water, electricity and other amenities to the new office spaces.

The primary problem of Bangalore is that from a calm and peaceful city for honeymooners, it has become a totally unplanned city of chaos in such a short period of time. People from all over India have moved into the city bringing with them their unique culture and way of living and the city has had to imbibe all of it in such a short span of time. And the result? Booming business, from food to attire to everything else to cater to all cultures, adding more chaos to the situation and piling on more pressure on the city’s resources. Land and trees had to go to make way for roads and when roads couldn’t manage traffic any more, flyovers had to be built. Now that even flyovers are not able to manage the ever burgeoning traffic, metro rail is getting built. That in a way has been the final nail in the coffin. Whatever greenery was remaining on M G road had to be cleared for the metro. As the work keeps expanding to connect all corners of the city as per plan, it will devour most of the feeble natural resources the city has left in it’s belly. There are two more significant issues. The cost of land has shot up so astronomically, most local residents of Bangalore have chosen to sell off their properties and move out of the city. Migrant people will never have the love or respect for a place that it’s local residents will have and I believe this is a major factor in the wanton destruction of the city. The other one is the exodus of fresh graduates who finish college and move to Bangalore every year. Government has sold education to the private sector and neither government nor the private sector is able to keep up with the increasing demand for jobs with each passing year. Bangalore has become the de facto place to hunt for jobs for all graduates now and every year the city is getting stretched more at it’s seams.

Bangalore is in the rush to adopt two issues that are plaguing the major cities of India. Water and garbage and issues with both are in direct correlation to the fact that Bangalore has become an unplanned city. When I say water, it is not just access to clean drinking water. Most of the lakes Bangalore used to be proud of till 2 decades back have disappeared. I remember one particular bout of rain on a day in 2004 when I was in office. The city was clogged everywhere. Why? The water bodies to where the water could have drained were all gone. There was no earth left to absorb water. Concrete and tar do not absorb water. Where else will the water go? This is what caused the flood in Chennai last year. The memorable part was when the lakes surrounding the office premise of Infosys overflowed and water was flowing down the stairs of the building like waterfalls.

The amount of garbage humanity produces in a single day is mind boggling. Add to it the fact that a lot of the garbage is not bio degradable which means nature cannot or will take considerable time to recycle them.  Near the banks of the lake where I go for my morning walk now I see waste bags floating around with foul smell emanating from them. I don’t know how much time is left before the fishes and birds disappear from the lake. People throw their garbage openly near the pavements on streets and everything lies scattered for the corporation employees to come and clean up the mess every morning. People don’t even stop to think for a moment that the city is being maintained with the same money they are paying as taxes. But then what happens to all the garbage? It gets dumped on the outskirts or some other parts of the city, thereby spreading the dangerous affliction of the city and polluting those areas as well.

Time has proved my decision to not buy an apartment in Bangalore as correct. Recent reports suggest that this place is hurtling towards the notoriety of becoming the first dead Indian city in the next 5 years (http://share.safe3g.com/h5/news.html?r=3&lan=en_IN&pid=3&id=12506759&detail=1&ch=0). I am having to cover myself up completely including my face every time I step out now to get some respite from dust and pollution. Repercussions from nature is not so far away. Unless the government takes firm measures to offload business to other places and water down Bangalore’s reputation as job seeker’s paradise, the situation will only keep deteriorating. Any further inaction and they can get ready to rule the first dead city of the country.

The irrelevance of social media

The world of social media is becoming a very weird place. People are getting disillusioned by being on social media but are too addicted and too far down the rabbit hole to let it go. And the result? For example, too many posts are coming out on Facebook with the intent to enlighten people about why and how we are wasting time on social media. But where are these posts popping up? On social media itself. So people have to connect to social media to know why social media is not good for them. Sounds like cutting down the same branch of the tree we are sitting on?

But all this vile is not without reason though. There is growing awareness that the new millennium generation is connected to technology and devices and not to nature and this is weakening their body immunity to diseases and eroding their physical and mental well being. But why blame them? There was no internet in my town and mobile technology was insanely expensive when I was completing my engineering course. Just 5 years down the line, I saw a good friend’s brother carrying a mobile phone to college. Adopting to new technologies is one thing but letting ourselves become enslaved to ecosystems built around new technologies with the sole intent of building business empires and collecting our personal data to be used against us and then whining about it is plain ridiculous. Desiring for an urban life with all modern amenities and comforts and then expecting our kids to grow up by playing in mud and rain is total absurdity. We are destroying the world nature has given us to build our own world of brick and mortar and jungles of trees and concrete cannot coexist.

The new generation kids are growing up in sophisticated city life where the first things they comprehend are mobile phones, laptops, tablets and high end cars. I am quite sure what would first come to their minds at the mention of the word tablet would be the computer device rather than medicine. Relationships are made and broken on social media now. Emotions are expressed through the internet and this is getting pushed to the point where people are even streaming their suicides live now. Looking up or stalking people on the internet by going through their activities on social media, be it for professional or personal reasons has become a common phenomenon now. Video resumes are increasingly becoming a requirement now. Even marriages are getting solemnized over the internet. The 5 senses with which we were created to communicate with each other have lost their relevance to technology. We have been sucked up into a virtual world where we have also become devices of sorts. These are the costs we are paying in return for our mad rush towards development and a life that is getting increasingly automated.

The objective of all social media platforms is to understand our behavior and track our actions. The massive amount of data that is getting collected can be used in a million different ways, depending on who is using it and what their purpose is. The data is being analyzed and used for sending targeted advertisements to users based on their online buying preferences, show news items based on their reading preferences and even track criminals. The possibility of data being misused can be huge. All of this is making me more wary of my presence on social media, except on LinkedIn. But there is something very significant happening on LinkedIn now that most people do not seem to comprehend. LinkedIn is a hub to create a professional network which means our network should only have people who know us directly from either our academic or professional life and who can endorse our credentials and recommend us. What LinkedIn is doing now is, based on how strong our profiles are and how active we are on LinkedIn, they are recommending us to connect to other people and vice versa, with the result that we get connection requests from total strangers. A bigger network of people does not mean it is an effective and useful network of people. Getting connected to random people can end up ruining our lives because we do not know the kind of people they might be connected to and a possible search for a criminal on social media might land us in front of the authorities even without us having any direct connection to the criminal.

We do not come across the best and most important people in our lives on social media. We always find them through our 5 senses and this is something social media can never take over. They might be our friends on social media as well but we have accepted each other the way we are and whatever we do on social media never matters to them because they know from us directly what is going on in our lives. So the status updates we keep posting on social media is for the rest of the people in our network. Broadcasting about our lives to people who are not important in our lives is just showing off about ourselves and I see no other logic in it. What is more ridiculous is, we actually spend a lot of our time reading through status updates of people who are not important in our lives. This realization has what has prompted me to reduce my foot prints on social media platforms and I use them now only to read articles that interests me, publish posts that can provide information to people in my network and air my views to build awareness on anything that affects people’s lives negatively. The life I used to have without phone, computer devices and internet seems like a fantasy now. Going off the grid is quite a fancy word for me because that’s how I started and lived for a major part of my life. Someday, I am hoping to take out all the clutter I am living with now and go back into that amazing life.