When several Indian banks went in for Voluntary Retirement Schemes (VRS), they didn’t realise the piquant situation they were going to land up in. Where the scheme was thrown open to all, several of the brightest staff took up the offer. They reasoned that they would get better jobs elsewhere. Some banks that were interested in showing high VRS numbers to prove their ‘efficiency’ had to later call back some of their staff and re-employ them. “The employees got the VRS package and their jobs too,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh.

The staff may have gained in this example of being re-employed by the same organisation. But it doesn’t always work that way. In many small companies, employees are forced to accept a break in service at the end of every year. That way, they never become permanent employees and are not eligible for long-term benefits.

The other side of this picture is the huge growth in temporary staffing services firms. They work with a company as and when the need arises. It could be for a few weeks, it could be for a year.

The ‘temps’ are supposed to be people who don’t want to be tied down to a permanent job. That’s the way it is in the West. Not so in India, where most of the ‘temps’ are marking time until they get a permanent job. In the US, about 4-5 per cent of ‘temps’ convert to permanent staff every year. In India, the figure is a high 25-40 per cent.

As any ‘temp’ will tell you, things work fine when the economy is booming and there is a talent crisis. But when Corporate India has to batten down its hatches, temporary workers are the first to feel the pinch.

Look at what’s happening in the US, which is not generating jobs the way it should. Permanent employees are being shown the door. Sure they get their benefits. But they are being presented with unacceptable options.

A DHL processing centre in Upper Macungie Township (Lehigh County, Pennsylvania) is closing down. Another one is being opened half a mile away. Around 500 workers have been sacked. They have been told that they will have to reapply for their jobs. Even those employees who are expecting to be rehired are afraid that they will have to take a paycut. DHL, on its part, says that these are not its own employees. (They are on the books of a subsidiary.) So it can’t be blamed for what is happening.

At the Telstra office in Sydney, workers are protesting that they are being asked to apply for half the number of jobs in a different city. The offer is $10,000 a year less. While the employees have been holding protests, a company spokesperson says that nobody is being offered back his job at a lower salary. “These are brand new jobs,” he reasons.

Today, in India, it is difficult to close down units and such fire-and-hire policies are not too much in evidence. On the other hand, we get what is not too prevalent abroad — companies just shutting shop and leaving their employees in the lurch. Sometimes, they don’t even get their statutory dues.

“Which would you prefer?” asks Singh. “It is really a choice between two evils.” He says it is important you develop a ‘temp’ mentality. “If you have the skills, nobody can shortchange you. The future belongs to those with ability and not members of the friends-of-the-CEO club.”

FIRE AND HIRE

A policy prescription

• “India needs a ‘Fire and Hire’ policy, which should protect employment, that is, maintain the same total number of employees, at a given time, as per historical data, but replace employees, who are corrupt, useless and inefficient.

• We should protect employment, but not employees who do not come up to expectations and do not perform to normal standards of work culture and work ethics. This must encompass the C2C spectrum — from CEO to Coolie. The term Labour Law should be changed to Employee Law.

• Let individual organisations themselves decide about VRS, downsizing, retrenchment and reduction or increase of manpower.

Source: Adapted from iWatch