[am1m]

Originally Posted by poloman

But WFH leads to productivity increase is not proved with supporting data. It may be beneficial for employees. As simple as that.

Fair enough, data is important. All I too have is just impressions. Personally, I think not having to spend up to 2 hours in traffic (and that's when it doesn't rain!) each day is a win in terms of productivity, whether I use those hours saved to work, or to relax and get rested for another day's work. But let's leave that for the remote work thread.

Originally Posted by poloman

When these companies were making record profit, there was an attempt to paint this as a result of increased productivity due to WFH or vice versa.

That was certainly a blunder on their part, absolutely the wrong thing to do.

Originally Posted by poloman

So no one is being smug about it.

I apologize, I misinterpreted your post.

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by poloman

I am also from same industry. So I also say this with conviction. There are fresh blood who have not set foot in the lab for last few years and had to struggle to get them in to labs and learn some key debug skills. So let us not paint a very rosy picture of WFH in every discussions.

Those who need to use labs were never WFH except during the strict lockdown (March, and April 2020). I know a few companies in the semiconductor industry which provided accommodation for such employees in star hotels during the second wave. So, those people are not going to be doing WFH even if there is a company-wide WFH policy implemented.

PC market slowdown has no relation to WFH and productivity. But you linked productivity and WFH to the PC market slowdown.

[m8002?]

My take on the HW downturn is quite simple. Covid lockdowns caused an unprecedented demand for computers, laptops, monitors, etc because of the sudden WFH requirements. It also resulted in multiple computers per family especially with school going children. Add to this the manufacturing disruptions due to Covid, the supply just couldn't keep up with the demand resulting in record profits for HW manufacturers.

As with all things these days, that small spike in demand was projected to eternity by so called "analysts". The companies also went on a hiring spree projecting the demand/sales to continue the same trend.

But things have now started to normalize. Also, the spike for computers from school children and WFH is a onetime event. Not going to happen every year. This has now come back to bite the companies.


I believe its the same with EdTech sector as well. The spurt during Covid to take additional classes got to their heads. Thinking they will see the same trend for ever, they started recruiting with crazy salaries.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by m8002?

But things have now started to normalize. Also, the spike for computers from school children and WFH is a onetime event. Not going to happen every year. This has now come back to bite the companies.

Huge inventory buildup is a bigger problem. AMD had to write down $160M related to inventory this quarter. So far we were talking about chip shortage. Now there is a huge surplus of chips created anticipating sustained demand.

Will take some time to settle down after the COVID interruption.

[lapis_lazuli]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

It is not a question of is a two way 3-months notice fair or unfair. We signed up for it while we had more than one offer on hand (in most cases) so we had a choice -right? No one forced us to sign up for employment terms we may not like. What I see missing in most posts here is an infantile lack of ownership for ourselves and what we sign up for. A notice period or any other term is unfair only if we are coerced to sign up for it.

Mr. Narayan, the industry we are discussing, perhaps the choice is a Hobson's choice. Just like builder buyer agreement, there is no scope to review or re-negotiate employment terms and conditions, it is "coercion" using a different terminology

OTOH, I hire too, and have also had to see people leave, and only in 10% of cases have we been requested for early relieving. My company (large MNC) has similar policies: it is not IT industry!

So, it is not a "trend", it is the norm, very India specific; whether we choose to defend it, or not, is a different matter.

[am1m]

Received an invite to join an 'alumni' group on LinkedIn for former employees of a company I used to work at. Probably an old concept, but to me this is pretty cool. HR at that company seems to be making a sincere effort to keep former employees connected. What a simple way to do it, and it works, I'm already feeling really good about the fact. I left that company for another job, but I see from the list that there are also former colleagues who were laid off who seem to have opted to join the group.

Quite a change I remember from my first few jobs where leaving a job was considered a "betrayal" or at least taken badly by management (and going by some of the comments on this thread, that archaic mentality still persists in pockets!). This just infuses professionalism and a positive vibe into the employee (even former)-company relationship that could have quite easily devolved into an 'us vs them' thing. Kudos to this sort of mindset!

[mxx]

Originally Posted by lapis_lazuli

Mr. Narayan, the industry we are discussing, perhaps the choice is a Hobson's choice. Just like builder buyer agreement, there is no scope to review or re-negotiate employment terms and conditions, it is "coercion" using a different terminology

Not really. I am in the IT industry and I have seen that small to mid size companies are more than willing to negotiate the notice period in exchange for a slight decrease in the offered pay (or any other benefits in the package). Now obviously, if you want all the money and 1 month notice period, that may not work unless the company finds you that valuable or there is a talent shortage in your domain.

However I do agree that very large companies have strict policies and adhere to 3 month notice period. You cannot negotiate that.
But, my point is that if you are so pissed off by 3 months notice period, reject that offer and go to a company that is willing to negotiate on that.

[DigitalOne]

Accenture fires employees with fake experience letters

Source

The technology major discovered an effort to use letters from fraudulent firms to obtain offers.

It is unclear how many employees were impacted.

According to Twitter conversations, the firm may have let go of ‘thousands’ of employees on this count.

As recession looms, I feel companies are taking backdoor steps to reduce headcount.

[RRM]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

Accenture fires employees with fake experience letters

Source



As recession looms, I feel companies are taking backdoor steps to reduce headcount.

Yes, during Covid time the job offer was being given with unimaginable hike, ex 60-75% and now to compensate, this is the route. Many have obtained fake experiences which becomes evident during the work.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

Accenture fires employees with fake experience letters

Originally Posted by RRM

Many have obtained fake experiences which becomes evident during the work.

This is a real menace. Seen this quite a few times while conducting interviews. What the candidate says on the resume is not at all apparent when asked a few simple questions during the interview. Unfortunately, we've also had a couple of team members display this gap between claimed and demonstrable job skills after joining as well. Usually my sympathies are firmly in the 'employee' camp, but I'm completely ok with employers having zero-tolerance for lying on the resume. And faking an experience letter is pretty serious.

[Bhokal]

Those in IT sector, how is the outlook going forward 12 months? What is your reading of the predicted recession fears in the developed economies, how hard will our IT sector be hit in terms of jobs and growth?

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by Bhokal

Those in IT sector, how is the outlook going forward 12 months? What is your reading of the predicted recession fears in the developed economies, how hard will our IT sector be hit in terms of jobs and growth?

Looks gloomy TBH. Last 1.5 years have seen insane growth in terms of salaries and hiring. Now we will probably see the discussions around 'bell curve' & 'PIP' taking center stage again. Guess firms will put a brake on hiring and annual hikes/bonuses. Biggies like Microsoft/Amazon have already started laying off folks and hiring is frozen. Among Indian firms, quite a few are already rescinding offer letters and reducing variable pay.

Related Link

Just hope we dont get to see mass layoffs. Saw that during 2008 recession, not a good sight trust me.

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

As recession looms, I feel companies are taking backdoor steps to reduce headcount.

The surge of fake candidates during this pandemic induced WFH era has shot through the roof. In last 1 year I would have taken around 50 interviews and atleast 20 of them were lip synching on video calls. Imagine the audacity. Usual pattern is they grow heavy beard/moustache & sit in a dimly lit place hoping the lip movements won't be noticed. When we weren't that vigilant(~2020), one such candidate did get through who was caught within a few weeks thanks to his performance. Later when confronted and asked the same questions again he couldn't answer a single one and excuse given was 'back then I had prepared'. So he forgot everything within a month

Later I got to know some details about this scam. Apparently people charge 3 month worth salary to clear interview plus help with project work for first couple of months. Post that you are on your own.

During pandemic Modi Ji said : 'Apada mei avsar dekhiye' (Look for opportunity in disaster?)

These guys took it literally and made a killing

Am sure Accenture(and WITCH firms) also would have got a few such candidates considering the scale at which they were hiring. Now that recession is round the corner quite a few of those would be hit.

[DigitalOne]

Facebook parent Meta sacks over 11,000 employees

Source

Meta Platforms Inc, the parent entity of social media platform Facebook, has sacked over 11,000 employees and is set to extend the freeze it has imposed on new hiring.

"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted," Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said.

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted," Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said.

Seems accountability has a new definition now. Laying off other people!

[am1m]

A lot of the focus has been on layoffs at the two biggies, Twitter and FB (Meta). But how much of it was because of the economic climate and how much because of the (questionable?) decisions of the 2 guys in charge?

Musk's actions are looking more and more impulsive (fire half your workforce soon after taking charge, then realize you actually need some of them and try to get them back).

Similarly, are Meta's layoffs mainly because of Zuckerberg's decision to invest so heavily in the Metaverse, as this 'open letter' from one of their shareholding funds lays out:

https://medium.com/@alt.cap/time-to-...f-392d94e80a18

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Seems accountability has a new definition now. Laying off other people!

Oh that's accounted for!

Quoting from the letter in the link above:

"We do not take job reductions lightly. These are not numbers on a spreadsheet. They are people with families and kids to support. With that said, we have a shortage of talent in Silicon Valley. Meta and other large companies have made it very difficult for start-ups to hire. We are confident that these employees will find replacement jobs and quickly be back to work on important inventions that will move us all forward."

(Cool way to justify firing people- "oh they're talented folks, they will find jobs elsewhere!)