[Ricky_63]

RECESSION ? This is a nasty word today...Being in the building industry, I know how badly the industry is hit. Discounts galore, no takers for commercial properties at the rents prevalant 4 months back. Stockpiling of inventory.....imagine STOCKPILING OF BUILT BUILDINGS, it is a nightmare.

Hope we get over this sooner than later.




No Cheers

[sajo]

Originally Posted by narayan

I head this from one of my friends in the IT industry - a few of his colleagues encountered a strange problem when they were at work one of these days - their systems got shut down and would not start again..

the HR manager then walked by and told them - game over - go home !

Is this true ??
Then this is a pretty inhuman way of firing people! A few weeks ago, our delivery manager called a meeting of a couple of teams under him (including mine) and gave us a speech which went something like this :
Someone with a big house has to move to a smaller house. In the process, he has to discard some things, which includes a collection of music CDs. This does not mean that the collection in itself is useless, its just that he no longer has any use for it.
Hints dont get any more direct than this.

[WanderNomad]

I work with Citi and everyone knows what is going on courtesy the newspapers. They just got over with the process of handing over fresh pink slips today.

[hkanitkar]

Tut tut.. you touched a soring part there !

Construction has been hit big time in the IT-hub cities i guess.
In pune, all the major residential projects which started an year back with a lot of ho-hum, are being put on hold for lack of customers. In most of the projects, people have canceled bookings and have put the builders in trouble.

For builders like us, with a single, small scale project on the verge of starting off, this has created a small hope of oppurtunity in terms of fallen material prices.

@Ricky_63 - yeah man, lets just hope this gets over asap - I wouldn't expect a booming market for another 1 - 1.5 years though. Just lets hope that the market steadies itself.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Currently, I know a couple of companies who are imposing leave from 25 Dec to Jan 4 compulsorily.

My company just announced that this week. Compulsory leave and leave allowance will be deducted.

Major cost cutting also happening. Our milk in the coffee machine is now mixed with water being the most drastic cost cutting measure.

[zaks]

My Company is a little insulated for the time being from the slow down but they know that 2009 is going to be bad and hence announced that we will get no hikes this time and all recruitment is frozen.

Nobody is complaining!!

[given2fly]

Most IT companies has made their pantry the first casualty. Instead of those fancy tea brands, you will have just one brand there, the normal assam tea. In a certain financial software company, they have stopped free evening snacks.

All this is not being taken very generously by the employees & what I do see a trend emerging some time soon. People with lesser responsibilities (like bachelors, freshers, etc) are going to switch to companies where they still feel treating employees well. Indian IT majors are looking at all the wrong corners to cut cost. They have so much redundant positions that need to be pruned out. Yes, I am sounding anti-employment, but here so many people are just sitting monitoring the screens but not knowing what they are doing, that sooner or later, the job will start flowing back to US and european countries. That will be the real scare when a native person capable of doing a job of three outsourced people will be hired and we are actually going to be shedding capacity. It can happen and only time will tell. But with the US currency deflation theories going around, it is quite possible. Plus Obama looking to tax outsourcing jobs, you only have grimmer days for IT companies.

But don't you think, they also have a recession ravaged country to rebuild? We progressed at their cost, but since Indian government can make Jindals buy equipments from BHEL than chinese suppliers (for a good reason), they can also ship the jobs & projects back to survive a white wash. We will be willing to work with a lower salary, but so will a native person. A real clash of economies is about to begin soon.

[sammyboy]

I am in an IT company, and yes the pinch has started being felt now. 1st Jan onwards work hours have been increased by an hour. 9 hour days will be officially 10 hour days and swipes may be tracked. Recovery is being tracked big time and any misuse of funds or late payments by clients are not welcome.

[d_himan]

Work for a FMCG major. Recession hasn't hit us yet, but the mood for next year looks slightly sombre.

Pay rises/Bonuses as per plans (as of today)

[PAVAN KADAM]

Recession is a sort of chain reaction.

I am a vendor for HDFC Bank in Bangalore. We have seen over 40% decline in sales over the past 6 months, payments being reduced from the Banks end.

As a private entrepreneur i needed to do some cost cutting including getting out of an office premises where we stayed over 7 years paying over 30 k rent monthly(1750 sq ft) to a place with 7 k rental(1050 sq ft) though Real estate has come down.

We have cut down our fixed expenses by almost 70 %. We have not issued any pink slips so far.

Its just one phase which i feel we need to see through. There are sure better days ahead.

[ECM]

Recession is mostly felt in IT related jobs specially in Blore,Hyderabad etc,the new generation who got their jobs in IT say 10 years back never had any problem in earnings,this is a good lesson for them(dont raise your eyebrows before I complete my lines if you work for IT cos)they perhaps due to their young age and constant good income may have never think of future rainy days and invested their hard earned money either in stocks or in realty,now everything went upside down.None of them used to think or had any serious thought just couple of years back on such situation but what they are seeing today is a reality.Such time gave them a lesson how to protect their income and think wisely for future.Some things in life come from no where,one has to pay high tution fees,worth paying to make your future bright!

[Bluu]

I am in the animation industry (DreamWorks Animation) and it seems like the entertainment industry is one that always manages to weather the recession storms (a point made by our CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg at a recent conference). We have had no talk of cost-cutting or cutbacks. All leaves, increments and other plans are as per schedule. Thank God. I hope this clears up soon so people can return to their normal lives and not have to worry about whether they will still be employed in the coming days.

[Ricky_63]

I think & have seen this scenario closely. The only sectors which are not affected are Education (schools), medical (hospitals) and groccery stores !!

The groccery business though one may say has been slightly affected, but then we may stop eating out (or reduce it) but we will surely continue to eat at home.

Other than these 3 - I think ALL sectors have been affected.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by ECM

new generation who got their jobs in IT say 10 years back never had any problem in earnings,this is a good lesson for them

Anyone who has been in IT for 10 years would have lived though market crash in 2001/02. And for any such person it would be hard to look at financial things with a rosy glass.

Around that time I was working as a consultant for a large telecom company in US.

20,000 Employees saw their financial lifes getting ruined in a matter of days. Not only their jobs were gone, their pensions were gone as well. We consultants were spared with just a day of employment loss.

And this was not an isolated case.

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Anyone who has been in IT for 10 years would have lived though market crash in 2001/02. And for any such person it would be hard to look at financial things with a rosy glass.

And this was not an isolated case.

Yup I was there Had just entered the IT scene and got a pink slip on my first IT job.