Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Indian IT, “You're Fired”

linkedin.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 175 posts

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#91

Post by camiller »

eecc wrote: post #55
mabbo wrote: post #15

I've never understood the ways that modern companies handle layoffs- call people into a meeting room one by one, tell them they're being let go, then escort them out of the building. It's not just that it's cold, but it builds a huge cloud of oppression for everyone else. I just watched this happen to a friend, and the guy who was sitting next to him is now saying "I could be next, better start talking to recruiters"…

I think the problem is with the ubiquity of firearms in the USA; you want to escort someone out of the building before he/she tilts and starts shooting other people, starting from the manager that just threw them under the bus...

Most US businesses prohibit employees from bringing firearms to work, usually when there is an office shooting the fired employee has returned, often days later, for his revenge. Really does not impact the day of dismissal.

Edit: ...and does not happen often.

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#92

Post by ChemicalWarfare »

skocznymroczny wrote: post #60
mabbo wrote: post #15

I've never understood the ways that modern companies handle layoffs- call people into a meeting room one by one, tell them they're being let go, then escort them out of the building. It's not just that it's cold, but it builds a huge cloud of oppression for everyone else. I just watched this happen to a friend, and the guy who was sitting next to him is now saying "I could be next, better start talking to recruiters"…

I think it's mostly an American thing. In Poland (and probably other European countries), under a normal work contract, you are told in advance about being laid off, at least two weeks I think. It gives you enough time to look for another job, and it gives you time to pass your work to your coworkers. No one really does retaliation here, it's all done in a mostly peaceful atmosphere, the laid off employee is trying t…

In the US, regardless of the way things are handled in terms of escorting/not escorting ppl out of the building - you do typically get 2 more paid weeks unless you were terminated for stealing etc. Some union employees get severance packages far exceeding the 2 paid weeks period.

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#93

Post by EGreg »

pc86 wrote: post #28
mabbo wrote: post #15

I've never understood the ways that modern companies handle layoffs- call people into a meeting room one by one, tell them they're being let go, then escort them out of the building. It's not just that it's cold, but it builds a huge cloud of oppression for everyone else. I just watched this happen to a friend, and the guy who was sitting next to him is now saying "I could be next, better start talking to recruiters"…

Someone is losing their job unexpectedly. Nearly everyone spends too much of their income and saves too little for retirement/emergencies, so losing your job unexpectedly can have devastating financial consequences. Even bouncing back and finding another job could set your retirement back years if it doesn't happen quickly enough, and ruin your credit if you don't have appropriate savings. I don't think there's a way…

I would definitely prefer the mass-firing way.

Because people feel strength in numbers and don't beat themselves up that only THEY are being let go. If all those other people are being fired - including Bob over there who (50% chance) worked harder than me - then it's not my fault.

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#94

Post by EGreg »

skocznymroczny wrote: post #65
jerf wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is. If it ever crosses (generic-you) your mind to do that, don't. The revenge is very unlikely to be worth the very significant legal risk you are incurring. Stick to tradition and bad-mouth them with friends at a bar.

or write an angry blog post

or start a rival company and put them out of business, by slowly taking away all their main clients and then winning a case in court overturning the noncompete agreement using legal precedents in your state.

That escalated quickly, no? :)

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#95

Post by jerry40 »

EGreg wrote: post #88
jerry40 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Immediately escorting fired employees out of the building is an extremely aggressive signal, and I don't know if it gets used much outside of USA. I saw that in Moscow in 2008 (one big investment bank fired several guys from our team in 20-30 minutes in front of my eyes). It was very unusual. They did now allow a fired person to touch his computer after firing him.

Next: escorting fired people at gunpoint with guards ready to... fire!

It is too expensive... Just kiddnig. They paid fired people compensation for 2 months though.

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#96

Post by golemotron »

hyeonwho2 wrote: post #90
golemotron wrote: post #16

The pathology behind the hypocrisy is the obsession with values we see in corporations today. Let's be clear: work is something we do to provide for ourselves. It is a contract. That contract should not encompass a prescribed belief system, and that is exactly what 'values' are. In the past 30 years we've turned many work environments into quasi-religions where it is expected that employees adhere to particular sets…

Organizations of people are defined by shared values and shared goals. Throw out the values and you throw out the bases for civil communication and conflict resolution within the organization.

That's one definition of an organization. Can you think of others?

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#97

Post by ChrisBland »

code4tee wrote: post #5

The Indian IT situation has reached somewhat of a breaking point, hence the current situation unfolding. The real low level stuff is now being increasingly automated thus eliminating the need for cheap labor to do such tasks. At the same time the Indian firms never quite managed to broadly move up the value chain into more innovative and cutting edge areas, which is still very much the realm of local offices of their…

I'm seeing a move to eastern Europe from India for support level work. The time zone and language barriers are much easier there than India as well as the cost structures are inline generally.

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#98

Post by svens_ »

donquichotte wrote: post #59

"Indian software services companies are under tremendous pressure to continue to show growth in a slowing global market that is also experiencing increased protectionism in the west." Maybe the managers in the west who made the decision to lay off entire IT departments and replace them by Indian companies started realizing that with the cost of the impedance mismatch in language and culture between a company and its…

That would be a best case scenario and I doubt that's what's happening.

And instead of bringing those services back locally, nearshoring will probably be considered first.

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#99

Post by exelius »

code4tee wrote: post #5

The Indian IT situation has reached somewhat of a breaking point, hence the current situation unfolding. The real low level stuff is now being increasingly automated thus eliminating the need for cheap labor to do such tasks. At the same time the Indian firms never quite managed to broadly move up the value chain into more innovative and cutting edge areas, which is still very much the realm of local offices of their…

I have observed a different phenomenon: in the last 10 years, "startup culture" has swept over India. There is very little innovative or cutting edge being done in the US either outside of the universities (where many of the researchers are Indian) and a few big companies (Google, Facebook, et al -- who all have large engineering offices in India as well). Honestly, I find it easier to hire for skills like AWS, node.js, Kubernetes, React, Scala and TensorFlow in India than it is in the US.

You're right about call center work, but that's a different skill set entirely.

The biggest problem with the offshore model for development is that it requires a certain level of scale to be profitable. Large projects go great, as do small one-offs at established, large clients; but dealing with small customers/projects creates enough overhead to wipe out be benefits of offshore labor (or at least makes them less of an advantage).

You have to have fat margins on your projects to cover the training costs for your people -- if you don't give them training, they won't have time to learn anything new (and the time off of projects costs you far more than any training course would).

Re: Indian IT, “You're Fired”

#100

Post by nailer »

fellellor wrote: post #33
nailer wrote: post #13

As someone who worked for a team at IBM where we were forced to train our replacements in India, it seems odd that anyone in outsourcing would be surprised when those roles are further reduced by automation with little regard for the wellbeing of employees.

I don't know if this is your intention, but it is petty to blame someone, who is seeking legal employment, of conspiring to take away your jobs. The decision to use labor arbitrage was taken by managements in developed economies. The workers didn't position themselves in a way that created the arbitrage. It's silly, to say the least, when your reaction is "what did you expect would happen, when you decided to steal a…

> but it is petty to blame someone, who is seeking legal employment, of conspiring to take away your jobs.

Agreed. That's why I didn't do that. In fact I very deliberately did not do that.

> your reaction is "...when you decided to steal american/british/whatever jobs".

I didn't do that either. Also very deliberately.

Did you accidentally respond to me and not somebody else? Otherwise it seems you're simply trying to create controversy.

Post reply on HN