Why Attrition?

Though I have to update this blog for other things too, but in the interim, here's something academic, but true!

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay or profile.

Early this year, Mark, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.

He had heard a lot about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office, and the very best technology, even a canteen that served superb food.

Twice Mark was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined.

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Mark walked out of the job.

Why did this talented employee leave?

Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called "First Break All The Rules". It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate boss. Immediate boss is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he 's the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge, experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

Mostly manager drives people away?

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he looks for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don 't have your heart and soul in the job."

Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

Talented men leave. Dead wood doesn't.

Jack Welch of GE once said. A company's value lies "between the ears of its employees".

Weekend Get-away..

The weekend comes to an end, and not without lots of things which came out of the store. First of all, the disappointing Cricket match - and the mood was lightened somewhat by the "RedNex" Concert (Wondering whether you've ever heard of Rednex? - Probably not - but you must have heard their only blockbuster thumping "Cotton Eye Joe"). But because even Rednex could not provide the much-wanted action, it was found 1500 metres above the ground, at Nandi Hills.

Nandi Hills is a 70 km getaway from Bangalore, and because nothing felt great at that moment at 12 midnight, we (B, Swap and I) went ahead for the trip - didn't take more than an hour, and it was a smooth drive. And yes, it felt good! Even if I try, won't be able to put it into words to describe how soothing sitting in the open air felt, at that moment - away from all botherations!
Anyhow, came back early in the morning, but missed the 7a get together :-(, but still...

Beginning of Sunday, and the first thought on mind was not Breakfast, or getting ready - but it was - "what's the plan for the day"! Went ahead and made plans for Eagleton Resorts (another hour's drive out of Bangalore), and dang! - the plan to play Golf was here.

Playing golf isn't as easy as it seems - with all the irons and the drivers and the swings and the misses - it really needs wondering - from where do all these CEOs get all that time to play such a sport, which needs so much precision, and accuracy! (Guess I have started using the Six-sigma methodology here - some use of the Six-sigma training I took a few days back). And it really is addictive, because the last shot of your bucket will be near your worst shots, and that would compel you to take another bucket, and start all over again! Vicious circle, as they call it.

Done with Golf, next plans are to meet M. Met him at Forum, and went to his place at Cox Town - some discussions which were long overdue, and then back home, for dinner. But to dine at home wasn't what was in the store, and Fioriano proved as perfect Italian Food to grace the occassion and complete the weekend.

Good weekend, so to say - but lots of things to be thought, and done, preety soon!

Is Hell Exothermic?

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so "profound" that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn't ceased...

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, "...that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.", and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze."

This student received the only A.

Quitting smoking now?

I think one of the main reasons it’s so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away. Well, here’s a little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.

In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.

In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.

In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.

In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.

In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.

In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.

In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.

In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke.

After Effects!

There would be more blog entries on www on Cricket today, then any other subject (owing to India's ominous loss to SL, which sends billions of hopes for a toss). And yes, most Indians would be blaming this-and-that for the loss, but will be praying ferociously that Bermuda beat Bangladesh, to take India through the next round - another miracle round the corner, huh...or match fixing to the rescue, if it comes to that? Optimism, at its level best.

Anyhow, this most-talked-about-topic is not worth anymore of space here, and should be put to an end. All the beers, all the hours haven't gone in vain. Had fun - end of story.

The Airtel Story

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Fool !?

It is easy to fool yourself.

It is possible to fool the people you work for.

It is more difficult to fool the people you work with.

But it is almost impossible to fool the people who work under you

Gyan!

These are the turbulent times, with nothing decided as of now, though lots of things are on the cards. Meeting lots of people, and they are interesting too, but still need to figure out how much time I should spend on meeting people like this and taking the so called "gyan". It's not that it's getting boring or anything, but changing the perceptions based on anyone and everyone's thoughts is a bit different to do as per human nature.

In addition, the schedule has gone haywire, with nothing substantial coming out of it - I had thought that I'll not spend so much time on the internet; not even on the television, and would read more and more. Haven't been able to adhere to first two, but yes, have started yet again - to read. Good books are there in plenty, and we just need to grab the right ones. Just finished "The Monk and the Riddle" - the education of silicon valley entrepreneur. Good read.

The Last Supper!

Any resemblance you can notice?

We-Men or Woman

"A woman is an occasional pleasure but a cigg is always a smoke"

Now this would be the most sought after, most thought about, most talked about topic of all times. Even on digg.com, most of the favorites fall in the said category, in one way or the other. Or infact check the hit rates on any of such business propositions or samplers, and these fall in most frequent categories always.

What I would jot down today would be on the imperative side of these discussions - what one looks for in these kind of things...

Dating back to the days when dates were a royalty (though now they are a commodity) - it used to be something one would aspire for, not only for the "real" need for it, but for the "reel" need for it too! If I were to go out with someone, I would/should/could make it a point that I am seen with the other sex (if it's worthwhile). And if not seen, then the talks would definitely be in the air.

Don't really know why (maybe that's something that has been in the offing for a long time now!), but I have an image of someone who's going out a lot, amongst my circles; and that fact is not very close. Infact, I haven't been out for a long time now, quite contrary to what I get to hear from the perceptions of my mates. And after reaching Bangalore, the effects have started to show. I hardly had any time to think about anything like this, while in Delhi, and now, I have all-the-time-in-the-world, which keeps pushing me over the wall.

Not that there's any dearth of options, but the times have changed, and that's making me think, so much so, that I have started having these discussions of being on the lookout for options! Something's gotta come my way now, I guess...

Let's see how next week goes - will decide the future course of actions!