Fed Up Indian IT Professionals Want To Be Able To Leave Their Jobs Sooner (mashable.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: India's major IT firms have long required their employees to give a three-month, "non-negotiable" notice before leaving the company, but they could be soon forced to change that. Fed-up IT professionals from across India have reached out to the government, complaining that it is "unrealistic" for anyone to plan that far ahead. Over 28,000 professionals have signed a petition, addressed to the ministry of labor, to take immediate action on the matter. Part of the problem is that many companies are unwilling to wait for three months to have a person join them, many cited in the report say. Some of India's top IT firms including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL, Accenture and IBM impose the three-month notice period policy on their employees.

Comments

So what else is new?

[Neuronwelder]

Typical Corporations. Always stretching the boundaries on abuse. Doesn't matter what field you are in. You can be a janitor. You will.. be abused. As long as there is a surplus of people. This event will continue to grow.

That explains a lot..

[johanw]

Indian ITers: "unrealistic" for anyone to plan that far ahead."

No wonder their software is even worse than what we in the west call spaghetti code, without any detectable design.

Re:That explains a lot..

[ElizabethGreene]

This is worse for many H1-B workers here in the US from major consultancies.

They sign on to 12 or 18 month commitments with penalties of thousands of dollars per month for early termination. They also can't begin work until they've provided a bond to cover this penalty. Their contracts also include provisions for binding arbitration, no class action lawsuits, a requirement to notify the employer before any legal action, and a gag clause so they can't talk about it.

Combine this with consultancy blacklisting and "Indentured Servitude" is absolutely correct.

Re:That explains a lot..

[torkus]

I mean...except for the bonded termination clause that sounds pretty much like the job I have today in corporate america.

Re: That explains a lot..

[Jack54 Gordon49]

Any of those H1B workers forced to come to the US?

28k in a country of 1.25 billion

[Kjella]

So in my country of 5 million this would be... ~112 signatories. Three months is standard here in Norway, sure sometime you'd like to jump ship straight away. But on the flip side it's three months instead of two weeks if they want to get rid of you too and that means a lot when it comes to unexpectedly applying for a new job. My opinion? If your company doesn't know if they need your skills three months from now they're running a cowboy shop where you can just as easily find yourself out the door as you got in the door. It won't be that much fun when you're on the short end of that stick.

Re:28k in a country of 1.25 billion

[Manoj]

Wha happens if an employee just stops showing up for work on their own? I assume they will be fired. Does this still need a three month cooling off period?

Re:28k in a country of 1.25 billion

[houghi]

Same here in Belgium. I have been in a situation where they told me I needed to come in earlier. I was fired from my old company (together with 50% of the rest of the company) and was getting a pay-out of 7 months if I stayed till a specific day.

I told the new company that if they where willing to give me a payment of those 7 months, I would gladly come in earlier. Suddenly the need was not that urgent. Yes I still got the job.

I have been on the other side as well and had no issues if people said they can come in 3 months, I even had an employee who wanted to start at an other company a week before new years, because they needed her. I told het that if she left, she would miss the 3 month bonus and if that company could not wait 1 week, they where not serious.

She took the job, missed the 3 months bonus she would have gotten from us and was fired after the new-years rush was over. So that was 3 months pay down the drain.

Re:28k in a country of 1.25 billion

[houghi]

No. That would be grave negligence and will result in being fired immediately and no rights on unemployment money. It will also influence later jobs if they want references.

Re:28k in a country of 1.25 billion

[Kjella]

Wha happens if an employee just stops showing up for work on their own? I assume they will be fired. Does this still need a three month cooling off period?

There's still "avskjedigelse" which would be instant termination for cause, but most of that would be criminal conduct like embezzlement, information theft, violence or threats. Gross disloyal conduct, showing up drunk or high or not showing up at all could also be reasons, but general tardiness or poor work performance will generally not be enough. You can still get laid off, but that's a much longer process with warnings where you'll be on notice that termination may follow if you don't improve. And you can get laid off for business reasons, but all terminations need a valid cause. If the company doesn't have one like it's been a personal vendetta or the boss' nephew took your job it can be declared invalid. Employers are aware of this though and rarely do something until they have the documentation to back it up.

Re:28k in a country of 1.25 billion

[jarkus4]

In Poland in such case you would get disciplinary firing - it goes on an employment certificate which you are expected to show your next employer (you can avoid it, but it would be very suspicious). This is only true for standard work contracts. Other types of contracts are often used to limit costs and avoid regulations related to work contracts.

Regardless of employment type your former employer can also sue you for losses and lost income caused by your sudden departure

Re:Philippines is 30 days...still annoying.

[avandesande]

I'd be curious to know if it works both ways, where companies are mandated to give equal amounts of severance pay.

Rule enforced in USA also by these companies

[Anonymous Coward]

Am in USA working for one of these companies. I have 3 months notice back in India and in USA also. If I quit and join another company in US without giving 3 months notice, I have to pay $10000. If I dont, its deducted from my gratuity in India.

Added to that, they give my name to a debt collection agency with some non enforceable contract details. It might not affect my credit history, but is a major hazzle to deal with the debt collection agency.

That $10000 is a major decision point in switching job and is the reason why am a slave to this company.

BTW, its an Indian subsidiary of an American international company. Not even a proper Indian corporation.

Re:indentured servitude

[DigiShaman]

US companies have lobbied the Indian Government would be my guess. Can't have interruptions in outsourced services; the three months is to enforce transition of knowledge from one Indian IT worker to another.

What is their time when they are fired?

[houghi]

In Belgium the time the company gives you is twice of what you have to do. This wil also depend on how long you work somewhere.

So a standard will be that if you have to do 6 weeks when you leave, the company will have to give you 3 months notice If you have to give 6 months, the company will have to give you a year. That would mean that you probably work there for 15 years or so.

Most companies will just let you go and pay out, but by law they can require you to come that period.

As this is something that is all over Belgium, it also means that if you get a new job, nobody will be surprised if you say you will be available in 3 months. When they start looking, they will be aware that this will happen and fire you before they fire the old guy,

e.g. You do the last job interview in December. You sign the contract to start 1st of April. You give your letter of resignation and you do your three months.
From the side of the new company, they start looking for somebody in November, they find you in December. They sign the contract you start the first of April. They can fire the guy you are replacing any time they want, but say they want somebody there till you come without overlapping. They call him into the HR office and tell him he is fired. He gets his box and leaves. He will get a payout of 6 months.

What they can do is do this in January and ask to stay 3 months and get the three months. Stay 6 months or do it at the end of March and stay 6 months.

"But this is of disadvantage of the company" people will say. "Yes it is, so?" I will say.

Re: Wait what?

[Corbets]

In your world, maybe. Here in Switzerland, 3 months notice is the norm, and six or twelve is not unheard of for more senior roles.

Sure, you could just not show up. But it's breach of contract, makes you inelligble for unemployment benefits, and would result in a bad reference letter, making it harder to get future jobs as well. Oh, and the company would likely take you to court and claim damages.

That said, it is viewed primarily as being in the employee's favor, as the company must respect the same notice period when firing you for anything other than gross misconduct. It often enough results in an employee being given 3 months garden leave (getting paid while at home) after termination. Even if not, the employer is legally obligated to give you a reasonable amount of time (e.g. 1/2 or perhaps 1 day per week) to interview for new roles.

All in all, it's a nice system, at least as implemented out here.

Re:Easy solution.

[sodul]

There definitely is a blacklist, it is even in plain sight on the WorkDay system as a checkbox "eligible for re-hire" and many companies actually abide by the blacklist they have. As for back channels, I have witnessed more than one candidate being turned down because the back channel feedback was negative, even if it was feedback from years old interaction with the candidate. Your reputation is important for your career in the long term, especially when you move up the ladder.

What keeps people from just leaving?

[jdavidb]

Some of India's top IT firms ... impose the three-month notice period policy on their employees.

When I don't want to work for a company any more, I don't continue to follow its policies for three months just because they tell me to. What are the consequences for not complying, and what is enabling these companies to impose those consequences?

What happens if you don't give notice?

[Pinky]

What happens if you don't give notice?

Do they fire you?
Do they sue you for the money they would have given you?
Do they sue you for the value you would have added and they didn't pay you for yet?
Do they write an angry letter to your mother?

In all seriousness, what is the "or else" in these case?