Work Culture in India

pazham · Post by **pazham** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:00 pm

I will be moving to India in the next 2 months. I am getting nervous about the work culture in India. I am reading a lot of articles about people getting heavy amounts of stress in the IT industry at an early age of 25-35. People had to put in long hours and had to manage unbelievable schedules. Is this true for the service companies or even for MNCs Any feedback/advice from the people who have already returned.

csvirus · Post by **csvirus** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:03 am

Absolutely true. work culture is horrendous. if you plan to return to india, only return to retire. my 2 cents.

the lesser said about work culture the better.

r2ikyon · Post by **r2ikyon** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:20 pm

less stressful jobs in MNCs is possible. These are exceptions i.e. not very common but if you search carefully you will find some.

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:05 pm

csvirus;88319Absolutely true. work culture is horrendous. if you plan to return to india, only return to retire. my 2 cents.

the lesser said about work culture the better.[/quote]

Interesting...Though office politics is a reality anywhere in the world. What kind of work politics does the R2i'er need to be prepared for? What work cultural changes must one be willing to accommodate after R2I ? Are there any resentment towards R2I'ers in offices?

pazham · Post by **pazham** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:55 pm

More than politics, the stress level at IT is what scares me. I have read in the reports that more and more people from It in the 25-35 age group are seeking medical attention due to long working hours (14+) and extreme stress at work.

ILuvHyd · Post by **ILuvHyd** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:20 pm

IMO, people in India grew too fast in their careers due to enormous expansion. They got promoted into jobs before they are ready and had to do some heavy lifting for which they were not prepared mentally and also skills wise. We do lot of outsourcing and these days we are getting tough on expecations with off-shore employees elevating stress for them. I worked with some big consultancy/off-shore companies in India and they oversell their employees adding to the problems for the poor employees.

Always doing a job which is on par or one level less than one's skills and abilities will help but that goes against the growth/career development mantra.

harlequin · Post by **harlequin** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:56 pm

Added to that is another basic problem.

No one respects and values "time".

I know all those people who say that they work 14 hrs or more in india - come in around 11...take a big lunchie for 2 hrs etc...and start work around 4 pm

this is a trend...and even if u come to work at 7am and leave at 6pm..all eyes will follow u as if u committed a crime..

Am not denying the fact that there are some pressure point days..when meeting some critical deadlines hours stretch..but the frequency must not be more than 1's a month...

if its happening regularly..there is some other underlying issue.

desihometown · Post by **desihometown** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:00 pm

Cardinal rule of business: More money. More stress.

Its universal. Since India can no longer sell its business on costs only,
product/service quality has to match international/US standards.

If not, stress increases. Too many people in management in IT. Too many
first level managers. People want to do more people management than technology development and management.

This results in actue shortage of technical experts. Show me dudes who have been engineers for more than 10 years. After 5 yrs everyone wants to me manager.

MrLong · Post by **MrLong** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:13 pm

harlequin;88454Added to that is another basic problem.

No one respects and values "time".

I know all those people who say that they work 14 hrs or more in india - come in around 11...take a big lunchie for 2 hrs etc...and start work around 4 pm

.[/quote]

To generalize, I have heard the long time at work is more of a bachelor culture than the necessity to work. The productivity is minimal due to 2 hrs lunches, every hr smoking/chai breaks, Evening break for a Samosa for 45 minutes, come back and surf the net..

Most employees immediate friends are at work and it fulfills thier Camaradere need too..

Finally, an email to client at 10 PM, and CC their manager, and take the cab home.

There are exceptions to the above, but, I have talked to a lot of people who claimed to everyone and their families about overworking.. and will in general agree to the how relaxed they are...

ana · Post by **ana** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:26 pm

I agree with most of the points here. I worked in India too and this was the culture there. Work late/Coming on weekends and have fun in the office and have free lunch etc.

Same things are observed while managing an offshore team. The output and productivity is so low and lack of professionalism. Their PMs are as immature as they can get. Just shooting off emails without understanding any detail.

I guess US returned an make a difference if they want by their managerial approch and technical expertise.