Diwali season is coming. This is the time when everyone who is any one greets in anticipation of a bakshish or tip. One has to pay the watchman, the cleaners, the maid, the postman, the garbage guy, the pantry guy, the guard, everyone who is anyone. Nowadays even the courier guy comes in for his piece of the pie. I had once seen the telegraph guys come and ask for their share. God knows who even saw them ever.
But Diwali is the season of fun and merriment, which I have missed consistently for many years now. I don’t remember the last Diwali I spent in Mumbai. We just run away from the fire crackers and the noise and air pollution. But that does not mean the tip seekers don’t find us. They work as organized gangs. The watch men in the building typically form a union and go about extorting their bakshish. They approach and ask brazenly. Then they write down the contributions in a small notebook and divide the same internally.
I normally never gave any money to these characters around office. Though around home, it’s a done thing and considered a part of the expense. At my last office building I never gave anything to the guards as well. I then shifted office but I had to keep going there to meet some of the senior bosses. Parking is a mess in the area and one is left to the guards mercy to get a parking. There I was pretty much stuck. “sir” he said when I was trying to maneuver my car into an unauthorized parking slot, “last year’s Diwali is pending”. Ok sure. They sure know when to strike. I loosened the purse strings a little and voila, parking was available magically every time I went.
I learned the quiet benefits of Diwali bakshish. Loosen it and get magical service. I guess it’s a form of extortion or black mail or bribe. Soft power. But when you give them a bit, magic seems to open up doors and crucially parking slots.
My maid servant who is pretty friendly with us asked me generally the other day. “you too must be getting Diwali in office”. The Diwali tip is most often referred to simply as ‘diwali’. So “you too must be getting Diwali in office”.
Well. When I first started my career, I realized that what they said in the interview as CTC – or cost to company, is a magically large figure. What comes in hand is pretty less per month. What gets cut – first the provident fund contribution, then the company’s contribution to the fund (so much for forcing companies to contribute), then some professional tax, then some gratuity, then the tax that is deducted at source and then finally – bonus. The bonus deducted is around 8%, which is basically deducted so that during Diwali they give you a month’s salary as bonus. So they basically take your money and give it back to you later during the year as ‘Diwali Bonus’. Funny.
That practice carried on in a few companies for a few years, but my present company doesn’t do any of that. They don’t give you a Diwali bonus with your own money. You CTC has the normal deductions but no bonus deduction… which means more money in your hands every month.
But – you know I kind of miss the Bonus. Diwali is a season to spend and feel rich. It is a season to give others ‘bakshish’, celebrate, buy stuff and enjoy. We are a broking firm, a banking firm and more importantly an investment firm. We know what the shopping season does to the economy. People must feel rich during Diwali. They must spend. Spending kick starts the economy that spread cheer all around.
Most of economics is in the head. It’s what you feel. Recession happens because you don’t feel like spending, and economists do everything in their power to make you feel like spending or investing. If we are a financial service organization that believes in spreading joy within the economy and especially during the main season, then we must give this bonus. Cut it form the salary if you must but make people feel rich when they are likely to enjoy being rich the most!
I think I loved the bonus. I felt nice when I first got it. It was a week before Diwali and it felt nice being rich. I got a cheque. Those days’ people still got cheques! Now a days you get an email saying your monies are in. I remember feeling nice and happy. Pleasurable. I don’t know why we discontinued the box of sweetmeats as well. We used to give these out to all employees. It’s nice to take a box of sweets home from office. It’s a gesture to share joy and affection.
Economic sensibility wise I think it’s important to do something like this. If we as a bank player refuse to understand this, what hope we have from the lesser mortals who live in this big bad ugly world.
So “no devki, I don’t get any bonus from office during Diwali. It doesn’t work like that” I answered my maid servant. I guess she was disappointed. She probably had a point to state to which my organization probably helped in stealing the thunder away. Well. I guess there are some positive takeaways of not receiving a Diwali bonus after all.
Showing posts with label bonus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bonus. Show all posts
Friday, October 14, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
cold, bare and ...
Another weekend just comes and goes. Sometimes life moves on so fast, one is unaware of what hits where. Jasmine and me just look at each other as one weekend after the other passes us by. But I look at it with rose tinted glasses. One more weekend gone means one more week of pay in the bank. Wow.
I have always had this notion that I was overpaid. Sure I bring in tons of value to the firm and I ensure that enough value is always there on the table, but to be grounded and live life on a floor and not in the air, I keep this as a mental attitude. One month at a time. One week at a time and one day at a time.
I have never really had an issue with my salary. I have always taken salaries as a byproduct of the work that I have put in. of course I have changed job thanks to a better salary but more importantly the factor for me was always the role. A chance to do better, a chance to prove what I am capable of and a chance to learn more. Over the years salary has surely kept pace. Could I have earned more? Ya sure. But the answer remains the same to the question, could I have earned less? I also have never failed to admit this in public. The game is pretty simple. You are not going to pay me basis what I feel. You are going to pay me at only the minimum level that you think that if I don’t get, I would be tempted to move on. Market forces decide my pay, not my sentiment.
Hence I find it very funny when people crib about their salary. If you so smart then why aren’t you moving to something that pays you more. Something that pays you better. Don’t crib; just get on with the grind and work. Go for good work. Work that possibly gives you greater learning.
I have in life consistently though not consciously taken such calls. When I came back from Gujarat, working in Balasara, I joined Thakral at a lower pay. Then I rejected a few offers to join C tech at an even lower pay but to work on web technology. This helped me immensely. Then I refused offers somewhere else to work with something I liked. Then I took another pay cut to work at Momentum consulting. Then I moved to the broking division within the firm at same costs. All these calls have been from a growth and work perspective. I might be one of hard bargainers for cash and I constantly tell my friends to pitch higher. But the real reason to switch can’t be cash. It must be work and role. Cash follows work and role. All privileges follow work and role.
So when someone asks me for a recommendation on how much salary to ask for. Ask for the moon. The guy on the other side is only going to pay you what bets he can. No harm in asking for anything you want. That makes me sound cold and heartless. But I dint say join the place due the salary. Join for other things in life. Like my colleague once put it very nicely – we work for money but we turn up to work every day for something else.
Money can’t push me to do things that I do. I am not a rabbit that a carrot must be dangled in front of. We somehow have lost the art of respecting individuals. In sales to we think that carrot or stick would only work. Consistently people believe that their subordinates work only for money. But when asked about themselves they have loftier reasons to work. I hate bonus season. Managers tend to give bonus as a big reward and then expect employees to be grateful. He is not going to be grateful. Why should he be? It is a cold transaction. It’s not that the firm is giving out of goodwill. It only gives to those it deems suitable thanks to the effort and time put in by the employee. Employee sees it as money earned for effort spent.
I always turn these things around. Here is the money you made, but forget it. Let’s talk about the work you want to do. That’s important. Let’s get ground rules, work and culture right. Rest – jump around. If you like it, thank the MD - if you don’t like it, walk around. I am ok.
I like the example of zappos.com. The famous online show retailer. It famously offers a reward for all trainees if they want to quit at the end of a definite period. I thought that was cool. If you don’t like the culture – walk out fast. In fact all efforts must be made to ease the release of a player who wants out. Recently I closed a card with American Express. I thought it was the best experience possible. They were polite courteous and persuasive, but only to the right level. No extra pushing, no begging. They even refused to reverse a fee but were ok to close the account. They threw in a sweetener in terms of points but – no – sorry there is no reversal of fees. That’s a spine. I respect having a spine. I too refused on principal grounds – I don’t pay for cards – charge cards or credit cards. My usage and spending potential itself should warrant a free card. So we agreed to disagree and the parting was sweet. I hope someday I will use an American Express card again. And this time I plan to use it regularly. I have great faith in the service.
Coming back to zappos. Exiting must be easy and pain free. One of my old broking franchisees once told me that he always tells his customers – that many people give you service to open an account, but he will give you the same service and commitment when you want to close an account. Closing an account is not personal and when you close a relationship, the true value of the company comes to fore. But it also seems that the zappos offer is also an interesting psychological ploy. In one freakonomics podcast (highly recommended) that talks about quitting, they talk about the zappos example. Dan Ariely, a social scientist says that since the offer is a limited period offer, post the offer lapsing, cognitive dissonance kicks in and people justify their reason to stay on. They have just paid a premium (in effect by refusing the cash deal) and hence will look for justification in terms of culture etc. ok – now I not sure if that was the necessary objective when zappos started the offer, but I think it works well. By publically stating within my team that I would be more than happy to let people leave and will not hold them back, especially when it comes to salary, I end up having conversations that really matter. Work, growth, learnings, enrichment etc. What’s the point of having conversations that you can’t really do much about? And that will always remain cold and heartless. We have that as a cold and heartless conversation, wherein I am not expecting gratitude and the employee isn’t expecting benevolence.
I have always had this notion that I was overpaid. Sure I bring in tons of value to the firm and I ensure that enough value is always there on the table, but to be grounded and live life on a floor and not in the air, I keep this as a mental attitude. One month at a time. One week at a time and one day at a time.
I have never really had an issue with my salary. I have always taken salaries as a byproduct of the work that I have put in. of course I have changed job thanks to a better salary but more importantly the factor for me was always the role. A chance to do better, a chance to prove what I am capable of and a chance to learn more. Over the years salary has surely kept pace. Could I have earned more? Ya sure. But the answer remains the same to the question, could I have earned less? I also have never failed to admit this in public. The game is pretty simple. You are not going to pay me basis what I feel. You are going to pay me at only the minimum level that you think that if I don’t get, I would be tempted to move on. Market forces decide my pay, not my sentiment.
Hence I find it very funny when people crib about their salary. If you so smart then why aren’t you moving to something that pays you more. Something that pays you better. Don’t crib; just get on with the grind and work. Go for good work. Work that possibly gives you greater learning.
I have in life consistently though not consciously taken such calls. When I came back from Gujarat, working in Balasara, I joined Thakral at a lower pay. Then I rejected a few offers to join C tech at an even lower pay but to work on web technology. This helped me immensely. Then I refused offers somewhere else to work with something I liked. Then I took another pay cut to work at Momentum consulting. Then I moved to the broking division within the firm at same costs. All these calls have been from a growth and work perspective. I might be one of hard bargainers for cash and I constantly tell my friends to pitch higher. But the real reason to switch can’t be cash. It must be work and role. Cash follows work and role. All privileges follow work and role.
So when someone asks me for a recommendation on how much salary to ask for. Ask for the moon. The guy on the other side is only going to pay you what bets he can. No harm in asking for anything you want. That makes me sound cold and heartless. But I dint say join the place due the salary. Join for other things in life. Like my colleague once put it very nicely – we work for money but we turn up to work every day for something else.
Money can’t push me to do things that I do. I am not a rabbit that a carrot must be dangled in front of. We somehow have lost the art of respecting individuals. In sales to we think that carrot or stick would only work. Consistently people believe that their subordinates work only for money. But when asked about themselves they have loftier reasons to work. I hate bonus season. Managers tend to give bonus as a big reward and then expect employees to be grateful. He is not going to be grateful. Why should he be? It is a cold transaction. It’s not that the firm is giving out of goodwill. It only gives to those it deems suitable thanks to the effort and time put in by the employee. Employee sees it as money earned for effort spent.
I always turn these things around. Here is the money you made, but forget it. Let’s talk about the work you want to do. That’s important. Let’s get ground rules, work and culture right. Rest – jump around. If you like it, thank the MD - if you don’t like it, walk around. I am ok.
I like the example of zappos.com. The famous online show retailer. It famously offers a reward for all trainees if they want to quit at the end of a definite period. I thought that was cool. If you don’t like the culture – walk out fast. In fact all efforts must be made to ease the release of a player who wants out. Recently I closed a card with American Express. I thought it was the best experience possible. They were polite courteous and persuasive, but only to the right level. No extra pushing, no begging. They even refused to reverse a fee but were ok to close the account. They threw in a sweetener in terms of points but – no – sorry there is no reversal of fees. That’s a spine. I respect having a spine. I too refused on principal grounds – I don’t pay for cards – charge cards or credit cards. My usage and spending potential itself should warrant a free card. So we agreed to disagree and the parting was sweet. I hope someday I will use an American Express card again. And this time I plan to use it regularly. I have great faith in the service.
Coming back to zappos. Exiting must be easy and pain free. One of my old broking franchisees once told me that he always tells his customers – that many people give you service to open an account, but he will give you the same service and commitment when you want to close an account. Closing an account is not personal and when you close a relationship, the true value of the company comes to fore. But it also seems that the zappos offer is also an interesting psychological ploy. In one freakonomics podcast (highly recommended) that talks about quitting, they talk about the zappos example. Dan Ariely, a social scientist says that since the offer is a limited period offer, post the offer lapsing, cognitive dissonance kicks in and people justify their reason to stay on. They have just paid a premium (in effect by refusing the cash deal) and hence will look for justification in terms of culture etc. ok – now I not sure if that was the necessary objective when zappos started the offer, but I think it works well. By publically stating within my team that I would be more than happy to let people leave and will not hold them back, especially when it comes to salary, I end up having conversations that really matter. Work, growth, learnings, enrichment etc. What’s the point of having conversations that you can’t really do much about? And that will always remain cold and heartless. We have that as a cold and heartless conversation, wherein I am not expecting gratitude and the employee isn’t expecting benevolence.
Monday, March 22, 2010
get off... you are spoilng my aura
Its march again and the whole bloody stress thing will now play out. Increments, bonus growth etc. People will ask of the company what the company will do for it and the company will ask of the people what they have done for it.
The whole thing is quite a sham and has little logic or proper thought process. The top management will get in a huddle with the science that only they understand. And then you as will be given the letters and will have to show your face to the employee. Till the letters come in you are not even consulted or even in the know as regards anything. It is the state secret that is being discussed. Invariably it hurts more people than it will please. But then that is a function of human nature. Quickly the joy of getting money will disappear into the jealousy experienced when you realise who gets what. And you know what the truth is… I don’t think that the management cares a dam what you really think. And neither does the employee care what the management really think. In the end both end up cursing each other. One feels that the other is not grateful. I can’t understand what the gratitude feeling is all about. You gave your services, they paid what they think is adequate for you. No one did anyone a favour. Where on earth does gratitude come from? I am quite clear about all this. Experience has taught be a lot. I approach this with a sense of equanimity.
That’s what I tell all my kids as well. When the going was good, I told them not to thank me for all the sexy bonuses they were receiving and hence when the going went kaput, I kept the same stand. I don’t give you money or decide your hikes, its them, please face them and talk to them. I have learnt to influence silently from sidelines, and be quite about it. When someone is joining in, I try and fight for salary and quietly make an impact. At the time also I deflect the entire thing to ‘them’. I find it of no use to get any gratitude for salary.
Such is also the case for day to day functioning. If they crib about cash, I only say that I influence office environment, I give you freedom to work, I ensure my team has zero infighting and politics, rest for salary, this is what the company is paying. If you get something better somewhere else. Go. Please put my name on your CV as reference. Sure I address all issues with management but I have no real authority on the same.
This way I work focussed on the job. This way I don’t let issues of money affect my day to day life. I have seen people hanker around for money, play games, time resignations, manage the equations and waste tons of time cribbing away vitiating the atmosphere. I hate money talks and I can’t tolerate too much of cribbing and hypothising about what will happen. It’s a complete waste of time. Do your job and walk. Isn’t someone waiting for you outside office? Leave your worries home. Once you get the letter and the amount over which you have no control over then, you plan your action. Before that thinking about it is such a waste of time.
From around now to the date the letters are given I will have to duck such people and duck such conversations and duck the negativity permeating the floor. It is a big job but to preserve ones sanity, I see no option. Also the best way to turn these guys off is to agree and give some big lecture on why the management is trying their best and why they are right and why one should work for reasons other than money. Slowly they want to talk to you anymore as ‘the other side’ is the last thing they want to hear. Hehehe.
The whole thing is quite a sham and has little logic or proper thought process. The top management will get in a huddle with the science that only they understand. And then you as will be given the letters and will have to show your face to the employee. Till the letters come in you are not even consulted or even in the know as regards anything. It is the state secret that is being discussed. Invariably it hurts more people than it will please. But then that is a function of human nature. Quickly the joy of getting money will disappear into the jealousy experienced when you realise who gets what. And you know what the truth is… I don’t think that the management cares a dam what you really think. And neither does the employee care what the management really think. In the end both end up cursing each other. One feels that the other is not grateful. I can’t understand what the gratitude feeling is all about. You gave your services, they paid what they think is adequate for you. No one did anyone a favour. Where on earth does gratitude come from? I am quite clear about all this. Experience has taught be a lot. I approach this with a sense of equanimity.
That’s what I tell all my kids as well. When the going was good, I told them not to thank me for all the sexy bonuses they were receiving and hence when the going went kaput, I kept the same stand. I don’t give you money or decide your hikes, its them, please face them and talk to them. I have learnt to influence silently from sidelines, and be quite about it. When someone is joining in, I try and fight for salary and quietly make an impact. At the time also I deflect the entire thing to ‘them’. I find it of no use to get any gratitude for salary.
Such is also the case for day to day functioning. If they crib about cash, I only say that I influence office environment, I give you freedom to work, I ensure my team has zero infighting and politics, rest for salary, this is what the company is paying. If you get something better somewhere else. Go. Please put my name on your CV as reference. Sure I address all issues with management but I have no real authority on the same.
This way I work focussed on the job. This way I don’t let issues of money affect my day to day life. I have seen people hanker around for money, play games, time resignations, manage the equations and waste tons of time cribbing away vitiating the atmosphere. I hate money talks and I can’t tolerate too much of cribbing and hypothising about what will happen. It’s a complete waste of time. Do your job and walk. Isn’t someone waiting for you outside office? Leave your worries home. Once you get the letter and the amount over which you have no control over then, you plan your action. Before that thinking about it is such a waste of time.
From around now to the date the letters are given I will have to duck such people and duck such conversations and duck the negativity permeating the floor. It is a big job but to preserve ones sanity, I see no option. Also the best way to turn these guys off is to agree and give some big lecture on why the management is trying their best and why they are right and why one should work for reasons other than money. Slowly they want to talk to you anymore as ‘the other side’ is the last thing they want to hear. Hehehe.
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