About 29% of all IT employees say they are very stressed at work; 30% say
they’d leave if another decent company offers them a 20% jump in salary. Yet,
about 69% of employees also say they have a lot of fun working for their
companies. Here’s a look at what IT employees feel about their work and how
they rank their companies
|
|
Marketing pros are more satisfied than tech employees
|
|
|
Middle management feels the squeeze while junior and senior management seem better off
|
|
|
More women are satisfied on most counts than men
|
We presented 55 statements to 1,000 employees in the IT industry to find out
how they felt on various issues re lating to their work—their overall
satisfaction, their companies, the people they work with, their managers,
salaries, corporate culture and systems. All of them were asked to rate their
companies on a scale of 1 to 10 on every one of these statements—where 10
meant they strongly agreed and 1 meant they strongly disagreed.
We then divided these 55,000 statements into seven major parameters—composite
satisfaction, company culture, job content and growth, training, salary and
compensation, appraisal system and people.
What we got was a wealth of information—not only on individual companies,
but on the industry as a whole. And as in any interesting survey—some of the
results were predictable. And some weren’t.
Perhaps not surprisingly, overall satisfaction is on the decline. While
attrition rates may be low for the moment, there was a pointer to the future
when things begin looking up—30% of all employees said they would gladly leave
their jobs if another company offered them a 20% hike in salary. Also not
surprisingly, the greatest dissatisfaction centered on salary and appraisal
systems.
The surprises included falling satisfaction on job content and the fact that
over 30% of tech employees seemed less than entirely happy with the technology
they were working on. Training emerged as another issue with more than 35% of
all respondents saying they were only moderately satisfied or seriously
dissatisfied with the quality and relevance of training programs in their
companies.
Overall, however, three key trends emerged—
(a) On almost every single question, sales and marketing professionals were
far more satisfied than their tech colleagues;
(b) While the junior and senior most employees were relatively better off,
the middle level seemed the least satisfied (experience groups 2-5 years and
5-10 years); and
(c) Barring a few questions relating largely to what might be called
empowerment issues, women were far more satisfied than men.
For more on company-wise rankings on the seven parameters and overall
satisfaction, read on...
Overall Satisfaction*
Two years into the recession—it finally happened. Overall satisfaction in
the industry for the first time has shown a significant downward trend. In
fiscal 2002-03—a year that will remembered as the Year of Sackings—the
industry had still managed to keep satisfaction levels steady. Not so last year.
On a scale of 1 to 10, satisfaction ratings were down to 8.1, compared to
approximately 9.2 to 9.4 in fiscal 2000-01 and fiscal 2001-02 (converted from a
5-point scale score of 4.6 and 4.7, respectively). This showed up in individual
company rankings.
A good 13 companies from 2002 made it to this year’s Top 20—six of these
also fell down the overall satisfaction rankings. A key trend—most of the IT
Services companies that recruited heavily during the year, were also hit the
most on overall satisfaction. Not entirely surprising really. As companies focus
heavily on recruitment there is an inevitable loss of focus on the current HR
health of the company. For instance, this was the third consecutive year in
which Infosys has taken a hit on satisfaction. It moved from number 11 in 2001
on this parameter to 13th in 2002 and is now down to 16th. Wipro took the same
downward route—from a respectable 7 in 2001 down to 19.
The gainers were Cadence, Rolta and HCL Infosystems that has been moving up
steadily over the last three years. Another eye opener and perhaps this year’s
key theme—sales and marketing people were significantly more satisfied than
tech professionals.
Question: How would you rate your
overall satisfaction based on your entire experience in this company on a
satisfaction scale of 10 to 1? Overall industry base: 1,000
*Overall satisfaction is the
weighted score of seven parameters, including composite satisfaction, company
culture and training, among others
Composite Satisfaction
Having asked for overall satisfaction, we dug deeper into what employees
reacted to specific questions. Would they recommend their company to a close
friend? Do they look forward to a day at work every morning? Do they feel a
sense of personal and professional fulfillment? Would they leave this job for a
20% raise in a reputed company elsewhere?
The results were interesting. Composite satisfaction scores
for the industry actually turned out to be lower than overall satisfaction
scores. Message: there are deeper issues of dissatisfaction lurking under the
surface.
Individually, some companies remained at more or less the
same score and ranking. In others—as employees looked at each issue carefully,
they found they actually ranked their companies higher or lower than they had
initially thought. Case in point—Digital GlobalSoft. It ranked 18th on overall
satisfaction, but a far better 4th on composite satisfaction scores. Reason:
though employees feel dissatisfied overall, they have no hesitation in
recommending the company to good friends. What’s more—a good 86% say despite
everything, they look forward to a day at work every morning. Message—Digital
has reasonably satisfied employees but is missing out on something crucial that
might make the employees recognize/feel that they are satisfied.
Statements
measured: (Included) I would recommend my company to a close friend; I look
forward to a day at work every morning; I feel a sense of personal and
professional fulfillment; I would leave this job for a 20% raise in a reputed
company elsewhere. Overall Industry Base: 1,000
Company Culture
Here’s some good news for Sun Micro. Despite employees feeling deeply
effected by the recession and disgruntled on most other things, they believe the
company’s culture hasn’t really been affected—a parameter on which Sun
actually performed a little better than last year. Reason—more than most, Sun
employees say they are encouraged to take risks at work and partly as a result
of that—they have fun working in the company. In what is a really good sign,
HP meanwhile managed to marginally improve its relative ranking on company
culture despite the great churn following the merger. TCS also moved up a bit—not
because it did spectacularly well on any of the specific questions, but because
it managed to stay somewhere in the middle most of the time. The big drops were
Infosys, Datacraft, Wipro and HCL Technologies. At Infosys, a good 50% employees
said their opinions didn’t seem to matter at work and that they were not
encouraged to take risks. At Datacraft, employees had issues with
professionalism, freedom to make decisions and infrastructure. Wipro employees
had issues with the company not being open to ideas and suggestions while HCL
Tech employees had a bunch of issues including fair treatment.
A passing if interesting observations—all but one of the Top 6 on this
parameter are MNCs.
Statements measured:
(Included) My opinion matters in the company; I feel a sense of belonging here;
People are treated fairly regardless of age, caste or religion; The company is
very open to ideas and suggestions given by employees; I have fun working here. Overall
Industry Base: 1,000 respondents
Job content/growth
How the tables have turned. Tech professionals in the industry are now more
stressed, less sure of themselves and less excited about their work than sales
and marketing professionals are. In fact, a clear trend during the year was a
marked dichotomy between tech and marketing people and the way they view their
job and their role in the company. A good 97% of the S&M respondents said
they saw their work as crucial to the company’s growth—compared to just 74%
of the tech professionals; 86% of the S&M respondents were also excited
about their jobs compared to just 65% of the tech respondents. More
interestingly, 84% marketing professionals saw exciting growth opportunities for
themselves within the company compared to just 61% of their tech colleagues. But
the irony of ironies—marketing professionals were also more excited about the
technology they were working on (selling) than the techies. The only comparative
saving grace for techies came from the fact that despite everything more of them
felt secure in their jobs than the S&M respondents.
At Infosys satisfaction on job content hadn’t changed much over the
previous year though both HCL Technologies and Wipro went through some sharp
drops. Of all the respondents, Wipro had the smallest percentage of employees
who felt their jobs were crucial ot the company. It also had the smallest
percentage of people who felt excited about their work or about their growth
opportunities within the company. HCL Tech employees had additional issues on
technology they were working on and unclearly defined roles.
Again—seven of the Top 10 were MNCs.
Statements measured:
(Included) The work I do is crucial to the company’s growth; I am very excited
about the work I handle here; I am very excited by the technology I am working
on; I have exciting growth opportunities in this company; My job is secure here Overall
Industry Base: 1,000
Training
This is not a ranking of the overall training hours of companies, but of the
level of employee satisfaction with the training given. By and large, 60% to 70%
of all employees said they were satisfied with all aspects of training-number of
hours, quality, relevance, contribution to their personal and professional
growth. However, more marketing employees were satisfied on almost every
statement of this parameter rather than tech employees, which is interesting if
one considers the fact that the backbone of the industry lies in training the
tech professionals. Also of note was the fact was that six of the top companies
in this ranking were multinationals. At IBM, 90% of the employees were highly
satisfied with the number of days of training, 73% were highly satisfied with
the quality of training, 80% said it was highly relevant and 84% said it
genuinely added to their personal and professional growth. The big surprises
were Sun Micro and Adobe Systems. Sun employees had the greatest issues on the
number of days of training as well as on the training not impacting their growth
enough. Adobe employees had issues on just about every count with the company
ranking among the last three in all the composite training questions. Infosys
employees ranked the company 19th on the question relating to "relevance of
training to work"; HCL Technologies was ranked 19th on the quality of
training and Wipro was ranked 18th.. The big gainers during the year were
Cadence, Digital and Rolta, while HCL, TCS and HP remained at more or less the
same level. Interestingly, quality of training was one of the questions on which
employees with more than 10 years’ experience were the least satisfied.
Statements measure: (Included)
I am satisfied with the number of days of training in a year; I am satisfied
with the quality of training provided to me; The training given to me is
relevant to the kind of work I do; The training given to me genuinely helps in
personal and professional growth. Overall Industry Base: 1,000
Salary and compensation
First, to clarify—this is not a ranking of actual salaries, but of
employee satisfaction on salary and compensation. Typically reactions here would
be a combination of actual salaries and increments as well as employee
expectations. For instance, though Sun Micro is among the highest paying
companies in the Top 20, employee satisfaction on salaries is right there at the
bottom as a result of a multiplicity of factors—among them the feeling that
work load has increased a lot more than salaries have. Similarly, while the IT
industry may still be the largest pay-master in the country, IT employees aren’t
quite so happy anymore... In fact, of all the eight employee satisfaction
parameters, salary is what they are least happy about.
Reason—One, the fact that salary increments have fallen from around 50% to
somewhere in the teens is by itself not likely to be cause for celebration. And
two, though actual salary cuts may not have been announced, most companies have
reduced salary bills by increasing the variable component of employee
pay-checks. These variable components are linked to either workgroup or company
performance—in extreme cases, on a quarterly basis.
Result: Salaries and increments are not only down, but unpredictable.
This shows up significantly among large IT services companies that were major
recruiters during the year. Specifically, TCS, Wipro and Infosys which are among
the Bottom 5 on this ranking.
Statements: (Included) I am
paid enough for the work I do; My salary structure is tax-efficient; I am
satisfied with kind of salary hikes I get; I am getting paid at par with
industry standards. Overall industry base: 1,000
Appraisal System
Appraisals aren’t exactly the easiest times for any company. During the
downturn—they can also often be the worst. As companies moved toward variable
pays and lesser increments, often tied to company performance, IT employees are
showing growing disenchantment with the appraisal system. With company
performance linked increments, not surprisingly tech professionals are a lot
less satisfied than marketing people. Result—while 67% of all marketing
professionals strongly felt that the appraisal system of their companies were
transparent, just above 50% of their tech colleagues felt so; While 69% of all
marketing professionals also thought the system was fair, only 48% of all the
techies felt the same; while 71% of marketing professionals said their special
initiatives and efforts were recognized only 56% of their tech colleagues said
agreed.
Normally satisfaction with appraisal systems increases with seniority.
Interestingly, this year a good 30% of people with more than 10 years’
experience weren’t thoroughly happy with their company’s appraisal systems.
This was also the one of the few parameters on which fewer women were satisfied
than men.
On the 13 companies common to both 2002 and 2003 HR rankings, only two showed
improved satisfaction on this count – Rolta and HCL Technologies. Rest of the
11 either showed same or lower satisfaction rankings on appraisals. Big drops—Datacraft,
Digital, TCS, Philips, Infosys, HCL Infosystems andWipro.
Statements: (Included) The
appraisal system in this company is transparent; the appraisal system in this
company is fair; Appraisal parameters are well thought out and relevant; Special
initiatives and efforts are duly recognized at the time of appraisal. Overall
Industry Base: 1,000
People
This one was interesting. Along with culture, this is one parameter that IT
industry employees are relatively most satisfied on. This parameter measures
employee satisfaction with the company’s leadership, their immediate managers
and their peers. Within that overall mean score however were some internal
patterns. Of the three groups—leadership, managers and peers—peers performed
the best. A good 80% respondents said their peers were both helpful and made for
a better work environment. The more problematic area seemed to be immediate
managers. Though a little over 70% said their managers encouraged them to speak
freely at meetings and were always there for help and advice, the crib areas
seemed to be—lack of constructive feedback, lack of recognition for
outstanding work and a feeling that managers did not genuinely care about their
professional and personal growth.
Among the companies the big surprise was Wipro Technologies which ranked 20th
on this parameter. Traditionally, relationship management –both internal and
external—has been the company’s key strength. However, employees put the
company at the bottom rung of almost every single composite statement relating
to people in the company. The lowest score—only 39.4% really believed their
managers cared about their growth. HCL Technologies closely followed the same
pattern.
Statements: (Included) The company’s leadership is doing what is required
for the company’s growth; My manager is always available when I need help or
advice; My manager genuinely cares about my professional and personal growth; My
colleagues help me when I need them; My relationship with my peers makes for a
better work environment. Overall Industry Base: 1,000
Sarita Rani / TV
Mahalingam
