I have 2 reasons to be really, really annoyed with Cognizant, today. One minor reason – a Cognizant bus overtook me on the left, quite rudely. But I completely understand – the driver is just a contract employee and I don’t have a decent enough ground to blame Cognizant, the organization, for this.
Where I do believe I have a solid ground is a sentence in their recruitment advertisement in today’s Times of India, Ascent supplement.
Here is the specific portion that is the cause for my ire.
Question! What goes in your mind when you see the sentence, ‘All the above positions will require willingness to work 24X7’?
Mine was a rather loud and startled ‘WTF?’. If you don’t share that sentiment, I’m surprised.
Let me list the 2 possible responses from a Cognizant employee/ HR reading this post –
1. That sentence was meant only for the 4 openings listed under ‘IT Infrastructure Services’. You know how critical that position is, right?
2. Aw c’mon, we meant the willingness to work at US/ UK hours.
If its the former, I’m sorry, it still sounds very very, very wrong. If its the latter, again, I’m sorry – it just doesn’t come across that way.
The current work pressures ideally mean that we’re all on work most of our waking hours. I try and balance it by being physically present in office for about 9+ hours and working from home, for the rest. And frankly, we’ve evolved to be tied to work almost all through the day.
But putting it up so blatantly, that too in a recruitment advert is, in my opinion, complete disregard for employee welfare. I wonder how Cognizant’s HR even allowed this sentence.
So, let me understand what it means.
Cognizant’s HR: Are you willing to work 24X7?
Candidate: Err, I have a girl friend and like painting, as a hobby. So…
Cognizant: Are you or are you not willing to work 24X7?
Candidate: I know I’m very good at what I do and I’m completely committed to my organization, but…
Cognizant HR: Which part of my question did you not understand? I’ll ask you just one more time – are you or are you not willing to work 24X7?
Candidate: To answer that pointed question – no.
Cognizant HR: Next candidate…!
Next candidate comes in.
Cognizant’s HR: Are you willing to work 24X7?
Candidate: Do I get time to eat, sleep or take a dump?
Cognizant HR: (Thunders) Answer my question first!
Candidate: Yeah what the heck, yes!
Cognizant HR: Congrats – you’re in. If you behave well, we’ll allow you to use our ultra modern loo and relieve yourself.
You may laugh at my extreme response to that one piddly sentence – but I’m really outraged at Cognizant for bringing the standard of an Indian techie’s life so low. Techno-coolie phrase suddenly seems so darn real – more like techno-slave now!