Thursday, September 08, 2005

Tech Republic

Upfront, let me admit that an intense subconscious jealousy might be the reason for the contents of this post, but thats a big 'might'. and before i start off, let me assure you that i have nothing against the people i write about, only sympathy at the way they are being used.. and it may not be a situation which applies to everyone in the industry... disclaimer over, post start...
A few days back, i read an article that a reputed software company is going to start a beauty salon, on its campus.. the reason being that since the employees start work early and end late,they may not have time to get a haircut or facial, and so the oh-so-concerned employer is taking care of it... sometime earlier, i had also read about how creches were the latest HR craze in the silicon towers..reason being that employees shouldnt be bothered about finding a safe parking place for their toddlers... i assume the forthcoming attractions would be a work station which will double up as a dorm at night, with facilities for brushing/shaving etc, entertainment facilities for the last generation of visiting parents, express mating services coz baby, who has the time for love and romance, mini sperm banks and artificial insemination procedures, so that the correct genetic ingredients can be used to make a perfect tech kid who might be able to start programming after uttering the cursory 'papa' and 'mama' utterances, and its formal introduction to them, and yes, before i really lose it, please, a toilet seat instead of the regular seat....
Welcome to the tech republic, founded on the toil of a million professionals who bravely walk that thin line between their retina and their monitor, and their fingers and the keyboard... who are led to believe that their work is making a difference to millions of users whose life has been made easier because of the billion applications/programs that are being churned out... who are worth so much, thanks to their ESOPs, that it would make every other kind of professional hide his face in shame, but who wouldnt have the time to enjoy it.. whose life, for me, is still an enigmatic code... er, before we got diverted, wasnt the whole process about improving lives? i guess,like every republic has its own set of martyrs, so too does the tech republic...
until next time < / post >

24 comments:

Deez said...

atleast somebody noticed...

Stone said...

I was thinking on exact same lines lately,

now they arrange yoga classes in morning, 'dance' classes in evening, they hire a 'to-let' consultants to help employess get home on rent near office, have regular medical chekups at work, parties as project incentives, list is endless.

in other words..'sab apna ullu seedha kar rahe hai" :-)

dunno where all this will lead to.

Prerona said...

loved the post ... specially the toilet seat part ... im sure thats next in line ... and no esops yet either

manuscrypts said...

deez: hmm, all do .. and also noticed a new pic?.. :)

stone: to the end, when they say 'we feel that you have performed enough and its better for you to rest now...'

manuscrypts said...

kamal: yes, in the end, the only carrot is really the money. but that will ideally change soon..

prerona: esops are dicey these days...

Prerona said...

why? i dont mind, re - dicey or not - mere ko toh khareed ke bhi nehi mila ... :(

Mrs. Dalloway said...

Dystopia!

I am a riot?! You too Manu?!

Pallavi said...

Yeah I heard about that... I would prefer to keep my work as work and not build another home... away from my home.. Sheesh !!

GratisGab said...

It's a pathetic scene Manu, but a necessary evil most times. A baby day-care at work for example, is the coolest thing. You can keep an eye every time you get a break...

manuscrypts said...

prerona: khareede kyon, waise... oh, u get a preferential share rate or something??

poornima: i try to :)

manuscrypts said...

pallavi: it cant be home, anyways..

gabby: necessarily evil.. it isnt necessary until we let it be.. of course, i might be missing a lot of personal experience insight in this, but still...all i'd say is i didnt spend time in an office creche, and i'd ideally keep it that way...

Anonymous said...

A tech kid WOULD say the CURSORy Mummy Papa wouldn't he?

Nupur said...

Waaaaaa?!

Somebody shout out - I have a life!!!

manuscrypts said...

JW: and i thought i was bad!! :p

nupur: naah, that'd spoil the economy...

Prerona said...

dhhur!!! nothing. IPO ke time pein employee quota tha thats all :(

NoHairBrain said...

Brilliant!! And thats exactly how the employees are made to feel. Like Martyrs and heroes .. the personal life and work merges into one until they are one and the same .. until the ceo or the management makes a stupid error and you have to pick up ur pieces again

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately in India, most of the places expect u to work that hard and they dont even give you those benefits. Heck, if i have to work 15 hour days, i would rather there be a beauty parlour than not i suppsoe

Anonymous said...

rightooo!! its all for making hay while the sun shines! but at same time I guess business IS all about profits! One shouldn't complain so much, since one does get part of the pie in returns.

Moonie

Anjali said...

Brilliant post. Although why restrict it to just the tech world? The entire corporate world seems to be headed that way ... it's cool to work long hours, be stressed out, have high blood pressure and all manner of illnesses that symbolize success - and utterly un-cool to leave office at 6 to enjoy the spoils of your hard work.

Argentyne said...

ah, to think that there's a high probability i might end up in the same profession :'( .. some of the things you said are quite nice you know, like the day care thing .. though a beauty salon sounds quite outrageous. The whole thing about going well dressed to work vanish and leave behind shabby looking people setting off for work. Eeee!

manuscrypts said...

prerona: woee, must be at least a millionaire by now?? :)

NHB: and most of them are so shattered that picking up pieces aint easy at all...

manuscrypts said...

cynic: have actually written a post on that (not posted yet and not specifically on the parlour, but the idea..lol)

anjali: agree :(

manuscrypts said...

Moonie: but is it worth it?

cc: i still dont agree on the creche.. its trying to rectify a situation gone bad and then saying the rectification is good...

manuscrypts said...

parna: will definitely read.. aint a faux pas at all, ma'am. and the fun part is when i tried it without the spacing, it didnt work, so if you notice, thats why the additional spaces..:)