The Satyam Fiasco : The Betrayal

In the previous post, I had highlighted a few questions that need to be answered in light of the recent developments at Satyam. The questions that I had put forth were:

What does this mean for people who tried to believe what the leaders had been saying?

Well, effectively, the VPP that has been forced on to associates puts to rest any assumptions that the people had made regarding the humane factor of the whole exercise. Doling out basic salary and an Internet allowance of 250/- could be humane to some, but not to the self respecting few who have been literally kicked out.

Post January 7, 2009, we had been fed messages of standing for the organization and defending it on any forum that the issue of Satyam being tainted came up.

• I did my bit for defending the organization as a whole when I appeared for a GD/PI interview at SIBM, Pune.
• I considered it my duty to defend my employer when questions about the integrity of the 40,000 employees came up.
• I defended my organization during the CSR assignments I took up at Satyam Foundation.

I did all that because I believed that with Raju behind bars and a new board in place, there would be a change in the working culture of the company. I did that because I was the 'Brand Ambassador' for brand Satyam. I stood for the management which would consider me unsuitable to continue in the organization and let me go, in a 'humane' manner.

But you know what, I was a fucking idiot to have done so. I always credited myself with a great gift of sensing the hunch. But I faltered.

I believed in change (Mr. Obama was an inspiration as well :P). I bought the shit that the so called leaders were doling out for free.

What does this mean for those who had resolved to consider all the management talk as bull, the whole of it? And they still felt that things would change.

The associates who had had a taste of the Satyam medicine right from the first day of joining, knew that the future wasn't all rosy. I was one of them. But I faltered on my way.

I am a strong believer in change. I have always believed that change is good. But here, at Satyam, it was the other way round. It is very simple to see why things have not moved for the better. You cannot expect the DNA of the organization to change if the powers that be are not replaced.

You cannot expect Satyam to to move on a path of revival if the regional bias that engulfs the organization is not tackled (yes, it is there).

I'll quote a very simple example. This friend of mine, a hard-working chap, got into VPP, in spite of working 14 hour days and meeting deadlines. He was instrumental in developing an application that could earn Satyam millions in royalty if marketed properly. He worked under an utterly incompetent Reporting Manager (the sole criteria for promotion and galore in Satyam is the years you have put in). But surprisingly, his RM was not sacked, nor was his RM. Why? Because they hail from the same state. Imagine a team discussion taking place in a regional language, where the team constitution is pan-India!

What does this do to the optimism of a young technical graduate in his first job?

This question sums it all up. This is my first job. We were trained in a technology which had no future scope in Satyam. There were 350 people already on bench, trained in the same technology, when our training started. This was the first straw. Then I realized that if you have contacts, this place can be a heaven for you. You could exploit several loopholes in the system as well. But when you are under a bond of two years and the collateral amounts 200,000, you can do little but work according to the whims and fancies of the 'higher-ups'.

I was optimistic that some project would come along one day. It has been two years, and my batch mates, including me were not put in a billable role even for a single day!

I was optimistic that things would change for good. I can assure you, had it not been for my family and my better half, I would have cracked out of frustration.

But then I learnt to utilize the loopholes in the system to at least ensure that I get the maximum out of the system.

I am still optimistic that good things would be there for me, somewhere. An eternal believer in Karma, I had not done bad to anyone in this organization, no petty politics, no regional bias, no bull shit.

But I am not optimistic about this organization. I have seen people who work like donkeys being retained, and smart workers being put into VPP.

I have seen people who find it hard to write three lines in English properly, getting the highest rating for communication in the annual appraisal, and those with excellent communication skills being shown the door.

I have seen people with awesome creativity being dumbed down because of the useless work that they had been assigned.

In my first job, I have seen an organization go down the drains and have seen valuable talent kicked out because they never got the chance to show their capability.

I have seen bright engineers with dreams in their eyes, broken and dejected with no idea about the future. The dreams have been trampled upon.

The Satyam Fiasco : Virtual Pool Program (VPP)

Finally, the time has come and Satyam's management has found a 'humane' way to 'deal' with the issue of excess resources. The solution is called : Virtual Pool Program.

The interesting fact about this VPP is that the 'excess' employees would be virtually working for the company, just like the presence of many leaders who consider themselves as messiahs of this godforsaken company.

I believe, these good for nothings should have been put into virtual mode before any of the 7000 or so associates who have been paid in such a grand manner for staying back at Satyam.

All the bull shit that was doled out in the past months about staying back and rebuilding the company, about bringing Satyam back to its glory days and 'keeping the faith' has fallen squarely on its face.

I was one of the 'Brand Ambassadors' at Satyam. My job was to pacify associates in peer-to-peer meetings and quell any rumors that might be going around. I was given the responsibility to hold discussions with my peers and answer their queries pertaining to job-losses, salary delays and the likes. I was the point of communication between the higher-ups (a word that I have learnt at Satyam, as it is used more than the word quality). I had been given specific instructions to project the views of the management in an unbiased manner, keeping my thoughts to myself.

I was pretty successful in doing the same and there were many a queries that we could answered. But here I am, writing this blog, giving a personal side of the VPP. I am in the VPP.

What does this mean for people who tried to believe what the leaders had been saying? What does this mean for those who had resolved to consider all the management talk as bull, the whole of it? And they still felt that things would change. What does this do to the optimism of a young technical graduate in his first job?

I believe these questions need to be answered in a different post altogether.

P.S.: I have been a bit occupied with my personal issues, so wasn't able to update the blog. Now that I have time, lots of it, I would try and update this place regularly.