If you look at the workplace environment around you, there would seem to be some apparently contradictory trends. The newspaper headlines say that companies like Tata Consultancy Services, IBM and Yahoo are sacking their staff in India. At the same time, the recently-concluded National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) annual conference re-emphasised that the biggest problem for the industry is a shortage of good people. In a booming job market, you can’t be handing out pink slips when you don’t have talent on tap.

Is it a booming market? Check out the latest Hewitt Associates report. It says that India led the global salary hike sweepstakes in 2007. The average increase was 15.1 per cent, with real estate and infrastructure (25.2 per cent) providing the biggest bounce. The IT sector may not be at the top but, at 15.4 per cent, it was above average. Incidentally, salaries are expected to increase 15.2 per cent in 2008, the fifth consecutive year of double-digit hikes.

This is hardly a time for gloom. TCS and IBM are not downsizing; they are just pruning non-performers. But, a few years down the line when the economy goes into a down cycle, pink slips will become popular. Now is the time to prepare for it.

“Downsizing is quite a fad in the West,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant D. Singh. “Opinion is divided on whether it is effective. Some say downsizing does more damage to the company’s culture and informal networks than the cost saving warrants. But like every management fad it will come to India too.”

Actually, it already has. In the first flush of liberalisation, the public sector banks went in for a massive voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). Some 11 per cent of their staff was shown the door. But the voluntary bit — and the fact that the scheme was financially attractive — muted criticism. The Tatas also cut the number of employees at Tata Steel from 78,000 to 45,000, becoming one of the lowest-cost steel producers in the world.

“Before Indian companies felt the effects of the economic reforms, lifetime employment was often a standard practice,” says Ames Gross in HR and Recruiting in India. “India’s integration into the global marketplace has changed the rules of the game.

“Although corporate downsizing in India increasingly resembles downsizing in the West, there is residual reluctance to laying people off... Possibly because of continuing turbulence in IT and related industries, it is the new economy companies that most closely resemble their Western counterparts. Downsizing in IT, telecommunications and other new economy companies is more likely to be involuntary. Instead of early retirement, IT employees are more often laid off with severance payments.”

Is Indian-style downsizing better? Well, it can’t be worse. Research by University College of London shows that people left behind in organisations where there has been downsizing are just as likely to face stress-related problems as their sacked colleagues. The big fear seems to be that once the management has resorted to downsizing, they could well do it again. And who knows who could be on the hit list the next time.

Singh believes that as we become more “professional,” downsizing will become a cyclical phenomenon in India too. “This is unfortunate, because it goes against our culture of caring,” he says. “In a family-run concern, in a downturn, everybody tightens their belts. We have a different ethos. In the US, if you refer to family-run concerns, you are probably talking about the Mafia.”

There are some things we need preserve no matter how globalised we get.

Defence plan

How to cope with downsizing

Get involved in the company: Be versatile; take initiative and show interest in the success of the company along with what it does. A career is like a marriage; if you don’t put any thought and effort into it, you may be left with nothing one day.

Stay calm: If the resizing has already occurred or is in the midst of occurring, stay focussed and concentrate on your career. This way, there’s a better chance that your superior will relocate you or offer you a different position if you discuss your situation with him.

Look on the bright side: Losing your job does not mean the end of the world, as it can open doors to better opportunities that might have been left untapped.

Save: Piggybank savings will make your life a whole lot easier if you suddenly find yourself jobless. You will have to plan your future career moves, which should be something of dire importance to you; more than just a means to an end.

(Source: Adapted from AskMen.com)