Job Satisfaction

I have a friend who works in this top class company in Colombo which serves mostly foreign clients. In our gatherings we used to tease her about her company and its culture. Because some of their employees we know have a different type of social life within the company. They have one partner at home and another partner at office. This office partners of them regularly changes. I know its a normal habit in most of the offices. And she always argue with us saying its a good company to work with a respect. Day before yesterday i received a mail from her. I felt quite sad after reading that.

With her mail there was a photograph of her and couple of other friends. They were wearing very nice party dresses. Those were short dresses , but not micro mini and decent enough to cover what is required. At the end of the mail there was another photograph. Actually it was the same photograph edited by some one. It contained some, i would say not proper language to describe the legs of them and some other rubbish too. All this time my friend was quite happy at work. But suddenly this has made her very depressed and frustrated. I started thinking. Compared to the rate the photos are editing and uploading in to the internet today and compared to most other things this is a very small incident. But still irrespective of all the world class facilities provided by her organisation , she has lost her satisfaction at work. I know definitely it impact her work. She told me that its very sad that another mate who work in the next desk did it using the company email. I know incidents in some other companies where male officers have troubled seriously to female employees. But it was always said that "You know its guys. Its a joke. You should be able to bear those. You don't have patience". Even though i felt very sorry for my friend who deeply suffered due to this , i knew in such a company no one will be bothered to even listen to her. I told her , if its my company i would definitely do something. But this is not something i can help officially. All i could do is to console her.

But next day i got a call from her. She talks in an extremely enthusiastic encouraging tone as usual. I said I'm happy to hear you like this. Then she told me one of the most strange things i heard after some time. They have reported it to their company management. Management has conducted very strict deciplinary action towards the case , issued a warning letter and filed it in his personal file of that particular employee who edited the pic and distributed it. They have warned him its the last chance and if he says a single bad word to anyone works there, he'll be kick out from the company. He was ordered to apologise from all the girls in the picture. And company has sent a mail to all the employees of the office saying if similar action happens again , who ever who does that will immediately suspended. Everyone regained their places which deserved to them.

It was such a simple incident. But i saw how it affected people. It was amazing how that management solve it. I never expected that from a company which has a culture closer to American or European. But now i feel that this is what you call real decipline. Not to limit the freedom of people. But to respect them and protect them. Its wonderful. May this be a tribute to that management team.

How to be a star in Sri Lanka?

Sunday night I was watching Sirasa super star while I was having dinner. When everyone was watching it with much pleasure, I started thinking of something else. That is the tragedy face by our youth.

Younger generation of this country is very much talented. But do they have a proper route to show case their talents and abilities? Can they be a super star even though they are capable? One mother who brought her daughter for the super star contest said that she wanted her daughter to come for that, not because she dreams to make her a super star but wanted to show her talents to some audience. That little girl’s school teacher has stated that she will not let her participate in any school concerts. According to that mother teacher’s daughter is also studying in the same class and due to that she hates other talented girls. My old grandmother who was a teacher says teachers will never say such things. May be it has happened in the “golden past” era which all of them talk about. But not these “unfortunate” present days. But I have seen many similar incidents while I was schooling. I had a friend who is a captain of a basket ball team of a famous school couple of years back. Under her captaincy they won the all island under 19 schools championship. This school emerged this championship after 20 years. She was awarded as one of the best players of the tournament. But the teacher in-charge didn’t let her participate in the official school photograph with the team. Her excuse was simple. She publicly stated I don’t like that girl. That’s it. Even the principle was so scared to talk against her. This is the so called “democratic education” our society is talking.

We have ministries and ministers and hell of a lot of staff allocated for the subjects such as culture, national heritage, Buddhism and education. In such country isn’t this a curse? In that case can we consider the service done by Sirasa super star as so simple? If not for that we would never know this very talented bunch of youngsters.

What will happen if the government sector organizes such a thing? Well… for the very unfortunate we’ll guess that government organized this contest. Then other than practicing to sing, these stars will first have to go behind departments to get forms and files and fill the other documents from “Grama sewaka” to the head of departments. Going behind the ministers and their henchmen and more necessarily giving “something” to officers and organizers. Does our government sector have such creative minds to think of something new? I know it’s quite similar to “Idol” programs around the world. But still to organize something like this and re produce it to suite the Sri Lankan contest is not so easy. I used to work for an event management team for some time and therefore I can imagine how difficult it is to handle 57,000 applicants. We all remembered that one cabinet minister’s recommendation about the so called graduate recruitment scheme.

I’m quite surprised of another thing too. This country and its people always talk about culture and good conduct. But when an injustice happened to another person, such as this mother’s daughter, no one speaks against it. Is that the virtue of this country? What does it shows? Are we still living with colonial mind set? Or are they scared to talk? But if government or any other organization is trying to do something lawful for the betterment of the country, definably our union leaders and some NGOs will go to the Lipton circle or Fort Railways station. Wonderful country! Today Susanthika Jayasingha is in track because she spoke for herself. Muralidaran is there, thanks to Arjuna.

I don’t know much about this super star program. But I know that it’s a good chance many talented people to show up. I have heard that when H R Jothipala started singing, critics were insulting him and laughed at him. But what is the situation today with his songs? Can anybody easily copy his talent? There are no duplicates for him. Simply because he was talented and people love him. Thank god he was brave enough to face those and he had a way to come up. But there are many people in many organizations many fields that are really talented but people don’t know them. Some places, these people really work hard and those who are in the field know them. But people are famous in those fields and people who appear in news papers are not these real people who are really talented and work with quite dedication and by heart. But since they do not want to go after the publicity, they are never known by public and they do not get what is deserved. Why does it happen?

Change is the only thing that never changes. Our institutions should understand that they have to face rapid social change. Due to globalization and information technology there’s a impact on the society and we will need to change according to that. Therefore government institutions should understand that they need to help the community and cope up with the people to overcome their difficulties and problems. But still we can see that the power robbed and gave to Colombo by John Doyle’s cunning system. By not giving this power back to the people who really deserve this power shows that our government servants are still the Doyle’s commoraders rather than commoraders of this country.

In the break of the Super star program , I saw the close ups of the charming little girl Sarala Kariyawasam (Chuyya)’s smiling face. When those pictures gradually fade away , I remembered the famous song by Nanda Malini.

“Ane api kawadaka awidimuda ee sande”
(When can we walk under this moon light?)

Why do they give jobs only on recommendations?

There are some employees in our office who get a really low salary. Same as there are some employees who are exceptionally paid well. Even though the top management says its based on performance , i know there are hidden efforts hidden abilities which don't get scanned to the performance measures. But i have never seen these people on a strike. They some times screams and complaining about their salaries. But i always see these people working even out of their office hours to complete their tasks. Not that anyone orders them to do it. But they do it by heart. Though they get a low salary , they seem to be happy at work. One day i had a discussion with one of our mates on this. His answer was "Simple. We only recruit by recommendations. So we don't have anyone who is strike type". I do not know whether to be happy or sad for his comment. But i remembered this again when i saw a court decision given some week or 2 back.

According to Daily Mirror

"The supreme court has given an interim order restraining a particular minister (Name mentioned in the paper) and his associates from obstructing its factory and business. Petitioner company Sevanagala Sugar Industries Ltd. In its fundamental rights violation petition complained that this minister has, through one of his associates demanded Rs 50 million as gratification from the chairman of the company to ensure the smooth functioning of the factory. Court granted interim relief directing Sevanagala OIC , the IGP and Uva provincial deputy IGP to forthwith take steps to execute the warrant issued by the Embilipitiya Magistrate and act on the complaint to Police headquarters by the petitioner and the farmers. Company said it is considered the peak harvesting period and the sugar cane has to be crushed and processed within 72 hours of harvesting and that if its not processed within the said time period , it cannot be used. The company complained that several complaints were made to Sevanagala police , but the OIC failed to act on the complaints."

I'm a person who never supported our company's policy decision to recruit by recommendations only. I believed that by this we are loosing many potential future employees who do not have connections. But now i seem to understand the theory behind recruiting by recommendations. These employees who made this hunger strike are four former employees whose service had been suspended pending disciplinary inquiry in to allegations of mis conduct. Even though it suppose to be a hunger strike , they were perfectly fine and in good health after 26 days of fasting. They had claimed a crane used in the processing of sugarcane thereby disrupting work in the factory. Police said its impossible to take them down at first place. But after the court order they were taken down without any effort by the police. Its once again proved that its politicians who are in the back of any strike in this country. Its very unfortunate that they have already destroyed the public sector of this country and now they don't let private sector also to perform well. What ever reason they did the strike, ultimately it harms the country as a whole. Crop is ruined and we will have to import sugar. Its paid out from the pocket of all of us.

I don;t want to go in to the extent of discussing why there are strikes. I'm sure most of you'll reading this are aware about that. But my interest is to tell you that there are many companies in the country which politicians cannot encourage strikes. In some of those the main reason is they treat their employees very well. But as you know in hospitals and some other government places, how ever how good the employees are treated it won't prevent them enjoying doing the strikes. Why in some companies we cannot even see trade unions? Because they recruit on recommendations. They recruit based on relationships. An internal trust worthy employee has to recommend a new recruited, it they are to get the job. Then the person who recommend has a responsibility to find the best person. Same as the person who joins has a responsibility to keep the good will of the person who recommend him/her. So its like a mutual agreement. No strikes. Nothing. Work is done. If this country is to be developed and if we are to stand by our own feet without begging other countries to provide us funds , i think the economy should be developed. If economy are to be developed , i guess these strikes should stop and employees should work with the feelings its their duty.

There are 2 sides of any coin. But in this country , under this situation i guess employers has no option than recruiting people by recommendation.