Food for thought

Everyday, the lunch and dinner times bring up the question....what to eat? The complex, in which my office is located, boasts of several restaurants offering different cuisines. There is McDonalds, Subway and a pizza place. There is an Indian restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, a bakery, a BBQ place....all kinds of food. Yet the dilemma remains.



First of all, I am finding the food over here too heavy for my liking. Every meal makes me feel sleepy!!! I do not know what they put in the food out here. It does not look extremely rich or oily like the typical Indian food....yet the food over here packs a punch....a Knock-Out punch!!!


Secondly, the taste is slightly different. A lamb biryani tastes different from any lamb biryani that you will find in India. A 'thosai' (dosa) is again very different. I guess, it is the inclusion of local spices etc that is doing the trick. Not that the food tastes bad...I am yet to develop the liking for this taste.


And lastly, it is the Indian mentality of checking the costs. Till now I have been multiplying everything by 15 or 16 to check how much would this meal/drink cost in India!!! :P

I guess I will have to learn some cooking.

It could have been handled better

Companies have a right to make the decisions that are in their best interest. If my company makes a 'business' decision that goes against me, I will of course feel bad but I will accept it. After all, if I have to make a career decision for myself, I would not be considering the business interest of my employer much. Of course, I will do whatever I can do to not to hamper the business of my employer but I will not subordinate my interest, Everyone does that and so it should not be any different for the companies/employers.

My previous employer chose to close down some of its businesses. Understandable. Priorities change. However, there is a certain way one must go about to ensure a smooth transformation. You want to remove certain people but you also want to retain some people. The communication must be clear. Companies should let the people, who are in 'danger', know that things could take a wrong turn. Give them proper notice. After all, you would not like to jeopardize someone's career. If you are giving decent notice to the employees to look for options outside, no one will have a right to complain. Moreover, the policies should be same for everyone unless clearly stated earlier. If someone has a 3 months notice period, let them serve the notice period. Do not give 1 month notice to someone along with 2 months additional salary and 3 months notice to someone else. This is biasness.

More importantly, clearly communicate the people, which you would like to retain, that they are 'wanted' and there is still a place for them in the organization. Often companies fail do so. This results in causing panic. Everyone starts thinking that his/her job is in danger. People start floating their resume and leave at the first opportunity. They could have and the company could have done better had they stayed with the company. But no one will take that risk. My previous employer is a good example of that. A lot of teams were asked to leave. There was this particular team that was not given any communication. Most people outside the team felt that the team members are safe as it would have made a lot of sense for the company to retain the team. But the team members were shitting their pants. They floated their resumes and most of them suddenly left. With the current scenario, no one was interested to join the team/company and now there was no other option but to close the team!!!

It also boils down to the experience and background of the top management. In the KPO industry, you would find a lot of people with less than 10 years of experience and without proper education sitting in the top chairs. Sometimes there is a total mismatch in the education and the job profile. A hotel management graduate would be heading the HR function. A Chartered Accountant would be in-charge of a technical domain like healthcare. You are asking for trouble. I know cases wherein the HR announced to a set of employees that it would be their last day in office at their workstations!!!! You have to understand that these are sensitive issues and should be announced/discussed behind closed doors. The HR Head in this case had total irrelevant education background, had limited experience (5-6 years) and was earning a fat pay package. She did not know how to deal such situations and she did not care. It caused a panicky situation on the floor and EVERYONE started to update their resumes. It was good for the people who were eventually in danger but it was extremely bad for others as well as the company. Things could have been handled in a much better way. If only companies understand it and start investing in the right people for leadership roles.

Big Development

Big biiiiiiiiiig development today. I got my employment pass endorsed. My passport has returned to me with a 3-year employment pass in Malaysia!!! I can make multiple entries in Malaysia till 16 Oct 2014!!! It has opened a door...... Much relieved now.