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Rather than undertaking support and/or shadow roles in other companies, thereby downgrading your career, it would be a wise decision to stay back and work on good roles within the current company, suggests Srividya Kannan, founder-director, Avaali Solutions Pvt Ltd.
The Indian IT industry is experiencing significant growth leading to a huge surge in hiring.
While the demand for talent is growing across technologies, tech talent with niche and super niche skills is witnessing dizzying number of offers, with each person holding anywhere between five to seven offers While this war for talent is not looking pretty for an IT company’s coffers, the talent pool is reveling in the dopamine impact from hike in salaries, bonuses and equivalents.
Attrition and resignations seem to be the new normal for any company in this industry.
What does this mean for the talent pool that is rushing from interview to interview, sometimes without even caring to know the name of the company that they are interviewing for?
There used to be a time when employees were as invested as employers in the hiring game.
Given the seriousness about their career decisions, they would fully research about the company before even they made an application, let alone scheduling an interview. In fact, they would seriously consider, evaluate thoroughly, and make informed decisions on even whether to resign, given that these decisions would impact their lives for several years.
After all, the process of recruitment is expensive and time consuming both for the employee as well as the employer.
Time wasted in searching for the next employer, getting settled with their culture and gaining recognition by delivering results is time-consuming and stressful for employees. Decisions to resign are often impulsive and in several cases are done just to keep with the trend of what friends or other colleagues may be doing.
An impulsive decision to resign could eventually turn out to be a big career mistake.
It is therefore important to take a step back, think through the decision and realistically assess the situation without filters of other people's views.
Here are 10 factors that employees should consider before they resign:
1. Exploring new/expanded roles in the same company
There could be unforeseen opportunities in the same company.
Several employees are keen to get a wider knowledge to different business areas and get fresh perspectives on a variety of topics.
This will help widen their experiences as well as their network and connects.
While this may temporarily decrease productivity for the employer, it could be a wonderful way for employees to acquire new skills and get a variety of exposure. Eventually, as they move to senior management positions, these skills could come in very handy for them to deliver well in their jobs.
It may be easier for an employee to seek rotation within the same company rather than expect job rotations at any new employer where they need to spend time and prove their capability before being considered for other roles.
2. Career growth
If the existing company is growing significantly, there are numerous learning opportunities as well as opportunities to take on larger and more complex assignments.
It takes time to re-establish oneself in any new organization, while in the existing company it is far easier to leverage relationships and goodwill built to take on larger and more complex assignments.
Depending on the size of the company and the organization structure, large companies may not even allow people beyond a certain number of years of experience to manage complex assignments.
Rather than being a shadow among thousands of people, it makes sense to consider the growth that one can experience internally by managing complex engagements.
3. Consider seniority of managers
It is commonly said that employees do not quit companies, they quit managers.
Having a manager who is senior enough to guide, coach and mentor is extremely critical for accelerating professional and personal growth. It is difficult to find such managers.
Managers who treat their teams with respect, who leverage their significant experiences to continuously working on spending time to coach and mentor teams is a rare treat.
When one works with such managers, this is then hard to just discount the relationship. Such sponsors will speak for the employee, put forward their name for promotions, increments and benefits and will vouch for the employee.
4. Culture and team spirit
A high-performance close-knit team who stand-in for each other, work collaboratively, and have fun together as a team is another important consideration.
Having an environment where the team is empowered to make decisions, where teams have the support of senior management and are encouraged to work independently and solve problems is a culture hard to find.
Collaborating with engaged teams creates a happy environment.
Happiness at the work-place with minimal to zero politics is one of the most important factors to consider.
5. Role and assignments
A good understanding and evaluation of what kind of roles and projects that one is likely to get in other companies versus what may be assigned in the current company is an important factor.
If the current company is highly sought after by customers in the technology areas where the employee has keen interest in, it may be useful to stay back, showcase commitment and get senior roles in the current company.
Rather than undertaking support and/or shadow roles in other companies, thereby downgrading your career, it would be a wise decision to stay back and work on good roles within the current company.
6. Recognitions
Continuous recognitions in the form of yearly salary hikes, promotions and awards is a significant and important motivator.
A company that provides yearly raises, provides incentives and bonuses as recognition for good work is a great place to work.
Also, recognitions in the form of awards, simple thank-you letters, spot bonuses, retention bonus and cash prizes are a great motivator to deliver one's best work.
7. Health and insurance benefits
Competitive health and insurance benefits that takes care of the employee and their family is again an important consideration.
These benefits feed a sense of appreciation and act as a motivator for employees to commit to their best work.
If the current employer is providing good health and insurance benefits, this coupled with several other factors mentioned in this article would be good reasons to re-consider a decision to resign, especially when the current employer is providing good career growth and learning opportunities.
8. Stability/Layoff risks
When the market is great, every job is stable, and most companies do mass hire with significant salary raises.
However, one can never predict the next downturn with certainty. During such down turns, what is the guarantee that the new company will not lay-off its people.
Depending on the culture of the company, major enterprises have announced massive lay-offs during challenging periods.
Even during the coronavirus outbreak, news of layoffs and furloughs made headlines almost every other day.
If the current company provides better stability, that would be an important consideration.
9. Long-term thinking
The kind of experiences and work-related challenges that one has overcome, could poise oneself for a truly rewarding career switch later.
It may be best to turn down (even lucrative) offers to strengthen one's track record of experiences, with a compelling showcase of work that one has accomplished when faced with significant challenges and engagements one has led and executed well at the current work-place.
This could set the stage for a bigger career leap at a later point, led by the rich legacy of establishing successful track record at the current company.
10. Negotiate better in the current company
Given most companies are keen on retention, it may be a wise idea to have a friendly discussion on growth opportunities, rewards and pay discussions at the existing company.
This would ensure that one is financially protected while also staying at the workplace where one feels most comfortable working with a great set of team members and enjoys the healthy work culture.
Employees prefer to find meaning and purpose in their work.
Like Jon Gordon says in The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work: 'Wherever you work, decide to plant yourself where you are and allow yourself to be used for a greater purpose. When you plant yourself and make a difference you grow into the person you were born to be and produce a harvest that will benefit others and change the world.'
Sometimes, the most effective and smart strategy to find meaning in one's professional life, would be to stay in one company.
Having a shared identity with the company that one works with, leveraging strong social and inter-personal connections with peers while also experiencing career advancement coupled with market equivalent salaries is a potent combination to realise this.
