Lemme go!!!!

I remember one of those HR classes, when I was awake and hence hearing the discussion. It was on the utility of Alumni Network, companies create and the prime reason that came forward for its existence was that it helped spread a good word about the organization by the ex-employee and keep ties with the firm; it’s a small world after all… However, when I see the situation around me, things seem to be quite different. I don’t know what bosses have in mind when they create pain for the leaving employee when they know that all they are doing is making him leave with a bad taste. Are they that naïve to think that the employee will good mouth the company even when they are treated so badly or have they not heard of recency effect, wherein when you move out, the thing that remains most with you are the last moments, the final days. Till date, I must say I have been very lucky on this count: be it the three farewell parties, the pen with my name embossed on it, assurance of discounted booze while in campus and the return flight with my choice of office car for Airport drop (they proposed an office car pick me up in Cal as well but I was like…oye bas bhi karo)…at Seagram (It’s a dream to expect all these nowadays) or the really smooth exit along with the monetary relief at TSMG (I had to pay the firm something around 65K which they worked around to ensure that I don’t have to), I have had good exists. Talking of recency effect, I think for me it manifested extremely well at one of these companies of whom I never thought too highly of, courtesy some issues and more than that the stories crated out of those issues but my view of that place did quite a vaulte face by the way the HR and Admin treated me at the time of leaving. One year of image formation changed quite a lot in one day…Amazing na!!!! But then when I look around at a lot of places, bosses including line bosses and HR, give such pain to the leaving employees that they just want to walk out of this shit. Ties are cut-off, people are bad mouthed, clients are lied to, settlement is unjustifiably held up, employees are made to run for Form 16, and all efforts are made to ensure that the employee is as pissed off as can be. And then comes one of the biggest facades of Corporate India: The Exit Interview. The boss/HR will tell you things about how big plans the company had for you, how well you were placed to cash in on the growth the company was about the witness blah blah and then comes the most amazing of all lines, “So, where do you think we can improve?.” And then you know that one honest negative feedback and your settlement etc will be hung up for god knows how long..So what do you do? Simple: say lines like, “Well, I don’t think I am in a position to comment on something as serious as areas of organizational improvements but I think you could do some things to boost employee morale, maybe u know increase communication levels..blah blah….” (though that’s not the case everywhere) And what when he leaves..the HR/Boss will come and gladly spread the word around…U know such and such person really wasn’t fitting with our organizational culture or a thing or two about the competence (or the lack of it) the employee had…knowing fully aware that he is speaking utter crap and that even the audience knows abt it!!!!