Does it pay to switch jobs ?

Since March 2010, we’ve seen a lot of clients wanting work done. And unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of our colleagues putting in their papers. In other words, in 2008 and 2009, when we had all of these qualified people, there was not too much work. And when, there’s work, the people have left. Ironical, but logical. They stayed when there were no opportunities. But now that the economy is improving, companies that never offered them an opportunity, are queuing up to grab the trained talent.  But this post is not about that aspect. I’m sure our company like other companies facing these issues, will emerge stronger and healthier. This is about the people switching. Does it make sense for them ?

I believe not. And the reasons are very simple. In most cases, people are leaving for what they call “Better Opportunities”. And when asked to define these, they would have just 1 parameter. And that is “Money”. There is no doubt in my mind that money is not only an important factor, it’s the most important. But 2 things come to mind. The first is what matters ? Money in the immediate term or money in the long term. The second is whether money is the only parameter ?

Let me try and answer the 2nd question first. To my mind an extremely important parameter is job satisfaction and nature of job. As an example less than 5% of the companies in India do any development work. Most of the others do support and maintenance work. I would definitely prefer to work with a development company, simply because of the challenges in an otherwise boring job. And fortunately we mainly do development work.

And the money. Most people who reach the senior positions do so by either staying In the same company or by having just 1 or 2 changes in their career. And the difference in salaries at senior levels in humongous. So anyone who stays with the same company can expect to rise through the ranks quickly, especially when most others around them are leaving. The 2nd is longevity and other factors such as gratuity. Those who complete 3 / 4 years stand to gain a few lakhs of rupees in longevity, typically 4 -8 times the difference in their salary. And those who complete 5 years are automatically entitled to gratuity, which is not an insignificant number with 17.5 days of current basic salary per year. So the longer you hang around the higher the basic salary and so higher the multiplier.

And finally the clincher. Since you rise quickly your ability to get a senior position after 5 years is much higher than 2 stints of 2 or 3 years, totaling to greater than 5 years. So even for those who are looking for better opportunities, it makes sense to do it after a minimum of 5 – 6 years.

 So why do people leave? We’ve found that their stint at the other companies is equally short lived. And so can only conclude, that the cow who keeps jumping the fence to get the greener grass, on the other side finds out too late that actually it was the reflection of the sun. But the cow only realizes that after jumping the fence.