Bouncing back after suffering job loss

HYDERABAD: Ever since WHO, with much-unrequired delay, declared in March that Covid-19 is a pandemic, many organisations went on a firing spree catching the trend of handing over pink-slips like viral fever. And even after four months, the infectious trend continues across industries and regions irrespective of the payscale leaving thousands high and dry with no hope in sight as the economy plummets inch by inch, day by day. Several in Hyderabad bore the brunt as the job scenario gets bleaker with each passing month. But at the same time, many are focusing on alternative career options and using this time to invest in learning better skills to be prepared for the future.

Resilience is what is keeping many going, who have lost their jobs because of the Covid-19, which has resulted in a global economic slowdown. Says an angry Varnit Shukla, 27, an IT professional who came to Hyderabad from Bhopal four years ago to work for an MNC: “Pandemic is an excuse for firing. All these big organisations are making money anyway. If not, then why do they not cease the operations for good? They won’t because we are the corporate coolies they hire paying peanuts.” He has begun teaching online coding to youngsters. At the same time, he’s applied for online courses in management as he wants to have an alternate career option. He shares, “The pandemic has taught a big lesson i.e., always have a back-up career plan or else one can feel marooned on an island in the middle of a storm.” But others are not as fortunate as him.

Kalavathi M, 32, a school teacher lost her job the last month after the institution she was teaching in had to close. “The owner was paying rent for an empty school. And since it was a pre-school you can’t expect toddlers to go for digital classes. Now I am giving online tuition to other students. It’s not much that I am earning, but at least I have something in the name of a career,” she shares.

Saiful Islam, 24, a server engineer from the city was transferred to Chandigarh for a project in 2018 and then to Jaipur the last year. Initially, he, along with his teammates, was given Work From Home (WFH) option without any pay cuts. He was happy that he still had a job, but then came the big blow. Last month the upper management asked him and a few others in his department to take a 50 per cent cut or quit. “I quit. If I stayed, I’d be working for the number of hours that I worked for in the previous salary bracket.

Are they going to reduce the workload? No, they won’t. Why should I slave for such a meagre amount then?” he says. He’s back to his parents’ home at Himayath Nagar. Being a foodie, he’s learning cooking from his mother and is soon going to launch a startup. “I am not looking at profits now. I have to settle and understand the market first. So, technically it’s going to be work-cum-research,” he shares. At the same time, there are workers who are not very qualified but still have managed to stay afloat. Mallesh, 29, was a junior teacher in one of the slum schools run by a charity trust. But now with no funds to sustain the expenses, it is temporarily closed and he was asked to leave. “I am now working as a watchman in a house of Banjara Hills, and with the teaching job gone, I am selling fruits in the colony to make some money to support my wife and our new-born child,” he shares.

Essential vs non-essential debate

After a survey conducted by The Sunday Times, Singapore to reckon certain jobs that people considered as essential or non-essential, the artists were gauged as non-essential workers. This prompted a 34-year-old performance artiste, homemaker, and poet Madhu Raghavendra to pen a poem titled ‘Artist’ which went viral on social media and was shared by actor Richa Chadha and lyricist Varun Grover. And now composer Stanley Grill is composing it to music.

In a survey conducted by Adda247, a test preparation platform for government examinations 82.33% working professionals sought government employment to secure their future.

— Saima Afreen
saima@newindianexpress.com
@Sfreen