Bonded Labour!!

Employment Bonds have become very common these days. Every employer wants to ensure that the employees do not leave the organisation after a year or so. Employers look for a long-term relationship with the employees for various reasons. Some of the reasons are as follows:
• It saves a lot of cost for the employer in terms of training and development and cost of replacing an employee.
• Work is not hampered as the same person is responsible for it.
• The employee knows the nuances for that particular post and it is very for him/her to carry out the work.
• A sense of job satisfaction is enjoyed by the employees if they tend to stay with one employer for a long time.
• Benefits are also provided by the employer if the employee is loyal to the company like Loyalty Bonus and various other perquisites which are not extended to new employees.
With the advent of IT companies and BPO services, people want to switch jobs as often as they change their mobile phone handsets. In the above said industries the average period for which an employee stays with an organisation is around two years or so. One of the major factors contributing to this phenomenon is the mundane work they do every day and low prospects of going up the ladder. In this industry the training provided is of the best quality which makes the training cost per employee very high. Training has to be provided by all the companies as it is specific to the company and the profile offered. This is one of the reasons why all these companies make the employees sign an employment bond as the employees want to switch jobs after the training period for a higher pay in some other company.
It is the same in case of financial companies, banking industry, consultancy, and nowadays even manufacturing sector. Although the employment bond is very harsh to the employees, it is a necessary evil. From the point of view of the employer, it is a step which is a mandate due to high attrition amongst the employees.
Bonds, as a legal concept have evolved over the years and have entered into a number of areas including education. Singapore Airlines offers 100% Scholarship to most of the students who wish to study in Singapore with a bond of 5 years. The bond states that the student has to compulsorily work in Singapore for 5 years after graduation and if the bond is broken then a fine of almost equal to the scholarship has to be paid. This bond is quite lucrative as it is offered to students who are pursuing higher studies in Singapore but the only setback is that they have to work in Singapore even if they don’t want to work.
Employment bonds have made its presence felt in the corporate world but it could not work its magic in the non-corporate sector as much. In India, there is a significant presence of family-owned businesses. Although these family-owned businesses are quite small in size as compared to the corporates, they have grown considerably both in size and number since the past two decades. These businesses are managed very differently than the corporate houses, in the sense that there are no such formal rules which are written down. There are no separate departments for every function and multiple tasks are handled by one employee. HR-related issues are tackled generally by the owner itself and there is no concept of employment bonds as such.
Employment bond is a corporate phenomenon and is being honoured by the Indian companies whole-heartedly. Employers have devised a method to ensure employee loyalty and also to have the bargaining power.