Ruskin Bond, James Bond and Employment Bond – the three bonds which every person is expected to come across in his lifetime. To appreciate true literature we need to read Ruskin Bond’s stories; to understand the true super-hero concept we need to believe in James Bond; and to understand the intricacies of employment and understand the relation between employer and employee one has to face an Employment Bond. We have to understand that in today’s world where nothing comes for free, the relation between an employer and employee is a give-and-take relationship. If an employer is imparting certain training and giving job security and paying you certain amount for your labor, he in turn expects output and above all responsibility for one’s outcome and loyalty to the organization. But in today’s generation where nothing is permanent and competition is the new mantra, employees turn to bonds and contracts to retain their workforce. The lure of power and position and better salary is too much for an individual to remain loyal to one organization.
Though, legally in India no employer can bond any employee by any bond. The legal system of India clearly abolished bonded labor system long back, and under no circumstance no person can bound other by any contract to waive of his legal rights guaranteed under the constitution of India, Article 19 guarantees the right to work and this right neither can be waived of by the employee on his own will nor the employer can force any contract in contradiction to above mentioned article. But, yes an employer can bond his employee for payment of any expenses incurred by the employer as part of training provided to employee, and this training is provided to an employee by the employer for increasing his productivity in the organization as an employee.
Not only software firms but also other industries incur huge expenses to train their employees. For example in aviation industry certain pilots are sent for exclusive training to fly certain aircrafts or the Banking sector where training is provided pertaining to the processing of the banks work (which any way they have to do if they are hiring a fresher). But in return if the employees leave after receiving the training then it’s a huge slap on the face of the company. So, companies make their employees sign certain contracts or bonds to make them return to company and utilize the learning. But, if the bond conditions are too partial towards the employer, then the conflict of interest arises. We usually see freshers are made to sign bonds to stay with the company for 2-3 years after the training is completed. Here the company assumes each trainee to give his best performance, but again we see employees being given the pink slip due to bad performance. We also see a diametrically opposite case when certain employees excel in their work and in return are lured by other companies with better salary and work. So what do we decipher out of this? Are employees forced to sign a bond when we know that his performance is the key determining factor? Employees with poor performance are easily allowed to leave, as can be concluded from various instances, and the difficulties arise for employees with high performance.
So when does the conflict arise? It arises when employees try to leave the organization before their contract term expires and at the same time are unwilling to pay the amount specified in the bond. But they were already aware of the bond terms when they signed the agreement. So why is the huge hue and cry? One of the participants has shared her experience in which her HR head was kind enough to suggest alternative options instead of paying the huge amount. But, I don’t think all employers will be so kind enough and let their employees (that too high performing employees go so easily). Is it justified for the employees to pay the amount?
Yes it is. But, if a company trains staff and cannot provide the work that it trained the staff for, then they can't make financial demands unless they provide those people with a job in that field elsewhere and pay them a salary.
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