IT employees are nation-builders is not an idea but a fact.
India’s GDP has taken a huge stride in the last 30 years. It all started in the 1990s with the liberalization of the Indian economy. The growth of the Indian economy and its global success is a direct consequence of an expanding and improving IT and service sector base.
India is the biggest and one of the fastest-growing IT hubs in the world. IT-BPM (Business Process Management) is the largest private-sector employer in this country. The consistent expansion of this sector due to increased demand for IT skills in Indian as well as foreign markets is commendable, but issues faced by IT professionals have long been sidelined.
IT During COVID-Era
In a developing but highly digitalized nation like India, COVID did not have the impact it had on the rest of the world, primarily because India has a strong and efficient IT base.
Believe it or not, when people were locked inside their homes, IT employees were the ones running this country and keeping it afloat. They were tirelessly working, providing us with services we couldn’t have otherwise. We all saw how doctors were showered with flower petals, delivery persons were appreciated, and all people involved in essential services were given credit. But amidst all this chaos, we forgot to thank our IT employees.
Digital India
The IT sector’s role was vital in India’s struggle and recovery from COVID.
During and after COVID, we saw an increased pace of digitalization around the globe. During COVID, essential services like online education, medical video consultancy, and working from home saved lives. Besides that, digital appointments and COVID vaccination certificates increased the pace of vaccination. Digital university applications, exam registration, digital documents, digital payments, digital government services, online classes, online courses, and jobs from home — all these changes were brought about with the help of a certain sector of the economy that didn’t stagnate but emerged even further during this period.
Indian Government and IT-BPM Sector
The IT-BPM sector makes up 9.3% of India’s GDP and 56% of the global outsourcing market. The IT industry is expected to contribute up to 20% of the Indian economy by 2025.
India is the world’s largest unicorn hub. The Indian government is trying to make India investor-friendly through policy support and by bringing in user-friendly systems to drive in FDI and foster innovation. With India hosting international investment summits, there have been record-breaking investments in the IT sector.
The government has understood the importance of this sector and is also making efforts to improve the IT infrastructure in the country. India is the second largest mobile phone market in the world and has the fifth lowest price internet, making it the perfect IT-hospitable environment. 5G usage in major cities has also started in India as of January 31, 2023.
The IT industry is sure to be credited for the current state of the Indian economy.
Layoffs and pay cuts during COVID
One of the saddest parts of the pandemic was watching people go jobless.
According to the World Economic Forum, about 114 million people will lose their jobs in 2020. Since then, unemployment has reduced significantly, but many have had to face a period of financial insecurity and settle for low-paying jobs.
The trend that started during COVID among big-tech companies to lay off employees is still going on. Facebook has recently announced 10,000 layoffs. Since the coronavirus pandemic as the companies are anticipating an economic slowdown, about 2.6 lakh employees in big tech have lost their jobs.
Problems faced by IT employees
The following are the major causes of dread among IT professionals in the industry:
- Long, stressful working hours
Most IT professionals feel overworked. It is a highly demanding job that may extend up to 12 hours a day. People in this sector feel subjected to exploitation. Bad work-life balance keeps them on the edge of mental exhaustion. Prolonged working hours are also physically straining these people. - Low motivation to work
Employees suffer from burnout if they are constantly under pressure and face frequent deadlines. Long-term dissatisfaction, with time, kills passion inside these industry entrants, resulting in a dissatisfied workforce. - Low scope of professional achievements
IT employees keep trying to elevate their professional portfolios to get better salaries. Personal growth is the biggest assurance of employee loyalty. Overworked employees are on the lookout to get a better bargain for their set of skills at the cost of the same social and working environment. - Team communication
Be it IT or any other sector, team communication is a big challenge. Favoritism in the workplace, personalities that don’t go together, poor leadership, blind work distribution, or personal grudges sometimes sweep into the professional sphere, resulting in a toxic work environment.
Besides team communication, when outsourcing, cultural identities come into play. Culture clashes, dialects or accents, cultural nuances, misinterpretations of work objectives, or time-zone mismatches are possible. - Keeping pace with new technologies
With heavy computerization in almost all services, IT is running everything today. It is an ever-evolving industry. Every new innovation involving data storage, management, or otherwise needs to be included in the existing framework to enhance the value-adding work done by the sector. while making it tough for employees to keep learning new things to keep them relevant.
Final Thoughts
In a country like India with 1.42 billion people, this close hand-in-hand coordination of the government and IT sector is making governance easier and more transparent. During the COVID era, government apps like Aarogya Setu, BHIM UPI, e-Pathshala, Umang, etc. made it easier to fetch government services and support as everything was closed.
By the end of the COVID period, all those who could afford digital gadgets and services had them. Due to the relentless efforts made by the IT industry, even lockdowns could not slow down these IT service advancements.
Today, as the Indian economy has successfully recovered from COVID, IT is to be thanked for its contributions to the job.
Header pic credit:-business line.
If you love reading our stories please follow us on our Instagram page.
Also Read:-Laid Off By Your Company? Here’s What You Should Do
