Increasing productivity, Orwell-style

In what could well be a sign of things to come in the consulting industry - if not the job market at large - TopITconsultant.com reports that IT firms in India are now expecting their staff to work longer hours. The aim, unsurprisingly, is to increase revenue without increasing staffing (or presumably salaries). The policy even has break times being monitored more closely than usual.

Among the companies cranking out extra IT hours are Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture India and Infosys Consulting, while Wipro's IT employees apparently already work 9.5-hour days. While the measure is clearly a response to the toll the slumping economy is taking on the outsourcing industry, it begs the question of how long it is before we see it mandated elsewhere - especially as some employees are sure to be working longer hours in a bid to recession-proof themselves anyway.

As always, to anyone with news from the frontlines, let us know what's going on by posting a comment or dropping us an email.

-Posted by Phil Stott