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 Bench
time is associated with a sense of failure among professionals in
the IT industry due to lack of productivity. P Vigneswara Ilavarasan
advises how companies can manage their benched staff efficiently
and utilise their skills in other areas
The bench period has various implications for
both a company and its workers. Apart from the financial loss incurred
by the company, this period is often associated with a sense of
failure among professionals, since they are not bringing any revenue
to their employer. At this point most start looking for opportunities
in other firms. Although the existence of a benched workforce is
accepted as a common reality in the industry, the institutional
mechanism is still inadequate within individual firms to manage
this workforce in an effective manner. Indian software organisations
should realise that the bench time can be utilised effectively to
improve the competence of both firms and workers. This article tackles
the issue of how a benched workforce can be managed better.
Ensuring quality
Quality certifications bring maturity to the
software production process in companies and are effective signals
to attract new clients. Workers on the bench can be involved in
preparing their organisations to achieve process maturity. For example,
CMM requires that firms should have clear documentation procedures.
Benched workers can be asked to find out the components or procedures
that need to be incorporated so that the organisation can be assessed
with quality certifications. Efforts required for these activities
can be divided among experienced and new workers. Companies that
already have quality certifications can prepare for further upgrades
like Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) or Six Sigma.
Knowledge enhancement
According to Dr Ted Tschang of the Asian Development
Bank Institute, Tokyo, the Indian software industry is less innovative
in nature when compared to the Silicon Valley. Ben-ched workforce
can be used to fill this gap. A knowledge-sharing platform can be
created inside the company. Employees on the bench who have worked
on latest technologies can be asked to train others who are not
exposed to similar areas. They can also be entrusted with the responsibility
of designing training programmes. Also, those who have worked in
onsite projects should be encouraged to share their knowledge.
Incubation activities
Benched workers should be encouraged to bring
business through individual entrepreneurial activities. They can
form a sub-unit inside the organisation and be permitted to use
the company name to generate business from clients. Here the benched
workers become business partners. The company should provide them
with a supportive environment, infrastructure, physical facilities
and business advice. Profits can be shared fairly between the company
and the business generators.
Industry-academia
linkage
A research team led by Professor Arora at Carnegie
Mellon University found that technical competency of Indian firms
is affected by the lack of technical specialists like doctorate
candidates. The linkage between academia and the industry can help
resolve this issue. Joint programmes can be executed through formation
of inter-organisational teams comprising both academicians and benched
workers.
Internal high-end work
Benched workers can be assigned projects that
focus on the internal needs of the company. The projects should
be high-end work for the firm exhibiting optimum utility. One such
project is developing computer-assisted software engineering (CASE)
tools that reduce the cost of projects to a great extent, and improve
the technical capacity of the firm in executing them.
Research initiatives
Research shows that a bigger R&D thrust is
necessary for Indian software enterprises to upgrade their export
services and establish themselves as innovators and developers of
new products and technologies, rather than just providers of coding
and programming services. Bench workers can be utilised to initiate
R&D activities.
They can aim at transforming software services
companies from being services-oriented to a product orientation.
This transformation can be achieved through developing ‘productised’
services. Reviewing appropriate solutions provided to the clients
and developing a product, which can be customised for a wide range
of customers, can do this. The primary clients may be given royalty
for permitting their solutions to be used for outside applications.
These measures can be practically executed by
Indian software companies provided that a separate system comprising
senior-level professionals is established to take care of the benched
workforce. As Indian software firms gear up to meet rising demands
created by the rapid revival of the global IT market, firms that
sensibly manage their investment in people will prosper in the long
run.
The author is a post-doctoral fellow at the
Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore. E-mail: vigneshp@iiitb.ac.in
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