Combating mid-career blues

Shipra Arora / New Delhi

Most professionals face mid-career blues—four or five years into the job and they start getting haunted by lack of further challenges, disillusionment, etc. This is not just a problem being faced by individuals but at an organisational level it is directly linked to attrition and productivity aspects. While one cannot actually compare it with the proverbial “seven year itch”, the HR departments of IT organisations see it as a serious issue which needs attention. Many organisations are consequently working hard to rejuvenate their relationships with employees at regular intervals. The HR heads have started active programmes for addressing the issue.

Career expectations

Experts believe that every professional has faced mid-career blues some time or the other. “Any reasonably intelligent person is a case for mid-term blues if his or her capabilities are not adequately challenged,” says Rohit Mathur, general manager, workforce solutions division, Manpower Services India.

Various factors are responsible for mid-career blues—the most common being mon-otony and lack of challenges, or even a perception of lack of challenges. However, as Puneet Jetli, general manager-people function, MindTree Consulting, points out these are certainly not the only reasons. Some of the other factors that that can play a vital role are: Lack of interest or confidence in taking up a team management responsibility; fear of losing identity while performing in a team; keeping pace with technology advancements and being ahead of the technology curve; transitioning to mid-level positions; rising to challenges of life after 40, etc.

The other factors can be—lack of a good work-life balance and expectations to scale up the hierarchy very fast. The situation might aggravate where there is a mismatch between career expectations and reality. “Many companies do not communicate clearly the direction and future growth of the organisation with that of the employees. Lack of advancement in their profile, unsustainable quality of work, peer pressure due to similar type of work but varied salaries, etc, can lead to mid-term blues,” explains Dr Sreenivas Chakravarthi, vice president of people department, Aditi Technologies.

Lack of challenges

Software professionals lose motivation when they are not offered interesting projects or are unable to work on areas of their interest. On the other hand, in the ITeS sector, repetitive work and inconvenient work-timings cause stress because of which many professionals start feeling disillusioned with their jobs. While mid-career blues exist in almost all professions, it is critical in the IT and ITeS sectors. Vinayak Kamath, senior vice president of human resources, Kale Consultants, lists three reasons. Firstly, these industries are in the limelight today. Secondly, they attract the best talent and this restlessness is directly correlated with the intellect. Finally, these two segments have seen a rapid growth in the past few years and this rate of growth leads to further expectations.

Spiralling industry growth is directly related to mid-career blues. Both IT and ITeS industries being very exciting sectors, attract the best talent from other sectors. There are countless employers offering comparable and good work environment, opportunities for career growth and wealth creation. According to K Subr-amanian, general manager, ITeS division, Manpower Services India, with such abundance of choice, employees grow impatient and despondency can set in quickly if they perceive that their organisation is not aiming high enough. A stagnant growth path, complimented by the feeling of missed opportunities outside the company, can aggravate the situation further.

Disillusioned employees

Employees get disillusioned when an organisation is unable to offer them challenging work opportunities or career advancement. Disillu-sionment also happens if the workforce is under-utilised or not guided properly. Sunder Rajan, general manager—HR and administration, Infinite Computer Solutions, adds: “The absence of quality work that adds value to their careers makes software professionals restless. A significant number of the IT workforce falls in this bracket.” Apart from this, the fact that an employee’s behaviour towards the company is very dynamic in the software industry and people there also put in longer hours (usually voluntarily) with less frequent breaks than most industries, further explains the vulnerability.

The time-frame

Mid-career blues might not necessarily be mid-term for everyone. Some believe that it might occur many times in an IT professional’s career. Vikram Kumar, director-MAQ Software, states that the time period depends on the individual as well as the environment and growth offered by the company. Normally it occurs after three to four years. “It happens typically once the employee has completed around four odd years in the same company or it could start earlier if the hiring process has failed to eliminate a wrong hire along the way,” feels Dr Chakravarthi.

Rajan points out that software professionals get disillusioned if their career aspirations and expectations are not met and this might happen after five-six years into their jobs—they start regretting not having achieved enough professionally when compared to other peers.

“It is necessary to understand that professionals with three-four years experience have various needs such as better remuneration, professional advancement, skill enhancement and recognition for

their efforts. More importantly, they wish to be part of the decision-making process, directly or indirectly,” explains Rajan. However, as Mathur points out, for a superstar employee the symptoms may even start earlier, in as little as six months.

Identifying the symptoms

Here are a few keys to diagnose mid-career blues. These generally get manifested in the following ways: Friction with colleagues, poor team management and participation, the proverbial office grapevine, criticism, complaints, poor health, dissatisfaction with work, coming late to office. It can also find a way out in terms of lack of motivation, increased number of complaints to the HR by and about the person, lethargy at work, indifference, cynicism, irritability, intolerance, traces of depression, etc. This can have its repercussions in the form of dangerous drop in productivity level that can set a bad example across the company. Another issue that can come up is a negative approach towards the company, work and colleagues. Many quality professionals leave for a change of job and environment. If not identified and tackled early it can set off a chain reaction and lead to an exodus from the company.

It is necessary to keep an eye on the symptoms. Adds Dr Chakravarthi, “One of the key functions of the HR is to identify and handle symptoms to pre-empt the occurrence of mid-term blues.” Preneet Bindra Sinha, manager of people strategy, Sapient, asserts that the best way to identify this problem is through feedback and regular people surveys. However, the bigger trick is to arrive at the root cause analysis because the symptoms often present themselves differently.

Taking action

Understanding the causes is the first step towards tackling the problem. Companies are not only going an extra mile to keep track of the changing employee behaviour but also devising strategies to make their work more exciting and challenging. Bindra informs that HR functions across IT companies are aware of this situation and are tackling it in several different ways. “There are some companies that do it through pure organisational restructuring, with an aim to redesign roles, jobs, skill sets, etc. Others look at longer-term growth opportunities for individuals,” she adds.

Kale Consultants, for instance, has initiated a survey amongst those employees who have completed three years to ask them whether they were happy in their current roles and where would they like to move within the organisation. The exercise has proved to be a success. The company is also initiating an internal job posting policy, to provide an opportunity to employees to shift internally. For Aditi Technologies, managers are put through vigorous training to immediately spot symptoms of mid-career blues amongst employees. They are also vigilant through regular one-on-one interviews, constant interaction and propagate an open culture where employees can freely question and help improve company policies. Employee satisfaction analysis is done regularly to keep abreast with the attitudes and emotions of the employees. In case of the ITeS sector, one of the upcoming practices is to have the best performers moved to day shifts. In terms of career enhancements, the best employees are moved into supervision, training, process migration, and project management roles.

Jetli albeit feels that given the complexity and multiplicity of causes there cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution to this issue. “Every organisation needs to employ a variety of approaches that may include acknowledging the presence of mid-career blues, identifying the symptoms, coaching and mentoring, and frequent discussion on career path and aspirations,” he explains.

shipra@expresscomputeronline.com