Amma Inge Va Va (Mom, come here…)

 All Tamil speaking person will know this famous rhyme ‘Amma Inge Va Va’. This is the rhyme that catches up any Tamil kid when they start saying their first few Tamil words.

When I am in pain, like my finger is pinched at door or accidentally cut myself when chopping vegetables, or even when I sneeze, I spontaneously say ‘Amma’ which means mother.   

Just wanted to go down the memory lane and ruminate about my Amma.

My mother’s  name is Shymala  , yes  me and our VP  Kamala Harris  share the  same mother’s name Shymala. Shymala means Blackish blue. Unlike her name her physiognomy was light-toned, gorgeous and good-looking. Grew up in a big well to do business family with 3 brothers and 2 sisters - she was the baby sister who was petted by all… She always cited her special bond with her elder brothers…

Her childhood was fun, went to school only up to 8^th grade, later she stayed at home. She could not continue her education, as she had to go to different state (Guntur -AP) to take her exams then, which   was not approved by her parents. With her knowledge she guided me and my brothers in our initial school days….  I still remember her handwriting…. Her lower case ‘r’ will be a perfect crow flying in the sky…. 😊

Her memory was remarkable. Any Tamil song she sees/hears, she immediately identified which movie, actors, actress and story. She will remember the theater , whom  she went with ,  and any anecdotal experience   -  missed the first few minutes as they were late,  her dad forgot to bring the wallet and how  they managed to  watch  the movie borrowing money  from  the nearby  relatives then.  More importantly she had jewels and sari (dress) collection based on the heroines, that she saw in the movies - remember she was last in the family, how pampered she was. She dwelled in the movies she watches.

She was a foodie. Went to both the extremes. She loved all kinds of meat, chicken, fish, egg and was a voracious eater. She used to narrate how my grandma woke up early in the morning to cook for their big family, along with the help from in house maid servants. But when she got engaged to my dad who was a pure Vegetarian, whole heartedly followed his regime.

Happily got married at the age of 16 to my dad and I was born the next year itself…. Cannot imagine being a kid herself how she managed to give all the love and affection to me and my 2 younger brothers. 

Remained to be a homemaker - She was a precise cook. Everything she prepared for us was with care and perfection. Even a simple dish, she will be able to reproduce the same quality again and again. Definitely I cannot go near that!

She was very good at playing chess.  Whomever she played with, she was always the winner…. Yes she defeated my dad too…

Not only did she nurture our family, well supported and took care of the extended family – my grandparents , who  were the foster parents of my dad.

During my school and college days - she gave me all the encouragement needed.  She supported me when I decided to go to work - woman from our families were only homemakers then (25+ years back). When I planned to pursue my dream, to relocate my family to US, knowing that I will not be there near her, she was on mute, blessed us and bid good bye.

As we all know, gold to be made into exquisite jewel, need to face the heat from the fire, her life was always interwoven with challenges. In spite of it, her compassion to everyone was boundless… Friends, family, neighbors, servant maids in and around, knew my mom very well and any help needed, she was there for them too…

She was sweet toothed… yes she loved all kinds of sweet dishes. She was diabetic, like her mom.   Never took care of her health and succumbed at the age of 57.

Who are the people we take for granted? The people who love us the most, we take them for granted. Yes I did it with my Amma.  If given an opportunity to roll back, I like to spend more time with my mother, whenever I visited India. I repent for it, now.

Today (Jan 18^th 2021) is her 12^th anniversary, hence wanted to ponder about her….

She is a good role model. I think for her and pray to her everyday… She is my Amma right, to comfort me she comes in my dreams sometime – not often though….Yes she is always there when I sing the rhyme - Amma Inge Va Va!

 

 

Why and When Contractors / Sub Contractors?

 Last Thursday one of the engagement partner called me asking for a resource. Yes ‘Resource’ a glorified word for IT associates.   It was for an attrition back-fill…. Whenever there is crunch, we look for various option

1. Internal Practice  / Corporate bench 
2. Travel Ready  associates from offshore 
3.  Lateral /External  Full Time Employee (FTE) 
4. Sub-Contractor (CWR)

We are familiar with first 3 options. Let us probe briefly on the last option ‘Sub-contractor or Contractors’

Who are Contractors – Contractors are workers who do their job on a contractual basis. They come with specialized skills in any particular area to perform the work.

 Eg. If you  are running a  small  restaurant,  you  will  be better off to  have the cook as FTE and your  web  designer  / cleaning services on a contractual basis.

In order to explain Contractors, let us see how they differ from full time employee.  The variances can be in

1. Relationship  Control
2. Behavioral Control
3.  Financial Control

Relationship Control:  you signup an Employee Agreement with a FTE, but with a CWR it is independent CWR agreement.

Behavioral Control: It is you, who are controlling the behavior of the person who is working for you. But with a CWR it is not mandatory that we can insist the same. They may be in multiple assignments and will not be able to stick the behavior pattern of our FTE.

Financial Control: You have W2 for a FTE while for CWR it is a 1099.  CWR get their wages including the tax upfront, he will pay his taxes year end.

When to consider Hiring a FTE

• Consider FTE for your essential job – Sales person in a Store should be a FTE
• You have the right to control the details of his /her work performance. For FTE you  can insist on coming into work and going out at a specified time ,  take  1 hour lunch break , 2 15 mins break…. You can train the person the way the job needs to be done.  In short the job is done under your supervision, they get the company’s DNA engraved in them
• Flexible – If they pre-qualify / qualify you can change the roles and responsibility without changing the contract.  Eg In Operations I  take care of resourcing for a Practice,  without changing my  offer letter , I  can get into  Sales Operations too.

 When to consider Hiring a CWRs

•  Outsource one off activities:  you are running a small business eg it could be a restaurant in a city or mobile phone store. For this maintaining the website or janitorial work you do not get FTE, you prefer CWR.
•  Consulting / Specialty Skills: If you need help with your books - financial / accounting details of your firm / Legal advice. This is NOT a day to day work for you. You approach them as needed. If your business is expanding and you need their help consistently then you can hire them as FTE.
•  Also it helps in checking /trying the performance of the candidate, before your hire them as FTE

Differences between FTE & CWR.

#	Full Time Employee	Contractors
1	Essential  to  run Business  and they are Long Term	Peripheral Job. Short Term / Project based - Uncertainty of having a steady employment.
2	Reliable	Less reliable
3	Proactive – need to plan.	Reactive
4	Hiring is long process. Hiring and termination has many restrictions / limitation.	Hiring is short process. Hiring and termination has few   restrictions / Limitation
5	Growth and responsibility opportunity is on the employer else they stagnate or they quit.	Minimal responsibility.
6	Expensive - have to pay Taxes, Social Security or other benefits including vacations. Includes payment of unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation insurance.	Although upfront their rates may look high - as it includes the tax.  Also they are not entitled for any benefits… not even sick leave.
7	Relocation  expenses -  reimbursed	Relocation  expenses -  Need not be reimbursed
8	Need to  wait for pay raise / promotion	Get to negotiate their rate after each project /assignments.
9	Will  be supervised	You are your own boss,  minimal supervision
10	Brand loyalty  -  Company's DNA	Lacks brand loyalty  / culture
11	Quality  is the focus	Quality is overlooked.

 In this pandemic situation where more work is done remotely /virtually CWR / freelance workers count is trending up.

In order to decide the hire type - FTE /Contractor - think and weigh in all the factors discussed and then decide, it is practicable.

Else take a hybrid approach - hire them as CWR check their performance and based on the feedback convert them to FTE.

To the engagement partner, who approached me for an associate, given a couple of internal option, if it does not work, will settle down with a contractor only, as you know attrition back-fill was reactive demand – unless otherwise he had factored that in his proactive #s.

16 Blessings

 

Happy New Year to you and your family…. 🙏

 Just thought of getting back to my routine of blogging after some year end rough roller coaster ride. It is not that I am out of it…. As you know ‘When going gets tough, the tough gets going’ - yes settling down in the ‘new norm’ 😎

Even though I was NOT blogging, made it a point to think and note down some topics, which I can blog in 2021.

For the New Year 2021, you must have received a lot of wishes and greeting from friends and family. At the same time, blessings from elders too. In Tamil culture, the elders say ‘Let the God shower on you all the 16 blessings, needed for you’  

What are these 16 blessings? Let us drill down. 

A Tamil devotional poet Abhirami Bhattar of the 18^th century, in his Abhirami Anthadhi prays to the goddess Abhirami for the below 16 blessings

1)Good and Proper Education	2) Long life
3)Good Friends	4)Inexhaustible Prosperity
5)Youthfulness	6)Disease free (healthy) body
7)Calm mind (tranquility)	8)Affectionate Spouse
9)Children with good character	10)Name and Fame
11)Truthfulness	12)Philanthropy
13)Theft free Wealth	14)Good government
15)Worry free life	16) Association with your great devotees

 Even in 2021 under this pandemic situation, this suffices.  What do you say? Can you think of any other blessing missed by this great poet?  If yes pls mention it in the comment.

For the benefit of my Tamil followers.

கலையாத கல்வியும் குறையாத வயதும் ஓர்
கபடு வாராத நட்பும்
கன்றாத வளமையும் குன்றாத இளமையும்
கழுபிணியிலாத உடலும்
சலியாத மனமும் அன்பகலாத மனைவியும்
தவறாத சந்தானமும்
தாழாத கீர்த்தியும் மாறாத வார்த்தையும்
தடைகள் வாராத கொடையும்
தொலையாத நிதியமும் கோணாத கோலுமொரு
துன்பமில்லாத வாழ்வும்
துய்யநின் பாதத்தில் அன்பும் உதவிப் பெரிய
தொண்டரொடு கூட்டு கண்டாய்

Stay tuned in, by counting your blessings…..👍