Education Discrimination
We all know of different types of discrimination, don’t we? It’s almost like we are looking for that one thing that can create a point of disparity among each other and make judgements basis that. In nearly every organization we work for, have we not come across this big thing of ‘Hiring the Best’ and from the ‘Best B Schools’ ‘Fresh out of college’ and they will go and change the world for us. Really? Are we numb to the idea of something called an experience?
When Dhoni would come out to bat in the last 7-8 years, did we not always say things like ‘He has a lot of experience’ and things like ‘he will see us through. Why? Because it counts. Because there is value in the experience. For once, let’s even for the moment, forget about an experienced vs. fresher argument, but what on earth is this obsession with the Best Tier 1 B-Schools? Why do we go nuts about such a massive disparity in pay and role vs. other schools? Isn’t that discrimination? It’s almost like having a gap in pay between men and women or giving job promotions to men over women. Why? Ok, understand that you may say that it’s way tougher to crack into those schools, and eventually, they are far more intelligent and naturally gifted with strategic thinking. But are they gifted with the experience of execution? I mean, who will execute their thoughts? How can an idea be successful without implementation?
Not sure if execution prowess directly comes from the top B-Schools. I am almost certain that the best executors are still the most experienced campaigners. However, learnings from the textbook can be put to practice. But the experienced ones always fly high.
I recently heard that IITians fresh out of IIT are getting offers of an annual CTC of Rs. 1 Crore. What are we doing? How will these new out-of-college students value money, work, or careers. Are we not setting them up for psychological failure? Is this correct? Well, many people would say that I am jealous that I am not from an IIT, and hence I would say such things about the privileges that a tier 1 college student gets. Well, I am jealous, and that’s exactly how discrimination feels. Discrimination also makes you angry and sad. It also breaks your confidence because somewhere deep inside, one knows that everyone is unique and can kick some solid rear end at any profession irrespective of the college they come from. I think the history books mention enough examples of even college dropouts who have become the most successful corporates in the world. There are more non-tier one success stories vs. tier 1 success stories.
This kind of discrimination almost feels like nepotism in movies. If you are a star kid, you are gold. So, are we saying that Abhishek Bachchan is better than a Pankaj Tripathi? Or Alia is better than Kangana? Isn’t there a possibility of uniqueness for each individual? There are things that Abhishek can pull off and Pankaj may not and vice versa. Would you pay them differently? Just for their uniqueness? Not fair? Exactly. Time to start thinking about all this.
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Pay for work hours and type of work can be classified and categorized. But on what basis do we calculate paying for intelligence. Can we not just settle for experience and the output the person brings? Even in sports, I’m sure nepotism is prevalent, and at the selection level, things get political. But once you are on the world stage, your output is what matters. So, if you can score centuries and take wickets consistently, the world is a witness to your success and more pay. I can understand, but the Tier 1s seem to be getting richer at the workplace, and the similar hardworking non-tier 1 isn’t.
It’s time for us to make this change. If you are an HR person reading this, think deeply and hard. There is no greater crime than silently creating discrimination at your workplace. That’s the last thing you want in your repertoire; something you overlooked has become something people hate you for. It’s just not fair. Equal pay for equal work and justifiable pay for Experience Vs. Freshers. Base everything on output. If the company does well, the money should be there for everyone equally and without judgment and unfair reasons to distribute unequally.
I also want to ask HR professionals to ask themselves the following questions:
Q. What are we trying to achieve by Hiring Tier 1 candidates at such high pay? What is the reason?
Is it to use them and throw them for output? Or make them future CEOs and Leaders faster with lesser experience to have them fail? What is it? I can understand production, but if you are using them and throwing them, then how is that fair?
Q. Why do you want to create disparity among employees who have been burning the midnight oil for you and someone who has already proved to you that they are awesome and are with the company through thick and thin?
Do you want to get rid of the others? That they aren’t bright enough to become future leaders? Or will they continue to execute while the young rich spoiled ones think for them and do nothing after that and boss over them and spoil the culture?
Q. Lastly, are you not building monsters that require high maintenance? You pay them higher than the rest; it’s not like it’s confidential, and they don’t know. They will keep asking for the moon in terms of compensation every appraisal cycle.
