It was on 11th April 2012, Time 2pm..
We all were working with a sleepy mood after lunch. Around 2.10pm one of the employee felt a shake and she asked us whether it was an earthquake. We all didn't mind it when she said it first. After a few seconds we all felt the shivering of floor & desks. It was an earthquake. We all became panic. Everyone jumped out of their seats. Our supervisor asked "What happened? " One of the employee told about the shivering of building we felt. Supervisor told us to be calm and sit back. But we could not sit in that seat at that moment. We all rushed out. One of the managers came and asked "Who gave you the permission to move out? "and told she didnt feel anything. One of the manager came and asked about the problem. When one of the employees told that it was an earthquake he replied.. "Ok, So you people are moving out. Ok. Come back in 5 mins ok.."
There are boards which display the names of fire warden. These wardens were inside the office. They didn't come up with any direction or commands.
What reply should we give to these supervisor and managers?
We all met at the open auditorium which was the common point for all employees in that building. Phone calls were flying to their dear ones. News report came " Earthquake at Indonesia 8.9. Tsunami Alert." Minor Earth quake at Kochi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Trivandrum. In every news channels it was announcing to stay outside buildings for 2 hours. But we the employees of technopark were directed back to the office after 10 minutes.
We all settled at our seats with fear. Again after 10 minutes another earth quake occured. We again moved out of the office and was sent back to office again after 5 minutes. We exit the office for the third time when another minor earth quake happened. 3 times we experienced earthquake within the building. If it was an heavy one, then the employees could have said bye to their beautiful live.
Why these managers are so irresponsible? They were playing with the lives of the employees. Why they didn't permit the employees to stay outside the building? even when the public alerts was to stay outside the building?
By evening Amritha TV reporters came. This issue was told to them while the camera was going on record. They edited that video and this issue didn't come in the news. An email was sent to Manorama newspaper, which was also ignored.
To whom should the employees tell these issue? The lives of technopark employees are in danger. All managers are caring their projects, but not valuing the lives who run these projects. There is a process called Business Continuity Management policy which is there to spare for a damage in project workspace.
But what will spare for the lives of 30,000 employees of Technopark?
If this irresponsibility continues, Trivandrum Technopark will be witnessing a huge danger in future.
Please give value to the lives of technopark employees. They are also human beings.
Thank God for saving all of us this time.
Thank God
RAM
We all settled at our seats with fear. Again after 10 minutes another earth quake occured. We again moved out of the office and was sent back to office again after 5 minutes. We exit the office for the third time when another minor earth quake happened. 3 times we experienced earthquake within the building. If it was an heavy one, then the employees could have said bye to their beautiful live.
Why these managers are so irresponsible? They were playing with the lives of the employees. Why they didn't permit the employees to stay outside the building? even when the public alerts was to stay outside the building?
By evening Amritha TV reporters came. This issue was told to them while the camera was going on record. They edited that video and this issue didn't come in the news. An email was sent to Manorama newspaper, which was also ignored.
To whom should the employees tell these issue? The lives of technopark employees are in danger. All managers are caring their projects, but not valuing the lives who run these projects. There is a process called Business Continuity Management policy which is there to spare for a damage in project workspace.
But what will spare for the lives of 30,000 employees of Technopark?
If this irresponsibility continues, Trivandrum Technopark will be witnessing a huge danger in future.
Please give value to the lives of technopark employees. They are also human beings.
Thank God for saving all of us this time.
Thank God
RAM
Take it to the top management of your company and to HR... your "manager" is after all another employee like you :) Cut your employer some slack! I would imagine that your manager might have gotten fired if HR was aware of his approach towards the situation. I think you should have gone by your instinct and stayed outside for as long as it was needed. Think about it this way, if it was not your manager but another colleague of yours who asked you to stay inside the building to work on a project that you are jointly responsible for, will you reluctantly stay inside risking your life and then whine about it in your blog [i.e., if you had the chance to still do that:)]or will you say, "hell no! I am going out" and leave the building? In short, stop passing the buck. You made a choice and you alone are to take responsibility for it. You probably thought it was important to stay in the "good books" of your manager than to save your life :) I am only being a devil's advocate here... but think about it, nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteMe and my friends were outside. I wrote this thing generally... Manager's conversation is from our office.. but same was for other companies too..
ReplyDeleteThough we got the news about the earthquake in Indonesia, it was through your blog that I came to know about the severity of those things that happened in Technopark. Thank God that nothing happened. Take care!
ReplyDeleteby
Neela, Netherlands
There are three levels of management - top, middle and lower. The duty of top level management is throwing plans and programs to the middle management. The duty of the middle management is dividing the cake and throwing to the lower level management. The duty of lower level management is to implement the plan and targets as per the direction, without any single modification. This is known as Unity of command as per business management. The training given to middle management from the top level and other experts are (1) do not give any human values to lower levels (2) do not get the opinion from the lower levels (3) do not give chance to speak or to interact or comment their directions. There fore, we have a quotation, "Boss is always right". As a middle manager of the company, your manager asked to go inside after 5 minutes. But as a human being, he also would have thought, "why don't we quit this place during this earthquake?" but his "mind of management" didn't allow him to speak that out. This position will be very clear when you hold that position in any company. And, you would have added an extra comment, "You come after 5 minutes...your life will be insured by the insurance company" :) To conclude, what your manager told is right.
ReplyDeleteDr.R.Velayudhan
Management Consultant
Just came to know that you went through such risk and trouble after reading this blog. Keeping all those things apart, Your writing has improved by leaps and bounds. Good writing.
ReplyDeleteRemya
What to say about this? people of kerala do not face any thing that happened in japan indonesia, they only feel when it comes to realty, they are not supposed to beleive in words, that stages are gone, they only mean it serious once it comes to realty that oh! its gods own country so no natural disaster comes here we are safe here.when it becomes into realty they will feel that oh god what is this we are not expecting this u created us what is the purpose for taking it like this. Natural disasters has also some power before it will react as cyclones earthquakes and eruptions. Science does not proove that kerala is safe every time, monsoons are changing, we are facing different economic and environmental problems nowadays, not everytime mild earth quakes are happening here , but it is the first time it was happened more than one times , one thing i want to remind u that when tsunami came here few years ago no one feels if it should hit over off shores we are unaware of this kind of incidents and when it comes into realty we are supposed to know what tsunami is and it seems what the channels want to show in offshore beaches , particulary i seen in tv that every media person was there to shoot how tsunami occurs and comes there. i don't know what they want to proof themselves and us, the time when it occurs previously (earthquakes that occurs badly in indian ocean (2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake). it was not the same situation like when it occurs in sumatra it was just a warning for us it says ("It's a sort of tearing earthquake, and this is much less likely to cause a tsunami because it's not displacing large volumes of water.") , so may the television representatives feel it safe to there to record one fee, two feet wave length heights????? they dont know what actual tsunami is. Better luck next time...if it is "gods own country" don't allow it to be changed into dogs own country.........
ReplyDeleteWhat to say about this? people of kerala do not face any thing that happened in japan indonesia, they only feel when it comes to realty, they are not supposed to beleive in words, that stages are gone, they only mean it serious once it comes to realty that oh! its gods own country so no natural disaster comes here we are safe here.when it becomes into realty they will feel that oh god what is this we are not expecting this u created us what is the purpose for taking it like this. Natural disasters has also some power before it will react as cyclones earthquakes and eruptions. Science does not proove that kerala is safe every time, monsoons are changing, we are facing different economic and environmental problems nowadays, not everytime mild earth quakes are happening here , but it is the first time it was happened more than one times , one thing i want to remind u that when tsunami came here few years ago no one feels if it should hit over off shores we are unaware of this kind of incidents and when it comes into realty we are supposed to know what tsunami is and it seems what the channels want to show in offshore beaches , particulary i seen in tv that every media person was there to shoot how tsunami occurs and comes there. i don't know what they want to proof themselves and us, the time when it occurs previously (earthquakes that occurs badly in indian ocean (2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake). it was not the same situation like when it occurs in sumatra it was just a warning for us it says ("It's a sort of tearing earthquake, and this is much less likely to cause a tsunami because it's not displacing large volumes of water.") , so may the television representatives feel it safe to there to record one fee, two feet wave length heights????? they dont know what actual tsunami is. Better luck next time...if it is "gods own country" don't allow it to be changed into dogs own country.........
ReplyDeleteThanks to all for your feedbacks... Thanks remya for the complements. Thanks chakde. Thanks Neela for your care. Thanks velayudhan for the management training. Mr Velayudhan, What my manager told was right only because i am alive.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Dr. Rajiv Krishnan also..
ReplyDelete@ Rajiv Krishnan... I give value to my life. Thats why i stayed outside for a long time. I also valued my friends lives too.. I told them also to stay outside. Thnks for ur comments dear...
ReplyDeleteI am also an employee of a company @ technopark. First of all congrats Ram for posting about such an important thing... We also experienced the earth quake. but our company management guided us to stay outside for more time and had immediately dispersed the work and gave us permission to go home... Such employers are there @ technopark who values the life of their employees rather than money. The authority should take steps inorder to protect the lives of techies, as they are also humans not any machines... We should do some thing not to make this happen again...
ReplyDeleteBy A Human Techie
@human techie : Thanks dear or your support. We should really do something...
ReplyDeleteA late read...but shocking!!! Couple of things that flashed through my mind reading your article..1)We still are ready to take the .001 % chance of everything being alright amidst chaos and choose money over lifes..2)Even in the literate land of max no: of newspapers...media is buyable 3) You can make people respond with your writing 4) As sis are sis..i felt the same as Rem's,reading your article and was surprised at our telepathy to see the comment she had made..:)
ReplyDelete@ Asokauncle-I can never think about management lessons at a life or death situation...at such scenarios only one law applies...be human!!!
Good Rachu..Keep writing!!!
Regards
Sreeja
Thanks Sreeeja.
ReplyDeleteRegards.