Dear Arun,

This is an interesting strategy. Definitely only serious and interested
candidates would apply. Those trying to bargain elsewhere would surely have
second thoughts.

My comments :
1) This strategy requires that you deliver what you commit on behalf of the
organization - in terms of job profile. i.e. 100% transparency on company
culture, work environment, compensation, etc. Zero shortfall anywhere.

2) What happens if the candidate joins and leaves within a day or week from
joining? All you can impose would be the notice period.

3) It seems a bit like a pre-nuptial agreement... :-)

4) My concern is that a serious candidate may not like his ethics being
questioned at this stage. He may not only refuse to join, but spread negative
publicity in the market which you would not be able to explain / refute very
easily. This will also decrease the candidate pool who will apply to your
organization.

5) Legally, I don't really think you would be able to impose a penalty on the
candidate stating loss of revenue or reimbursement of costs incurred due to him
not joining. While a candidate may have applied directly to you, it is more
often the case that the organization has advertised the position because of its
need. So that recruitment expense was going to be there anyway.

6) What happens if the candidate fails the reference check or medical checkup
and you reject him on that basis? Does he get any compensation from your
organization for having spent time in your recruitment process? The undertaking
appears to be against the principles of natural justice. Would suggest you take
a legal opinion on this if you haven't done so already.

I may be wrong in some or all of the above points and I apologise if I sound
overly negative. It is just that in an atmosphere where one can express freedom
of choice, such a strategy may be viewed as a restrictive practise.

If point no. 1 mentioned above is completely true, then people should be queuing
up to join your organization and such a strategy would not be required at all.

Your views and the views of the members would be most welcome.

Regards

Ryan Barretto
HR Manager
ETP International Pvt Ltd
www.etpgroup.com



Arun Kumar <arunkumarpj@...> wrote: All,

We are witness to many candidates backing out after accepting an offer.
These candidates can be techies as well as non-techies, and range from a
fresher to very experienced professionals. Sometimes, we are able to talk to
them 'heart-to-heart' to find out why, and sometimes they choose to remain
incommunicado.

Based on our rather long discussions with such candidates who backed out, we
found out the reasons for backing out are as follows:

1. They are not interested to leave their current company. They are
just "fishing" to get more info so that they can negotiate a better deal
with their current organization.
2. They already have several offers in hand. They want to find out
which company pays the highest. If they like a company and they want to
"squeeze" more, they get an offer for a higher amount from a different
company and then go back to re-negotiate with the company of their choice.
3. They did not like the offer. Probably HR beat the offer down below
their expectations and made them forcefully take up the offer, and sign the
acceptance.
4. Unrealistic joining dates - in most cases, HR teams do not give any
consideration for a reasonable notice period for these candidates to join -
obvious reasons include tighter deadlines, not to give an option to the
candidates to "play" around the market. Strangely, some HR teams want
candidates they make offers to join immediately, whereas they are not OK if
their employees want to leave with a shorter notice or no notice.

To ensure that the "system" is fair, employees and employers must both
benefit. There should be a win-win situation. We wanted to create a process
that is fair to both the candidates and the employers. We discussed this
with several people.

The result of these thoughts are the two documents we are enclosing at the
bottom of this message.

The first one "Document A" is a Legal Undertaking that a candidate signs
before taking up the interview process.
The second "Document B" is a Legal Undertaking that a candidate signs after
taking up the interview process.

Both documents are self-explanatory. We have started this in my team.

The reactions we observe are as follows:

1. Some candidates signed without any explanations from our side.
2. Some signed after they received explanations.
3. Some candidates did not want to sign these documents citing several
reasons. We felt it is better to send off the candidates at that stage,
rather than waste time on them and eventually losing them anyway.
4. Some candidates openly expressed that they were just "looking
around" and were not serious. etc..

This process is helping us to cut down our drop-outs. We have started
interviewing serious candidates. These candidates are more responsive when
we schedule interviews. We hope to follow this process for a few quarters
before we have metrics that we can pass on to show if this is effective or
not.

Please let me know what you think of these documents, whether you are
willing to use this in your organization, and your thoughts on this..

Brickbats welcome..

This hopefully solves one problem. There is still the issue of attrition..
Once people sign this, how do we control attrition after they join?? I will
send my thoughts on this shortly..

Thanks!
Arun P James
arunkumarpj@...
Vice President
IonIdea

==============================================================================
DOCUMENT A
==============================================================================

*Expectations & Undertaking Form*

Name of candidate: ________________________________________________

Date of birth as per Candidate's documents: __________________ (I am over 18
years old)

I am a Candidate appearing for an interview with IonIdea, for a position of
_____________________ I am willing to join IonIdea, if I am given an
opportunity to join at the end of the interview process, subject to
fulfillment of the following expectations from my side:

Salary range I expect per month: Minimum: Rs.________________________

Maximum:
Rs.________________________

With incentives / without incentives (pls tick option)

If without incentives, the average performance incentive I expect per month
is: Rs.___________

Title / Designation expected: ___________________________________________

Earliest date of joining, if
offered:________________________________________

Latest date of joining, if offered:
_________________________________________

Any other comments:__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

*Candidate's undertaking before interview process begins***

1. I hereby undertake to join IonIdea on or before the latest date of
joining mentioned above, provided I am offered a salary in the range I
expect, and the title/designation is as per my expectations and the job
description interesting.
2. *I understand that I will be given a one-time option not to take up
the offer after the interview process is completed to IonIdea's satisfaction
*.
3. If I do not exercise this option, I understand that I will be
required to join IonIdea as per their offer issued to me, which is as per my
expectations, and what I have agreed upon.
4. In case I do not join, for any reason whatsoever, I understand that
IonIdea will suffer substantial financial loss in making attempts to find
another suitable candidate to join in my place, in addition to revenue
losses due to delays in joining or not joining.
5. I understand that promising IonIdea in writing that I will join,
and not joining is breach of contract.
6. In such case when I do not join IonIdea, I understand IonIdea will
have the right to take suitable action.
7. I understand that this document is not a promise of employment.
8. I have read the above undertaking, and the implications of signing
this document have been explained to me and I accept the above conditions,
out of my own freewill, without any coercion.

Signature of the candidate: ______________________________________________

Date: ______________________

End of Document A


================================================================================\
======


================================================================================\
======

DOCUMENT
B


================================================================================\
======

*Pre-Employment Contract *

This Pre-Employment Contract is made on this _______ day of ________, 2006
by and between IonIdea Enterprise Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a company incorporated
under the Companies Act, 1956 and having its registered office at 38-40,
EPIP, Whitefield, Bangalore 560066 (hereinafter called IonIdea, which name
shall mean and include its legal representatives and assigns of the first
part), and

<*Name of Candidate*>, aged about __ years, son/daughter of <*Candidate's
Father's name*> resident of <*address*> (hereinafter called Candidate, which
name shall mean and include all his legal heirs and assigns of the second
part)

* *

Whereas, IonIdea is a software development and consulting services company,
and constantly hires software and other professionals for its business.

Candidate is one such software or other professional who has responded to
IonIdea's recruiting efforts and has attended an interview with IonIdea for
a suitable position in IonIdea.

After the interview process, IonIdea decided to offer the candidate
employment in IonIdea and the candidate has decided to accept the employment
offer on the following terms:

Salary offered and agreed upon by both parties:
_______________________________________________________

Title/Designation offered and agreed upon by both parties:
______________________________________________

Date of joining agreed upon by both parties:
____________________________________________

*Covenants of the Candidate:*

1. The Candidate hereby accepts IonIdea's offer and undertakes to join
IonIdea on or before the date of joining mentioned above.

2. The Candidate accepts the salary offered above.

3. The Candidate accepts the title/designation.

4. The Candidate has been explained about his/her key responsibilities
about the job and the candidate believes this job to be inline with his/her
career growth.

5. The Candidate has been given a one-time option not to take up the
offer after the interview process was completed, if he/she was not satisfied
with any of the offer components mentioned above.

*6. **The Candidate asserts that he/she is satisfied with the offer
and hence has not utilized that option, and wishes to go ahead with the
offer process. *

7. The Candidate understands that the candidate will be required to
join IonIdea as per IonIdea's offer issued to the Candidate, which is as per
the Candidate's expectations and what the Candidate has agreed upon.

8. In case the Candidate does not join IonIdea, for any reason
whatsoever, the Candidate understands that IonIdea will suffer substantial
financial loss in making attempts to find another suitable candidate to join
in his/her place, in addition to revenue losses due to delays in the
Candidate's joining or not joining.

9. The Candidate understands that promising IonIdea in writing that
he/she will join, and not joining is breach of this contract.

10. In such case when the Candidate does not join IonIdea, the Candidate
understands that IonIdea will have the right to initiate appropriate legal
proceedings against the Candidate and his/her assigns. Courts of Law in
Bangalore will have jurisdiction over this contract.

11. The Candidate has read and understood the above covenants, and the
implications of signing this document have been explained to the Candidate.

12. The Candidate accepts the above conditions, out of his/her own
freewill, without any coercion.

Signed on this _______ day of _______, 2006 at Bangalore

_______________________________
_______________________________

Signature of IonIdea Representative Signature of
the Candidate

Name:_____________________ Name:
_______________________

Title/Designation:______________________

Witness 1: Witness
2:

Name: __________________________________ Name:
__________________________

Address: ________________________________ Address:
________________________

________________________________________
________________________________

________________________________________
________________________________

End of Document B


================================================================================\
=============

Legal Disclaimer: There is no copyright on these documents and anyone in
the HRinIndia community can use these documents without permission. These
documents have been passed on to the HR community in good faith as an
educational method for better corporate governance. IonIdea will not take
any responsibility for issues arising out of using these documents. The HR
community is advised to take legal opinion applicable to their respective
locations before using these documents.
======================================================================

MODERATOR: WE REQUEST THE MEMBERS TO POST THEIR MESSAGES AND REPLY TO THE
MESSAGES TO HRinIndia@yahoogroups.com BUT NOT TO THE
HRinIndia-owner@yahoogroups.com or
HRinIndia-moderator@yahoogroups.com. IF YOU SEND IT TO THE LATER 2 IT WILL NOT
BE POSSIBLE FOR US TO POST IN THE GROUPS.IT SHALL BE DELETED.