The road to zero tolerance

It was the second time that week in Europe that I heard this: 'We really
want more Indian students here,' the provost of a leading university said,
“but we have to scan the degrees carefully...especially of students from
Andhra Pradesh”.  That's not
just a blot for that state, but a problem that can get in the way of India's
tech superpower story.

This time Dataquest covered the crackdown by tech companies on breaches of
integrity, from bloated CVs and doctored degrees to medical or leave travel
claim. It's an issue that can affect India's future tech growth:
credibility, and security. The rarest of 'breaches' makes waves in global
media that are way out of proportion to the incident.

Now, tech companies in India have begun clean sweeps that include scanning
resumes and claims of people who've been in the company for years. And
they've terminated staff, even senior managers and top performers.

Intel was in the news last year for its 'clean sweep' action, bringing in
US-based auditors to scan every employee claim across several years. Here's
what we found:

One, most industry persons we spoke to lauded the action, and wanted to learn
from it. A few had 'been there, done that'. Others said this needed more
consistent action, and perhaps better implementation.

Two, it hit morale, even if Intel doesn't admit it. For months, employees
lived in the shadow of those audits and 'written warnings', wondering
who'd be next. From the relaxed Indian flexibility on things like medical and
leave travel claims to a sudden, brutally-enforced zero tolerance was a jarring
move. Nothing beats having clear guidelines that spell out the zero tolerance
regime at the outset, and reinforcing it.

Third, many of the people who left Intel due to the crackdown, voluntarily or
otherwise, got jobs with other major tech companies-many at big increments.
Did those companies discover the issues? Weren't they worried? (Ultimately,
Intel itself was hit harder by the forced attrition than the employees were.)

A part of the answer may lie with Nasscom's NSR (NationalSkillsRegistry.com),
a database of verified resumes that could become a necessary filter before any
hiring, and which will “make India the gold standard for security, as we are
today for quality”.

The NSR should make life easier for recruiters who have to spend time and
money on validation, and suffer when they discover problems later. It won't
guarantee 'integrity', but taken together with the zero tolerance regime
that many companies are striving for, it could mean a more solid foundation for
India's future tech story: a meritocracy founded on ethics and integrity, a
“gold standard” the world would have faith and confidence in.