Bond- analysis

As already discussed by a lot of participants, bonds have both pros and cons. On one hand they help the company by restricting the employees to leave the company before they could reap the profits for their company while on other hand it can discourage some of the employees to take the job with that employer. According to me these bonds restrict the free movement of an employee and are pro employer. If you feel that your and company’s career aspirations for you doesn’t match then also you are trapped. It can result in stagnant career growth for you making the chances to shift in new company with good money and good position, all the more dim. Every company has its own way of enforcing the bond. Some companies like Asatyam take money initially only to show the distrust in their employees while some like chutney computers enforce it after one leaves the company in notice period. As discussed by other people companies enforce the bond amount on people by saying that they would not get an experience letter if they don’t pay. But I feel that at that particular time when you are about to enter the industry, and someone puts a bond in front of you, you don’t have a choice but to sign it. There are so many people to grab the opportunity that you either take it or leave it.
At that time a person does not think of his career planning, his succession path or anything. After he joins the job and found the difference between his and employer’s work aspirations with him, he realizes his grave mistake. People with higher salaries and in higher position can still bargain their way out. Initially when there were no bonds for onsite assignment people used to go there and leave the job by giving just one day’s notice either for higher package or higher studies. That’s why bonds for onsite were introduced by companies like chutney and TCS.
As mentioned by varun, it depends a great deal on your manager as well. He is the one in authority to decide an employees leaving date atleast in Infosys. If he wants he can get you away with bond amount without letting you serve the notice period of three months and vice versa. Bonds are just a way to save employer from the initial costs it incur because of trainings and all. So, it is a just way to ensure the employer that cost incurred by him for the employee is safe but the bond amount and conditions should be such that it does not hurt the employee as well.