"No boss!" "Make millions of dollars - freedom from travel, " "Work from home without leaving your current occupation/studies ." go the online advertisements with millions of promises of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. However, my dreams of a second trist with a work from home venture turned into a nightmare.
Spacify - a US-based furniture company in Bangalore, India(spacify.in) - was one of the companies I had worked for as a freelance content writer and used to write reviews for their furniture. As a growing freelancer, I decided to give up my ego of having worked for top companies - for the experience and the dough - and decided to work for Spacify, when an offer letter came from them.
The employer seemed very excited on phone and used to speak sweetly every time she wanted some work done from me. The employer even sweet talked me and boasted about my hard work and high quality of performance to one of the friends I had recommended telephonically, as she needed more work done from me and as there was a lack of human resources with the company at that time. She even promised me a full-time(work from home), permanent position, which was never done - empty promises that had no real meaning.
I used to work for hours on end to complete all the work assigned to me and saw to it that the quality of my work was excellent. However, due to my examinations, my plans to continue my academic endeavors, and the feeling that I was continued to be paid lesser than I deserved(without a raise), I had to leave the company.
After I left the company, the then boss gave me a work-experience certificate upon request. A year later, I found that my certificate was not to be found anywhere. I requested my former boss to provide me with another certificate politely. However, she refused saying that she does not provide freelancers with work-experience certificates; whereas the work I had done for the company ran into more hours than a full-time employee would have put in.
I reminded my boss that I had slogged it out for the company and that I required merely a duplicate certificate, as I had lost the certificate. She inititally promised me on phone that she would send me the certificate. However, she flatly refused me one a few days later by giving a hundred excuses for that. Then, she decided to lie to me saying that she was abroad and that she won’t be in a position to send me the certificate. So thankless are employers to the freelancers. She said that she does not hire freelance employees any longer and thought that I am applying over again to the company - all this just for requesting a duplicate copy of the misplaced certificate.
She used the services of freelancers before and now, she refuses to recognize them. What is the point in working for a company and not getting the due rights - whether one works for five months or five years? It is as good as not having worked for the company, if one does not have some record to show that the person has worked for the company. The employers - even the other US-based companies - I had worked for before were so good that they recognized my rights and also provided me with the best education benefits, time to study and a chance to return to the company to work plus the companies were of an extremely high reputation; whereas Spacify simply exploited me and decided to dump me as soon as their goals were achieved. Spacify.com and many other small companies must be hoping to cheat freelancers to increase the profits of their own company and to rise to a higher level.
Such is the condition of freelancers in India - they get paid less, work more hours and are still unable to enjoy their rights, their due recognition and respect for the work done by them. Outsourcing has been both a boon as well as a bane to the Indian freelancers, as the mother-concern based in some other continent in the world may not really know what is really happening with their counterparts in the other countries. In the name of westernization and modernity, we end up losing what is truly ours. I agree with the words of Mr. Narayan Murthy, the IT doyen of our country that: "Never love your company, but your job as you never know when your company could stop loving you." In my case, it was a bit different however. I am forced to hate my job too, as it has only used up my precious time and yet not given me what I truly deserve. There are many other fake agencies in Bangalore, which exploit workers either without paying them for the hard work done for hours without sleep and the work with this company nearly broke my neck in the process.(For instance, Alies language solutions). Most companies sheerly exploit the services of the freelance workers just because they would not have signed any contract with them or because they would try to avoid any direct or indirect bonding with the workers.
There is a need for an association for freelancers and a court for freelancers to fight for their rights in India, which would protect the rights of freelance employees and a list of fake associations that try to employ freelance employees at the cost of their health, education and career. Last but not the least, I would avoid recommending Spacify.in or Spacify.com and any other small-time organizations(that are hoping to rise to a higher level by using freelancers as a stepping stone) as places to work for the Indian employees.