The dhobi list of complaints put out by SEBI employees recently captures problems that many Indians have been grappling with. Sunday Times examines the toll of toxic workplaces
- A 26-year-old Pune-based employee of Ernst & Young died four months into the job due to "excessive overwork" and "relentless pressure" from her managers, alleges her mother in a heartbreaking letter to EY boss that has gone viral on Wednesday
- Last week, about 200 employees of regulator SEBI staged a silent protest outside its Mumbai office complaining against the top management for name calling, public humiliation and increased pressure to meet changing targets
- A private bank employee stationed in Noida died by suicide in July, leaving behind a five-page note detailing sustained verbal abuse and harassment
- In April, a customer due diligence analyst at an MNC bank’s Hyderabad branch put out an anguished social media post in which her colleague was quoted as saying, “Ek chamaat maarenge, Bihar pahuch jaogi,”. This translates to “I will slap you so hard, you will go back to Bihar.” Despite reporting this to her manager, no action was taken. At a subsequent team meeting, she was told to ignore the comment
- Last year, a manager with a Bengaluru-based company pulled up a member of his sales team for poor performance. The employee was forced to repeatedly write ‘I will meet my targets’ on a piece of paper like a kindergartener
In the 1990s, stories of Japanese businessmen dropping dead from overwork were seen as a cultural phenomenon peculiar to its hierarchical society. To deal with what is called ‘karoshi’ (death-by-overwork) culture, Japan is now contemplating four-day work weeks. However, many other parts of the world, including India, seem to be in the grip of karoshi, which millennials have rebranded as hustle culture with new mantras such as ‘rise and grind’ and TGIM (thank god it’s Monday).
With an average of 47.7 working hours every week, Indians are seventh on the list of countries that work the most globally. If Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and Tesla CEO Elon Musk had their way, we’d all be working 70-80 hour weeks. However, it’s not just about working long hours or being handed tasks on Diwali weekend when everyone else has logged off, but about toxic work cultures becoming more ubiquitous.