Death of a young CA - India Inc's Work Management saga
Said the dragon, “Many
knights have left their lives
here, I shall soon have an end
to you too,” and he breathed
fire out of seven jaws.
She was all of 26.Since she cracked the CA exams at such a young age, she must have spent much of her prime youth in the grind of study and work. I wonder what came of all the hard work? Nothing but pain and heartache for the parents of Anna Sebastian Perayil, who died in July, just four months after joining EY ostensibly due to "overwhelming work pressure".
As the news of the death broke out, horrified corporate employees kickstarted a discussion on toxic work culture.
Around a year back, a certain bank’s internal video conference call was leaked on the Internet, where the senior leader was abusively yelling at his employees. It reminded me of how much pressure banking employees are under. The attrition rate in banks and financial services is almost twice that of techies during the post-pandemic peak. But it isn’t talked about as much, because the cause is not as simple and white as demand and supply.
If you read any research reports on India's growth story, they keep saying that the country’s best bet is its working-age population. But if one scrolls through the kind of stories people are speaking of, you’d wonder if we are indeed creating a conducive place for people to work.
Target on the back
Also, the culture of an organisation - toxic or otherwise – is set at the top. Walk into any bank, you can observe the frenzy. Young officers will jump on you to sell different products. None of these are core banking products, but insurance mutual funds, brokerage accounts, transactions, travel cards, credit cards, forex cards, etc.
When you meet consultants, they share stories of how they work 12 hours a day. Salespeople are complaining about targets, marketing personnel are pressured for lead generation and senior management for everything else. When targets are laid, there is no alternative but to chase customers and work under pressure to sell, or mis-sell – whatever it takes to survive the next meeting with the boss.
If coercion doesn’t work, praise often does. A friend who works as an HR head of a company shared a heartbreaking story. A young 30-year-old sales manager was the poster boy of the office. He worked crazy hours and was the star of the office, and the adulation led him to push his limits. But when he died of heavy work, his manager refused to even meet his wife to pick up his things. That’s how shockingly grim is the situation at overworked organisations.
Once upon a time, banking was a poster job. People used to look forward to these jobs to make their careers. Not anymore. Younger people are rebelling against the excessive work, the culture of abuse and overall physical and mental exhaustion.
If we are unable to attract and retain young people, soon enough only a few organisations will be able to survive – AI or no AI.
The value of hard work
It took me an epiphany to understand why ‘We, the Indians’ are more valuable as a workforce. While toxic culture exists everywhere in the world, in India it has become a norm. A business leader suggests a 70-hour work week, many startup leaders spread ‘pride of overworking’, and the rest of us comply because we need to pay the rent.
It’s not ‘as common’ in most places around the world. I once visited the office of a Big Tech in Zurich. It had colourful walls, spacious desks, oxygen plants, a health club, and pool table and an exhilarating fragrance.
The office’s canteen had a chest of drawers where the nutritious food was deliberately kept in the first and second drawers. And the last drawer had chocolates and chips. They expect people to bend to eat unhealthy food. The office wants people to make healthy choices. No place I ever worked ever cared for us so much.
When I worked with TV media, I used to be constantly on the field interviewing people and seldom got time for lunch. It led me to endless migraines, while many of my colleagues and friends suffered from acidity in even their early 20s. That’s the nature of our job, we told ourselves. I know better now.
The stress factor
Most competitive businesses are under pressure to perform. For them to get ahead, their people have to cooperate and work hard for it. Both these seemingly diverse purposes of people and profit can align. But it needs managements to incline themselves to it.
When culture comes from the top, it spreads fast. They should put themselves in their employees’ shoes. They should realise that employees suffer a lot these days – travel, cost of living, and a lot of them are loaded with education loans too.
Also, India has a varied demography with several states and different festivals. Most of the time the national managers sitting in the North do not understand the holidays in the South, West or the East. It's a different lingo and the communication mismatch is huge.
Employees suffer a lot these days, infrastructure problems, travelling, problems, and family life. All these things add to the employee stress.
Most employees in a metro city travel for over two to three hours for the job of seven to eight hours, and often carry work home.
The digital way of life doesn’t help either. Employees can work everywhere. And they’re made to work everywhere too – when they’re having dinner with family, on a vacation with children, or in the middle of a movie. When they’re not being called away to work, some develop the nasty habit of checking their e-mails or Slack every hour. Restlessness is disallowing them to rest and relax.
How well can these stressed employees perform? And how alert can they be? Will they be able to think laterally, like they’re expected to?
What should organisations do?
Of course, banks or companies should and must do their business but how and in what manner is the question. Banking has become very competitive. Not everyone can take the same pressure and not everyone can achieve the same targets.
If the work has increased so much then are the companies redefining their KPIs and KRAs accordingly?
Often in my interactions, I have learnt that professional companies still have a better environment than conventional or family owned firms.
Many companies have built wellness apps but the trust is missing and employees do not want to share their information thinking companies will use it against them.
I strongly feel India Inc at large needs to embrace high standards of workforce management.
Organisations should focus on stress, lifestyle and culture management for the overall wellbeing and productivity boost of their employees.
There should be communication workshops, feedback should be given and processes should be defined. Team building and capacity building are very critical.
It’s important for companies to remember that they need people to be in their jobs as much as people need jobs.
As Richard Branson sums it up, 'Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to.
As usual, I am adding here the top 5 stories of the week, trust you will find them meaningful.
Happy Reading.
Amol Dethe,
Editor,
ETBFSI.