The toxic corporate cocktail

Lawyers, senior human resource and corporate affairs managers in large corporations from Manhattan to Mumbai are huddled together in their posh glass-walled offices. A plan is in the making, to carefully protect the corporate underbelly from public and government scrutiny, following increasing complaints by stressed-out, overworked employees.

A young chartered accountant, Anna Sebastian Perayil, lost her health, peace of mind and life, while she toiled to add shareholder value to a great 120-year-old corporation. Her grief-stricken mother’s letter to the company revealed the minds that drive the organisation. That the company didn’t even mark a token attendance at Anna’s funeral speaks of its culture, or the lack of it.

In May, a junior banker in the US, who worked 110 hours a week, died. An investment bank says it is now limiting the workload of junior bankers. The memo limits the work week to 80 hours. A legend of industry has suggested that youngsters should work 70-hour work weeks. Social media is flooded with horror stories of overwork and exploitation from employees of revered institutions, held up as role model employers. In Karnataka, the government recently proposed a 14-hour work-day, under pressure from industry. The IT industry in Karnataka has already enjoyed exemption for 25 years from the Industrial Standing Orders Act, 1946, which protects worker rights. Not surprisingly, the exemption was renewed in June 2024. 

Posh offices, a gym, food, fun, luxury offsites, flexible work hours and more are part of the attractive package, cleverly designed to attract the best and brightest. Hapless employees experiencing exploitation and overwork realise later that the glitz has an ugly, toxic underbelly.

In multinational companies of foreign and Indian origin, in family-owned ones and in publicly-listed companies, there is Anna everywhere, stressed-out and overworked. It’s just the degree that varies. As a recent protest by 500 employees in a government body in the public eye shows, abuse and overwork is not restricted to profit-making institutions alone, either.

The bane is at the top. Shareholder value, stock price, profit and potential decide the fate of CEOs and boards of companies. Faster, better, cheaper to stay ahead of the pack is the sacred mantra. You have to whip the horses to run faster. The unrealistic deadlines from the top percolate down the pecking order to the lowest minion who slaves in a tiny cubicle, not able to distinguish day from night under artificial lights, staring at a blue computer screen.

There is great faith up above in the power of stress and job insecurity to make the horses run faster. Normally fair, caring and humane people transform into monster managers when jobs are at risk and unpaid EMIs and school fees appear in nightmares. When I was a young recruit expecting “good corporate culture”, I found the dream job was crushing drudgery and overwork, with subtle threats if I could not meet impossible deadlines. People hired from college campuses realise too late that the gym and fun in glossy corporate presentations that attracted them is a mirage. 

The obvious stars, head and shoulders above the rest, talented, articulate and able to deliver with glorious ease, thrive in this environment, enjoying the challenge and adrenalin rush.  

Then there is Slopey Shouldered Sid, a nice Scots expression for a person who can slope their shoulders for responsibilities to slide off, on to the hapless individual who is below them in the pecking order.  Astute politicians, they thrive by networking, scheming and influencing up above. They delegate ruthlessly, to double the workload and take credit for the hard work of their exhausted teams. Agile climbers, they ascend the corporate ladder while lesser mortals barely have time to look up from their laptops. Sadly, Anna worked for Sid, who watched cricket while her exhausted body broke down. When the number of successful Sids in an organisation exceeds the limits of human decency, people start labelling the place as having “toxic culture”.

The salt of the earth survive. They don’t threaten the thriving stars or Sid and are content staying at middle management. They have the subject-matter expertise and organisational capability that Sid lacks.  The best of them try and make it as easy for Sid’s team as possible. The worst are monster managers, emulating the boss. For the uninitiated, the bell curve is a magical chart that groups stars in front, most others in the middle, and laggards at the end. The survivors are the “most others” in the middle.

Anna paid with her life. Health, family and relationships of so many others have suffered. Amongst the horror stories competing in my mind, there was a bright star from a premier institute who joined, with shining eyes and new formal wear. The promise of work on the new technology that was his joy, was a lie. The disillusionment, loss of self-worth and back-breaking late-night drudgery that any drone could do, led to depression and the inevitable job loss. It was his fault of course, he had talent but didn’t “shape up”. A senior manager with family, leaving on a long overdue holiday was pulled off a train, to handle an office crisis. A mother waited for hours outside her boss’ office and returned to find her five-year-old fast asleep with her birthday cake. 

A July report by CII and Medibuddy says that around 62% of Indian employees experience burn-out, triple the global average of 20%, due to work-related stress and poor work-life balance. The WHO says, globally an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety. Even early in the IT boom in Bengaluru, a study of divorce rates amongst IT professionals revealed a 23% increase in just two years between 2003 and 2005. I shudder to think what it must be today.

Corporations and industry bodies make the same hackneyed statements following a tragic case like Anna. Following a 1991 report, public disapproval and boycott of products forced a famous American sports brand to shut down sweat shops in Asia. Only when shareholders value human rights over profit will large corporations stop relying on Sid to squeeze the workforce like the tube of toothpaste we maul in the morning, to get the last bit out.

As the world’s wealth accumulates in the hands of fewer and fewer people, the strength and will to press the toothpaste tube even harder is increasing. The white-collar worker’s ability to organise for collective bargaining is eroded by industry pressure and government apathy. After all, goes the argument, CAs, engineers and PhDs aren’t factory workers to need a union for collective representation. Sleep-deprived doctors lying on ICU floors, young people in posh offices working through the night with health issues and stress, neglected children of working parents, are all grist for the mill in the chase for more wealth and power by the few. 

(The writer is a retired corporate professional who worked in leadership positions in multinational companies)