The best time to do something about this menace of workplace toxicity was a few years ago. The second-best time is now
Workplaces are becoming increasingly unmindful of essential considerations like employees' physical and mental well-being, dignity, inclusiveness, and even something as basic as value for human life.
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This week will go down as a sad one when I read on social media about this young professional who lost her life in four months of taking up a job that society would consider enviable. A document that is reported to be her grieving mother's letter to the employer chronicles her travail in detail. It makes for painful reading.
Living in a place like Bengaluru, one frequently hears stories of the "toxic" atmosphere in many high-growth startups. It seems to flow all the way down from the top, as founders, in their frenzy to grow, transmit pressure all the way down to the last employee in the enterprise, starting with the CXOs.
If topline growth brewed toxicity until two years ago, it is the pursuit of the bottom line that does so now. That makes it even worse as enterprises hunt for employees to let go in the name of cutting costs.
Not all startups are challenging to work in. There are several where the founders show a lot more sagacity even as they pursue topline growth or profitability. However, the number of firms that push their employees to unsustainable levels of performance is not trivial.
[This article has been published with permission from IIM Bangalore. www.iimb.ac.in Views expressed are personal.]