Workplace bullying and racism
Major loopholes in company guidelines, lack of training and reporting mechanism make bullying and racism (reverse racism too) a slow poison for employees
Toxicity that affects like cancer; source - MDDTimes
In this Readers’ Impact section we invite comments and experiences of how you have been impacted by workplace bullying and racism just because you were a minority, lacked local language and support and at times just because you were nice. Send your comments to reader@mddtimes.com (or feedback@mddtimes.com) and we will publish it within this article after vetting.
The discrimination starts on Day 1 or Day -10 when the group comes to know that you are joining the “team”. Most unsuspecting, you are least aware that scheming had already started to harass and oust you even before you had joined. It is then praise in private and criticise in public. “Slaughtering in the name of mentoring”, as a friend working in an MNC told me. I am not talking about some MSMEs or government offices, but about MNCs and companies like TCS, S&P Global, Indian Express, CRISIL, Cognizant, Dell, Accenture, etc, where such things are increasingly getting common.
Most just walk out within a few days, or months or years. The attrition rate is not looked into, nor the fact that a group of people consistently score high in appraisals while the promising ones just fade away. Diversity is just a word to highlight in their websites for such organisations. The really brave have to fight at multiple levels, often a lonely battle – both at office and home, struggle with a nightmarish work environment and face multiple health problems — for years.
Unfortunately, there is no labour union nor any solid government laws to lean onto for the white collar (the blue collar and the collarless too).
How long will this continue? There are instances when strong laws and company rules have reduced sexual harassment at workplace, so things could be set right. We intend to highlight this grave problem and hope companies take note – at least the honest people out there. Chip in.
Send your comments to feedback@mddtimes.com
