An expat candidate in talks with an ecommerce major reached out to the person he would be replacing to find out about the company’s culture.
Another prospective senior hire with an offer from a real estate firm changed his mind after finding out about its promoter’s controlling approach and lack of work-life boundaries.
Such examples are rising as more stories of toxic workplaces, pressure cooker environments and consequent health impacts come tumbling out of Corporate India closets.
Senior professionals being tapped to join top management are doing their background checks about prospective organisations with far greater rigour than before. And a sizeable number are saying no to lucrative offers if they spot a toxic work culture, search firms, candidates and HR experts said. “Work culture is increasingly becoming a deciding factor,” said Navnit Singh, chairman and regional managing director of Korn Ferry. “Money is important but not the primary driving force. You don’t want to hate going into work every morning.” Sunit Mehra, partner at Hunt Partners, said people are a lot more concerned now about the company where they are going to join.
“On the one side, pressures (on top executives) are increasing; on the other, their aftereffects are more visible. It raises alarm levels,” he said. “Candidates are raising more and more questions about work culture – we see it in every mandate.”
Candidates are actively tapping their networks and running due diligence about the potential company, bosses and colleagues they’ll be working closely with.
Red flags include command-and-control structures, lack of autonomy, no respect for personal-professional boundaries, frequent changes in roles/reporting, and exits at the senior level, experts said.
Prabir Jha, CEO of Prabir Jha People Advisory, cited the instance of a Singapore-based professional who chose not to make a move to India after negative feedback about a company.
“That many Indian companies are plagued with toxic leadership and behaviour is a fact,” Jha said. “It’s one of the very important filters candidates are using now. A lot of career transitions fail because of cultural mismatches.”
With increasing instances of mental health issues and other health and heart problems arising out of stressful situations, candidates say it’s better to be safe than sorry. And peace of mind is winning in many cases.
A professional at a multinational company in talks with an Indian financial institution was warned by a peer that his prospective boss had no respect for time and space. “He (the boss) used to expect people to be available round the clock, encroach into their personal space, disrespect them publicly if they spoke up… I don’t want to consciously sign up for that,” he told ET.
“People who are relocating from other countries are even more cautious,” said Ashish Sanganeria, senior partner at Transearch.
Longevity and work culture are even more a challenge at startups that operate on short runways and are under a lot of pressure from investors to become profitable, he said. “There are multiple instances of people turning down offers because of culture issues; or using culture as the benchmark to choose one offer over another,” Sanganeria said.
Excessive office politics, old-timers reporting back to promoters on every move and lack of clarity on the role are among situations candidates are looking to avoid, according to R Suresh, managing director of Insist Consulting.
A candidate who moved from another country to join an Indian firm is now regretting his decision, he said. “He comes in at 9 am, but the CEO waltzes in at noon. After the latter leaves at night, there’s a scramble among the rest who were waiting for him to go,” Suresh said. “Working over weekends is considered a mark of pride (at this firm).”