In a first of its kind, hundreds of employees from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have come forward to talk about the ‘toxic’ work culture at the organisation.
What Have The SEBI Employees Revealed?
Out of 1,00 officers at SEBI, around 500 signed a letter called “Grievances of Sebi Officers—A Call for Respect,” highlighting the organisation’s toxic culture and the need for better leadership.
The letter was sent to the finance ministry on 6th August with SEBI employees alleging that “shouting, scolding, and public humiliation have become a norm in meetings,” and how the hostile work environment is affecting their work-life balance and mental health.
The letter was first reported by the Economic Times and comes amid an already stressful time for SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch who is being alleged of having a conflict of interest during the Adani inquiry by the regulator.
Besides that, she is also facing questions over compensation that a former ICICI Bank employer paid her and ZEE Group founder Subhash Chandra also accused her of corruption.
Read More: Indians’ Work Hours Are The Maximum Amongst World’s Ten Biggest Economies
The letter revealed how the leadership often uses “harsh and unprofessional language” for team members and micromanages their “minute-by-minute movement” along with imposing “unrealistic work targets with changing goalposts”.
The leadership under chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch “calling names” and “shouting” is said to be among the “core of their grievance” with officers adding that “Unprofessional language is casually used by people at the highest level,” and that there is “no defence from the senior management”.
The letter also said that employees in higher grades “have chosen not to express their concerns vocally for fear of vindictive nature of people at the highest level”.
The letter further added “Time and time again it has been spoken that Sebi is adopting best-in-class technology to improve efficiency of work done.
However, the senior management seems to conveniently forget to also adopt best-in-class man management, leadership, and motivation methods towards its employees.
This method of leadership wherein employees are browbeaten into submission with shouting, using harsh and unprofessional language has to stop.”
The five-page letter revealed a grim picture, writing how there is “growing mistrust among its employees” and that “Fear has become the primary driving force in Sebi over the last 2-3 years.”
The letter also mentions how the installation of turnstile gates was protested against by employees since not only could they be a hindrance for the visually impaired employees but were also a way to micromanage them.
The letter said that the gates were installed to “monitor the intra-day attendance of employees” to have “complete control of their every movement”.
Further, the letter also brought up the issue of how key result area (KRA) targets being increased by almost 20-50% by the management is creating a lot of stress and anxiety since employees are expected to meet them by December.
The letter also mentioned how at one point the in-house mental health counsellor would have “very few” visitors, however, in recent times they are “overburdened with employees facing mental health issues”.
According to reports, SEBI responded to this by saying “The issues referred in your mail have already been addressed by Sebi” and that “Engagement with employees for resolution of their issues is a continuous process.”
SEBI also stated that “In respect of the work environment, format of review meetings has been changed. Hence, issues (with regard to) meetings stand addressed,” and how these changes have also been acknowledged by two associations representing SEBI employees in an email dated 3rd September 2024.
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Sources: Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, Firstpost
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This post is tagged under: SEBI, Sebi staff toxic work culture, Sebi staff, toxic work culture, SEBI Employeees, Madhabi Puri Buch, Madhabi Puri Buch sebi, Sebi work, Sebi chairman, Sebi chief news, Sebi news, work culture, mental health, finance ministry, employee practices, leadership, Securities and Exchange Board of India
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