Opinion: Well-being in tough times
Beyond the bottom line, corporations face a new challenge: keeping workplace happy and safe
By Amit Mishra
As the fiery Bengaluru sunset bled into a dusky twilight, the sleek glass facade of a top MNC mirrored a different kind of reflection. Inside, Rashid (name changed) stared at the resignation letter resting on his desk. The weight of the paper felt heavier than any project he’d ever tackled. Eleven years at the company, a wellspring of pride now tinged with disappointment, the career carousel at the Fortune 500 company was coming to a tearful end. After facing a difficult workplace situation that impacted his mental health, Rashid felt he had no choice but to resign. The decision wasn’t easy, but prioritising his mental well-being was of paramount importance.
Concerning Picture
The story of Rashid isn’t rare or surprising for India Inc but a story of countless employees who face the same ordeal silently while battling the daily grind of corporate pressure marred with trials and tribulations. A recent Gallup report paints a concerning picture of the Indian work atmosphere. A staggering 86% of the employees reported either “struggling” or “suffering” in their personal and professional lives. Although the global average of “thriving” employees is 34%, only 14% of Indian workers feel they are truly “thriving” in their lives. This significant disparity underscores the substantial challenges faced by the Indian workforce.
The pertinent question now to ask is why hasn’t there been a more vocal response to this concerning trend. Why is it that people, especially in environments with negative cultural points, continue to suffer in silence? The pressures and expectations in such workplaces often become ingrained, creating a culture where seeking help is seen as a sign of weakness and where high stress, long hours and getting roughed up by co-employees are accepted as the standard. This normalisation of negative experiences can lead to severe consequences for individual’s mental and physical health, including burnout, anxiety, depression and even suicide.
Deepening the understanding that humans are not machines and require optimum rest to function well is a simple yet great realisation
But who even knew that these severe consequences could manifest in ways that can deeply unsettle the minds of several who want to break into the industry? In the quiet hush of a late February night, residents of a Mumbai apartment complex were jolted awake by a bone-chilling thud. Saurabh Kumar Laddha, a 25-year-old consultant at McKinsey & Company, lay lifeless on the ground. News of his death by suicide, allegedly due to “immense pressure” at work, sent shockwaves through the circles and ignited a critical conversation about employee mental health.
And this was not the worst of corporate India that the populace witnessed, On April 9, 2021, a horrifying discovery shattered the normalcy at the Canara Bank branch in Kuthuparamba. KS Swapna, a 38-year-old branch manager, was found hanging inside the building. Swapna became the third bank manager in Kerala to succumb to suicide within a year, all seemingly linked to the immense pressure and potential harassment plaguing the banking sector. The stories of Sapna and Saurabh were not isolated nightmares. There are others cases too, separated by geography and profession which paint a grim picture of workplace pressures and prejudices that can lead to such devastating outcomes.
Mental Health
Beyond the bottom line, a new challenge that has emerged for Indian corporations and MNCs is to keep the workplace happy and safe. Though we have adequate laws in place in India, the numbers from the surveys allude to an alarming deficit in employee well-being. The survey by MPower presents us with a disturbing trend: nearly half of all corporate employees (48%) are grappling with mental health issues. This burden falls particularly heavily on women, with a staggering 56% reporting high mental health risk compared to 41% of men. These mental health struggles have a significant ripple effect, with roughly half of the affected employees acknowledging a substantial decline in their work productivity.
Though the scenarios differ from one another, the questions remain the same: Is the narrative entirely bleak for the corporate landscape in India? Is there no glimmer of hope on the horizon? Can we anticipate a change, or is this the new status quo? While there are no definitive answers to these questions, there remains a beacon of hope. Examining nations celebrated for exceptional employee well-being, where worker contentment flourishes, and attempting to translate these paradigms to the Indian context unveil possibilities for positive transformations.
Positive Examples
Let’s look at New Zealand for example which ranks as the top country in the world for work-life balance of employees. The country makes sure that the corporations integrate citizens’ cultural values in their work; encouraging recreation, travel and taking time away from work. Norway, on the other hand, mandates not more than 37.5 hours of work a week and if the employees are asked to work more, then they are compensated adequately with a minimum of 40% extra pay. Every employee in Norway has the right to flexible working hours and corporations allow their employees to exercise it freely, the core office hours termed as “Kjernetid” are only between 9 am and 3 pm the time when they are expected to work. Also, working for more than 13 hours a day is deemed illegal.
Spain has mandated all their offices to finish the workday by 6 pm and discourages office work beyond that. And in France where the culture promotes the idea of taking adequate rest or relaxation, it is not an uncommon sight to see employees sitting and relaxing outside at any hour of the day, and not necessarily with their colleagues at work but spending time alone with a coffee.
Italy believes in “il dolce far niente”, which is the sweetness of doing nothing and is also ingrained in their corporate culture. The employees make sure they take enough time off their work and spend time in leisure, which means doing work in a more productive way which saves time. Carrying a novella to work, to read when they have finished their work in the times of “niente” is as prevalent as pizzerias in Italy.
Following Europeans
The correct way to deal with the Indian corporate fiasco is, like how our European counterparts do, to mandate prioritising mental well-being in the workplace. Deepening the understanding that humans are not machines and require optimum rest of the body and mind to function well is a simple yet great realisation.
The American novelist Elbert Hubbard once famously said “A machine can do the work of 50 ordinary men, but no machine can do the work of one extraordinary man” and this is as true as the gospels for our country today. And as gospels present a ray of hope in tough times, so does this story. Remember Rashid? After resigning, he took a break and then started his own company which became an instant success. Today he lives a happy and peaceful life advocating the values of well-being at the workplace.
(The author is a research scholar at IMT Hyderabad and a fellow at the Royal Society of Arts, London)
