Your right to be heard at the workplace: Leadership coach Sunny Bhasin on the EY Employee death

The recent tragic death of a young professional in a reputed firm like E&Y has brought to our attention the issues which people face in the workplace in India and the lack of access to support people on mental health.

Employees are not just ROI

Each life is important and each individual is unique. The multinational and startup culture has unfortunately ingrained in our mind the need to treat people as resources and at every step of their career calculate the return on this investment (ROI).

The untimely passing of Anna and the letter of her mother to the organization E&Y has made individuals and organizations take stock of their work environment and question how they can honor an employees’ whole self at work which includes the psychological, biological, emotional, social and cultural aspects that make up an individual apart from the physical.

When stress affects your work: a personal story 

While I was studying for chartered accountancy exam, I developed anxiety, reeling under the pressure of books. I was taken to a family doctor who helped me alleviate some of my doubts and fears. My sister and my parents supported me to find time for myself so that I could balance studies with relaxation.

When a close relative faced health challenges, was hospitalized and I could not give my best at work, I reached out to my manager. He allowed me to take complete leave from office to deal with the situation and my team started to put more hours to support me.

Even with the support, I also faced the pressure to perform and I realized that the above instances had fractured my mind.

I needed to heal.

In COVID times, I like many on this planet went through various challenges while continuing to perform at work, but at some level it made us realize to honor our humanity first.

In 2021, when I got trained and certified as a professional coach after 16 years of corporate hustle, I found a way to listen to people and be there for them, got an understanding when to refer my clients to therapists or other mental health professionals. I further honed my skills and became a therapist.

I now listen to my clients, help them accept their reality, their uniqueness and their humanness.

 Star performers sometimes hide their anxieties at work 

As I listen to a star performer in an MNC who got caught up in the organization restructuring, I listened why he is a 8 on a scale of 10 on anxiety, helped him to lower it and build an action plan to deliver his goals. Even if the anxiety could not reduce below 6 due to the stretched timelines, he was able to release emotions and improve upon his health.

When a mentor questioned a woman leader on her intent to grow or be promoted as she was pregnant, I witnessed her tears and anger. The conversation brought to light her next steps to speak up and look at the existing policy around this harassment.

People in organizations, their struggles and achievements cannot be treated just as a number.

Let us not hide behind the society norms and company awards. It is time to speak up for yourself. Demand the professional help which you need and when you need it.

Learning and development should not be a tick box activity but a need which is to be fulfilled by the organization for every person who joins them.

An organization with the right culture invests in the wellbeing of their people.

Culture is built both by the top management and the teams at large. Much like the democracy, it needs to be a continuous process of checks and balances till each one has a right to be heard at their workplace.

Sunny is founder at Sunny Connect, a firm specialising in curating programs for Conscious Leadership Development.