Hafta letters: EY employee’s death, toxic work culture, journalism

Hello Abhinandan,

I have been a big supporter of you and Newslaundry for the past two or three years. I especially love the collaboration with The News Minute and I am excitedly looking forward to the collaboration with East Mojo.

I also have feedback. It may sting personally, but I hope you take it objectively. It may be good to leave Hafta to Manisha and manage the production. You are a great entrepreneur, and your casual style works well in Awful and Awesome. But Hafta has been losing its focus and nuance because of this casual style. I must appreciate Charcha for bringing in nuance and depth on important issues. The episodes in which you weren’t around were more focused. Of course, these couldn’t be good without your leadership. And in the same way, you should lead Hafta from behind.

I hope you take this objectively. We need you and your leadership.

Rakshita Shekhar

***

On the whole, work-life balance, here is my two pence. 

Let’s take NL, for example. What makes up the 8 hours of work? Documentation for a story: 20 minutes; editing: 30 minutes, etc. Is this for a newcomer, or someone with 10 years experience, or 15 years? Next, how much are you paid for per hour or minute? No company is ever going to quantify it. It’s not in their best interests as well, and it’s hard, very hard. 

Next, firms like EY (as I work in advisory myself) will ask for timesheets, but at the same time they will say you are not efficient if you work more hours. So what you do is time sheet for 8 and work for 20.

Now, food for thought, if there is someone who does the work defined for 8 hours in 4 hours, will you allow them to go home? 

For Jayashree, NL podcast recommendation: William Dalrymple’s latest book speaks about how Silk Road has no historic basis and Akhand Bharat is a faulty interpretation of Indian authors studying Indian history in European universities.

Dhiraj Krishna Kumar

*** 

The entire discussion on the death of the EY employee was a bit tone deaf. It just gave the impression that the panel wasn’t aware of the ground reality of the Indian corporate ecosystem.

The discussion should have been more about the labour laws and the rights of an employee because in India the biggest problem from the unorganised to the organised sector is the same. If you aren’t willing to work for 16-17 hours a day, there are at least 100 others who the company can replace you with.

Then there’s the burden of education loans (one of the most neglected things that media should cover). When these guys join, they already have the burden of loans that they have to pay. That’s why they just shut up and toil.

With the toxic culture, most of the best-paying jobs in India will have a boss who demands work at horrible hours in the worst conditions because he has a boss above him who does the same to him, and the cycle goes on.

Not only this, sexual abuse is still a thing (both male and female).

Also, remember recently a clip of an HDFC sales manager shouting and abusing his employee that went viral? That’s not even the tip of the iceberg. It’s so common and happens in a lot of places. 

Imagine being an engineer and an MBA from one of the top institutes in India and then get treated horribly and these are some of the brightest minds in the country. So many of the ‘corporate employees’ drink and smoke themselves to sleep because that’s the only way they know to survive the daily stress.

One of the major problems in India is that the working class, be it a human scavenger or someone at an esteemed job, in so many organisations they are not treated with respect.

Why do you think so many of the highly educated strata have left India in the last decade or so? Sab truck chalane nahin jaa rhe. 

They’re actually treated well in the same organisation abroad that treats them poorly in India. 

Sorry for the big rant and using two slots. I hope it helps shed some light on the situation.

Cheers! :)

Anonymous

***

Regarding episode 503, your discussion on the tragic death of an EY India employee due to overwork was insightful.

Reforming work cultures in private companies is crucial, as excessive workloads often become an unspoken part of job descriptions. The government’s decision to investigate EY for an “exploitative and unsafe” work environment is significant, especially since, as Abhinandan noted, such actions are rare even in government sectors.

I wanted to add another angle. SR Batliboi, an affiliate of EY, is reportedly under scrutiny by the NFRA for its audits of Adani Group companies. This investigation, which began in 2023, follows concerns raised by Hindenburg Research that led to significant market losses for the Adani Group. Given that SR Batliboi audits several key Adani firms, one might speculate whether the government’s sudden investigation into EY could also be influenced by broader political or economic factors.

Keep up the insightful discussions.

Anonymous

***

Hi, in Hafta 503, Anand’s point of individual differences in handling stress is ignorant at best and malevolent at worst, unless it is aimed at considering the wide range of individual reactions towards formulating a solution. Otherwise, it is just blaming the person for not coping well. 

Sorry if I misinterpreted Anand’s view on this, but putting forward a point just for the sake of adding something new to the discussion isn’t always harmless.

His second point about duty being a higher virtue than rights is the root of the problem due to which today’s generation has to assert its rights. And this virtuous duty has mostly been used to put people down to stop them from asking for their rights.

Thanks for your good work.

Harsimran Singh 

***

Hey team,

On your comment on Mr Murthy’s comment, I think you liberals have got it quite wrong. Not everyone grows up in a family with the right links and all. I do agree with Raman sir’s experience. He has a better grip on what it means to come from a middle-class, non-elite family and make it in your career. 

I know someone who, as a kid, was bullied in his class. He got into IIT-D and today he works his ass off. He hardly has time for anything else, but then so what? He probably makes more than all his classmates combined. I believe that’s quite a comeback, and if that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes.

Also, from a macro-eco perspective, imagine everyone in India were like you, insisting to work only x many hours a day. Don’t you think just about any country would be willing to push those hours up and get the business we are getting? 

Shivam Tyagi 

***

Hi Hafta team,

I have been a long-time follower of Newslaundry, starting sometime in 2012. And I also got to meet Abhinandan when he visited us in London. 

I am writing to Hafta for the first time. Team, I have more of a programme design question. 

I recently came across this video from Mojo Story where the approach felt very dated, especially the setting, using tropes that seem to be what was done in the early 2000s. It felt like the attempt was to be poetic of sorts but did not feel like the right mix for the context of the conversation. This got me thinking about how one designs election coverage programmes without using cliched tropes. 

Can you share some insights on steps that Newslaundry team takes when designing an election coverage programme, like what to show on the screen, what kind of people to speak to, questions to ask, and avoiding cliched tropes? I have always found your programming refreshing and would love to know a bit about what goes on behind the scenes. 

Thank you for everything. Keep up the good work. 

Varun B Kothamachu

***

Hi Hafta team,

I would like to know your thoughts on Faye D’Souza’s brand of social media-focused journalism. Her Instagram account functions as a news curation platform rather than a news platform itself, and I have noticed that the credits to the journalistic outlets are always on the last slide, which makes me wonder how many people even notice it. 

On the Zomato “pure veg fleet” issue, her account posted the Zomato CEO’s tweet with the caption “please discuss”. And recently, she put up a video of Kangana Ranaut’s comment on farm laws without any other information except that Kangana is retracting her statement, which anyone can see in the original video itself. It’s obviously fine to share news on a platform, but portraying yourself as a journalistic platform when YOU are not adding extra context or doing the actual groundwork makes me wonder how you are really contributing. It stands out all the more because her platform is one of the biggest ones associated with journalism. 

Anonymous 

***

Just something I’ve noticed during the Haryana election season. The housing society groups (not only mine but a lot of my friend’s as well) have seen the addition of these old uncles (that’s what the profile pictures say) whose only work appears to be sending one pro-BJP post in the morning. 

That has been followed by a ‘Know your candidate’ drive throughout the housing societies where the candidate has visited and spent a lot of time talking to the people. 

To add to this, the online ads have almost made Modi’s face inescapable now.

This has been going on for almost a month now, and if there is someone who wants to vote and has zero idea about the candidates, there’s almost zero presence of a different voice. Is this just a result of the BJP having a ton of resources and being this election-winning machine, or is it just the opposition being lazy?

Anonymous

***

Watching podcasts and video content for a while now and have few suggestions to point out. I believe you guys are not covering different viewpoints as much on podcasts, where “different” is more right-leaning. I understand that with the increase in right-wing propaganda elsewhere, it’s not like we are lacking the introduction to their viewpoints, but I don’t want discussions on certain topics to become an echo chamber. My suggestion would be to invite guests with more different viewpoints than regular hosts. I know its not easy to get these guests, especially for Newslaundry (right-wing view being you’re biased), but I will still like to see it. Video content is usually interview-based and on the street, diverse view points do come out, unlike setups like podcasts.

Ekansh 

***

Hi Abhinandan,

Russia was not allowed to participate in this year’s Chess Olympiad because of the Ukraine war. So let us not jump the gun and say that “India is the new Russia” when it comes to chess. India’s stature in the chess world is growing, but it still has a long way to go before it overtakes Russia.

Cyril