Archives: Employee Stories

Why do companies find it tough to take a stand against corruption? There is always the fear that they could lose business if they don’t indulge in, or at least turn a blind eye to corruption. Of course, there’s a cost involved in not taking short cuts. But even after the cost benefit ratios are worked out, we are still left with the question – is it worthwhile to indulge in corruption?

The answer will depend on your value system and whether you define business as merely maximising shareholder value, or, while you make profits you also uphold some principles. In the short run, a corrupt company may succeed and earn profits but the quality of our national life could suffer.

We business people are very clever. When it comes to corruption we think that it belongs to street level politicians and when it relates to business we try to take the sting and stink out of that word by using euphemisms like “governance deficit.”

Transparency International defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.” In today’s world, governments and business houses wield enormous power and the nexus between them encourages and fosters corruption.

Earlier, it was believed that corruption is a by-product of certain societies, especially the developing nations. But today, we know that corruption can exist in any society, in countries under authoritarian governments as well as in advanced liberal economies and democracies.

In the pre-liberalised India, in a government-controlled economy, crony business houses profited from closeness to the political class. Only sectors like IT which had minimal engagement with the government or export oriented companies could thrive without the blessings of governments. Though we embarked on economic liberalisation in the 1990s, and moved away from the Licence Raj, corruption has found new forms of practice and patronage. Thanks to our popular practice of Jugaad – that untranslatable Hindi word to convey a curious mix of innovative thinking, bypassing of approved channels, and fixing – ethical standards of doing business remains very pliable, capable of infinite adjustments.

Today, every walk of Indian life – politics, bureaucracy or business – is tainted with corruption. Over the years we have become immune to corruption. For example, while selecting our electoral representatives, dishonesty has become a non-issue. All-pervasive corruption, certainly, is the biggest challenge before the country as it erodes the effectiveness of resource allocation and strategy for development. However, we look to someone or the other to clean up the mess. Can we respond differently? Instead of expecting others to change can business owners make a start?

While there are business leaders who syphon off large amounts from their companies for personal gain, there are also honest organisations forced to make payments to deal with harassment by politicians and bureaucrats. They also have to use ‘speed money’ to get things done that should have happened normally. It is difficult for individual companies to resist this kind of harassment. Here, business associations can initiate a dialogue between corporates, bureaucracy and political representatives to check this menace.

Independent directors are expected to assure corporate governance. But if critical information is not shared and if their opinions are not respected and followed, how can they succeed in their duties? Media continues to highlight “respectable” companies who won awards, had high powered independent directors and yet, swindled the shareholders. Facades often mask unpleasant realities.

For companies to say ‘No’ to certain questionable practices and yet do better than competitors, their products and services have to stand out. They have to focus on outstanding quality, on-time deliveries, constant upgrades through innovation and be ahead of the competitors in all aspects of business. If this happens, in most cases, there will be no need for under-the-table exchanges and it will lead to win-win business for all concerned.

It is alright to get employees sign the Code of Conduct or Business Ethics. But the demonstration of intent for ethical business has to come from the top management and it cannot be a fair weather conviction. A company’s determination to stay on and do ethical business is tested in times of business adversity. It won’t do for us to use the old Groucho Marx line, “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them …. well, I have others.” It is only when individual conscience speaks firmly and with conviction that government and companies will pause to listen, act and reform their time-tested and questionable ways of doing business.

Corporate governance is not window dressing and business ethics is not another public relations practice to enhance corporate reputation or the company’s brand. Ethical business goes beyond profit maximisation and envelops the entire society in a virtuous wrap.

At Thermax, we decided to say no to compromises while securing orders and focus only on taking clean orders. Of course, it meant foregoing some business opportunities, which means a degree of loss in the short term. To compensate for loss in domestic business, Thermax has started focusing a lot more on globalising our operations. From a single digit figure at the turn of the century, we have reached 40% in the international share of our business.

We are a capital goods company and over 60% of our business comes from repeat orders. I am convinced that there are enough business houses keen on adopting transparent business practices as we are. Though we still experience difficulties with a few corporates and several government arms, as far as possible, we will continue to resist harassment, strengthen our processes and, with growing confidence, walk the talk.

What gives me joy is to listen to our employees say they are proud of being part of an organisation that has a great culture and is by and large honest. Today, youngsters are looking not just for pay and perks but also for occupation that’s meaningful and fulfilling. I am sure open culture and ethical conduct will go a long way in helping business houses attract talent.

Corporates need to be profitable and yet we have to find a larger purpose. What is the purpose of business? To me, the business of business is not just business, but human well-being. If we find a larger purpose, we will not be obsessed with profit at any cost. My late husband, Rohinton, expressed the idea aptly when he said, “Profit is not only a set of figures, but of values.” In business, we are used to listening to the voice of the shareholders. Can we also listen to that small voice within each of us that tells us what is right and wrong?

– Anu Aga

Lonely and lost in the big city: it is a theme that has been appearing in Hindi film songs over the decades. Gulzar’s Ek akela is shehar mein (film Gharonda) is a popular example. Shahryar’s little known Seene main jalan ankhon main toofan sa kyun hai (Gaman) asks in the next line: why everyone in this city is so troubled.

Though romantic feelings hover nearby in songs of loneliness, these songs speak not about just a person or of love lost. They are about life where people are cut off from friendship or love, feeling adrift from all human connection – like an astronaut alone in the vastness of space. In today’s sprawling metropolis, one can indeed live for years in a housing complex as a stranger, or as it happens in the Mumbai local, one can be surrounded by people and yet feel utterly alone.

While people in villages too can feel lonely, cities are the epicentres of loneliness. Big city alienation has been the subject of study by social psychologists, doctors and criminologists as they examine from health, crime and public policy perspectives, the devastation caused by loneliness. So is the link between alienation and terrorism.

As people migrate for better opportunities and towns grow, as old ties of families and communities weaken, everyday more and more people join the swelling ranks of the lonely. “Look at all those lonely people…where do they all come from,” sang the Beatles in their classic, Eleanor Rigby.

Earlier, loneliness was something that affected the elderly – retired people suddenly without the comfort of a set routine, pensioners troubled by illnesses, aging parents whose children have left home to live far away, and widowers whose partners of decades are no more. The problem is also becoming acute, as the number of the aged grow in India. But it’s also the young in today’s times who are prone to the loneliness epidemic. Indian media has highlighted the dislocation and emotional turmoil of young people from small towns coming to cities in search of better opportunities, how they feel lost and depressed. Cut off from homes and familiar signposts, the daily commute, work pressures and the sheer impersonality of a harsh new city wear them down.

The grey cloud of loneliness settles over anyone, of any age or class. The successful professional in Vikram Seth’s great verse novel, Golden Gate is only 26 and yet feels miserable in vibrant San Francisco : “…Dragged from his cove, not knowing why,/ He feels an urgent riptide drawing/ Him far
out, where, caught in the kelp/ Of loneliness, he cries for help.”

In cities, children find their own unique ways to cope with feelings of being alone. Psychotherapist R. D. Laing has written about a child in a London slum slicing an earthworm into two, saying, ‘… there, now you have a friend…’ Recently, the British PM announced the country’s first Minister for Loneliness. A Ministry of Truth or a Ministry of Justice is usually the stuff of dystopian novels or dysfunctional dictatorships, fabricated for propaganda. So, in this age of spin, we should be thankful the British didn’t name it the Ministry of Sunniness or Gaiety to wish away unpleasant facts.

Obviously, they are serious, even as issues like Brexit and multiculturalism dominate their discussions. Based on the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, the government is planning to tackle the issue in all earnestness. The move is expected to help around nine million Britons who experience the misery of loneliness. Through this policy initiative, Britain is acknowledging a growing problem of both developed and developing societies.

Ironically, ours is the time of 24×7 connectivity when Wi-Fi is as essential as water for many. With our good mornings, endless jokes and motivational lines delivered non-stop on WhatsApp and Facebook posts, we are supposedly never alone. We love to lose ourselves in the bylanes and back alleys of the virtual world. And yet, in the middle of these distractions, do we feel lonely? Some of us find that our fabulous lives on social media make our return to real lives such a boring and lonely trip.

Pascal, the French mathematician and theologian wrote in the 17th century, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Probably he had in mind the destructive energy of the political class that sent rampaging hordes on wars and conquests. Today, we are immobile in front of our screens and yet we know the restlessness, the urge to be on the move, the feeling that life is elsewhere, the impossible wish to find that perfect antidote to boredom.

We can only wish UK’s Loneliness Minister loads of good luck. In the meantime, earlier answers to the problem, and many of them known to work, have always been around. They range from creating a sense of belonging, presence of friends and family to a nourishing community life and meaningful work. Companies certainly can take care to make workplaces friendlier and stable, discourage toxic behaviour from bosses and redesign work to make it interesting and relevant. They can also resist the temptation to be too helpful – like appointing a Chief Loneliness Officer or using big data to sniff out the lonely with the noble intention of helping those poor lost souls.

– A.M. Roshan
Ex-Thermaxian

Too expensive’, I had tried to bargain as I handed back the book I wanted to buy. Mani, the book seller, had refused to budge. At Higginbothams you would pay double this amount. Anyway, has any one ever paid the price of a book? It is only the cost of printing it’, he said as his wife packed it. He was full of such nuggets. Some were well known, a few were his own.

This narrative is not about books, but it would not have happened but for books. There was an unbroken thread of service which ran from Aiyya, Mani and many more who came in contact with Mani, through his books. Let me start at the beginning. Mani was a book seller in a by-lane of Egmore in Chennai. The lane had other vendors like him, who were earlier in the famous Moore Market. Book lovers had thronged the narrow lanes of that market known for its rare secondhand books. One night a huge fire gutted the Moore market which forced these vendors to shift to various parts of the city with whatever they could salvage.

Mani and his wife ran one such shop, Murugan Book House. He stocked English books. Although he sold books for a living, his real mission in life was to make the general public appreciate literature. ‘Because I grew with trees and books in the outhouse of a bungalow in Mylapore, where Aiyya, the master of the house, was a voracious reader,’ he explained. ‘He encouraged me, along with his own children, to read and discuss the stories we read. My humble class in life was temporarily forgotten, and the love of books created a level playing field.’

His shop was like any other in the locality except that a portion of it also housed his wife’s small furniture business. There were a few chairs placed for those customers who liked to browse and buy. What if your customers just enjoyed the book and didn’t buy it later, I had asked. ‘When you read a book, you create a bond with the author. His thoughts, joys, sorrows become yours for a short while. So, buying a book is a process and while doing it, some discerning customers may want to sit and browse to get a feel of the book. They generally pick up two or three books instead of one and usually buy most of them. The ones who won’t buy or can’t afford, I allow them to complete the book as they will surely come back. I don’t see it as sales lost but an investment, many a time I also send in tea for them.’ And turning to his younger sister, ‘Thangai, isn’t it good business?’

Sure, it was. I certainly went back many more times.

Mani didn’t look like an ordinary second-hand book seller, and neither was his stock of books. Most of his books came from personal collections of people who could no longer take care of them and were donated for his noble cause. Mani and his wife used most of the sale proceeds to fund a library at a local municipal school. He spent his weekends reading with the school children, introducing them to a world far away, assuring them that children in London, Lisbon or Vladivostok were just like them. ‘During these weekends I try to ignite their curiosity while removing the fear of the unknown from their hearts – my small effort to make them grow up to their full potential,’ he added.

Actually, selling books was his part time job – as he was also a homoeopath. He would recommend books as a doctor would prescribe medicines. PG Wodehouse for a stressed-out executive, Sherlock Holmes for a rainy day, Tolstoy for an insomniac, James Herriot to an animal lover. His books were painstakingly dusted and arranged in an elaborate way. He needed no ERP to locate any book in his shop. He also kept a close watch on what other vendors stocked. If he didn’t have a particular book, he made enquiries in his elaborate network and made sure you got what you wanted. Sale concluded, while his wife billed and counted money, he always conveyed a word or two about the author. Somehow, that bit of additional information seemed to enhance the value of your purchase.

When I met them, Mani and his wife had done this social service for a long time. Why did he do that? ‘Gratitude. Even though I was his servant’s child, Aiyya introduced me to the world of books and spoke to me as an equal, made me confident. This way I try to repay him.’ How long he will do this? ‘A farmer waters the coconut sapling by carrying water on his shoulders, the coconut tree repays the farmer by carrying the water on its head for a hundred years’ he had replied then.

Some time ago, after nearly a couple of decades, while visiting Chennai, I went in search of Mani’s old book shop. In its place, there stood a swanky furniture shop, Murugan Home Decor. Fortunately, I could locate Mani and his wife in a corner of the shop. Their children had grown the small furniture
business into a substantial one. Mani still had a few cabinets of books and continued with his homoeopathy and social service. Happily, he told me that many of the children from the school had done well and still kept in touch with him from all over the world. They remembered too how the window he opened to the world had made them aspire for more.

‘Now our children are into furniture business,’ said his wife. ‘Books in a furniture shop?’ I asked.

“I agree books are not part of furniture, but is there anything else that can furnish a home better?” Mani still used his quotes well.

– Lata Kumar
B&H Finance