Feeling Stuck in a Job with a Threatening Employer: How Can I Navigate This Dilemma?

Hi,

I worked in the largest IT company for 3 years and then joined a startup in January 2011, having 10 employees as the client. The project is very good, and the organization had a very aggressive growth plan.

However, after 3 months, I got to know the minute details about the organization, and the MD does not want to take on more projects or hire resources (for reasons best not discussed here as they are extensive). As a result:

1. The project will be over in 1 year, and I am uncertain about what will happen to me.

2. The promise they made to me about working as a Tech Lead will not be fulfilled for a long time.

3. I was assured that the organization's headcount would exceed 20 in 2 months, after which they would create PF accounts for employees. Now, it seems that this will not happen in the next 2 years. Consequently, I won't have a PF account in this organization and won't be able to transfer my previous PF amount.

4. The MD is manipulating salaries; for example, he deducted 34K in April as tax for the entire year. However, I suspect he does not deposit it with the government but retains it himself.

5. The project will end in 1 year, and I anticipate no new clients will come afterward.

Given these circumstances, I feel that my time and skills are being wasted here. While it is late, and my skills are not improving, I encounter difficulties when considering leaving the organization:

1. The MD may not release me. Even if I send a resignation email, I am not confident I will receive a Relieving Letter and Experience Letter.

2. Last month, he sent an employee handbook stating that resources cannot leave the organization before completing 1 year, and the notice period was extended to 3 months. Otherwise, the employee must pay 2.5L to the organization before departing.

When confronted (as these clauses were not in the offer letter), the MD mentioned that as an organization, he can modify terms whenever necessary and send an updated Employee Handbook, making the changes effective immediately.

3. While I may receive multiple job offers within a week, I cannot provide the aforementioned letters to the next organization. I can only offer Bank Statements showing salary credits, Salary Slips, and the Offer letter.

In the background verification and reference checks, I am concerned that the MD may provide false or unfavorable feedback/complaints.

I am in a dilemma about what to do in this situation. I am not enjoying the job, lack confidence in my future here, and cannot leave to join another organization without the necessary documents. Please suggest what I can do.

Hi Shekhar,

Quite surprising that you did not do a proper check before joining the company. As it is a startup firm, it calls for even more inquiry. The lesson you are learning this hard way could have been much milder.

Anyways, coming to the point, you can resign from the company and demand a relieving letter, and seek the help of a labor officer.

Whatever is mentioned in the employee handbook cannot cause any problems for you if the same clause is not mentioned in the Appointment letter. You have to clearly read the letter of appointment before taking any steps.

Take legal help; this is the right time to involve a practitioner who can help you out of this mess.

I'm sure your colleagues will also be facing the same problems, so you can provide their contact details for background verification and reference checks.

During interviews for the next job, specify the condition without much negativity to your next employer. I'm sure the truth will prevail, and you will land a good job soon.

All the best!

Regards,

Archna

Greetings,

I second Archna; speak to a lawyer without any further delay. Your relieving documents and background verification can be held ransom; hence, prewire that asap! Before you resign, please understand that maligning or de-reputing can be contested legally. Speak to the legal advisor in detail, if required, to understand what can be done to safeguard the interest of the employees.

The MD, as discussed by you, appears to be insecure. Even if the business process might not be bleak, his behavior raises questions. You have spent three months in the job. Make sure your fears are legitimate and have valid data to substantiate if required. We are sure you will be out of the woods in no time. Wish you all the best!

Regards,
(Cite Contribution)

Dear Shekhar,

Welcome to CiteHR.com!

While agreeing with the opinions given by (Cite Contribution) and Archna, one can't help but observe that the situations described in your email have become quite rampant in the "organized" IT sector and clearly violate several provisions of the Company Act and Labour Laws. Taking recourse to legal remedies seems to be the only feasible option at this point in time.

Warm regards.

Dear Mr. Shekhar,

Though I had understood your current scenario, through you, I want to know "ONE REASON" for leaving the LARGEST IT FIRM and joining a START-UP. I appreciate the suggestions posted by senior members, and one thing I can tell in a very straightforward manner, and I am really sorry to say that, whether you accept it or not, "you have dug your own grave." You have to accept the fact.

Looking forward to hearing from you at the earliest.

Have a nice day.

With profound regards.

Hi. I worked in the largest IT company for 3 years and then joined a start-up in January 2011, having 10 employees as the client, and the project is very good. The organization had a very aggressive growth plan. However, after 3 months, I got to know the minute details about the organization, and the MD does not want to get more projects and hire resources (for reasons best left untold here as they would take two pages). So:

1. The project will be over in 1 year, and I don't know what will happen to me.
2. The promise made to me that I would be working as a Tech Lead will not be fulfilled for a long time to come.
3. I was promised that the headcount of the organization would cross 20 in 2 months, after which they would create PF accounts for employees. But now, I don't see that happening in the next 2 years. So, I won't have a PF account in this organization and can't transfer my previous PF amount.
4. The MD is playing with the salary, for example, he deducted 34K in April as Tax for the complete year. But I know he does not deposit it with the Government but keeps it with himself.
5. Day by day, he is introducing new rules and regulations just to reduce the compensation every month.
6. The project will be over in 1 year, and I can foresee no clients coming after that.

In these circumstances, I feel that my time and skills are being wasted here, though it is late and my skills are not being enhanced. But when I am thinking of quitting the organization, here are the troubles:

1. The MD will not relieve me. Though I can send a resignation mail, I am very confident that I will not get a Relieving Letter and Experience Letter.
2. Last month, he sent an employee handbook which mentioned that resources can't leave the organization before completing 1 year, and the notice period was modified to 3 months; otherwise, the employee has to pay 2.5L to the organization before leaving.

When confronted (as these were not there in the offer letter), MD said that as an organization, he can change terms whenever required and sent the Employee Handbook mentioning the same, by which it will be in force with immediate effect.

3. Though I will get more than 3 offers in 1 week, I can't provide the above letters to the next organization. What I can provide is Bank Statements showing salary credit, Salary Slips, and Offer letter.

4. In the Background verification and reference check, I am pretty sure the MD will give false and improper feedback/complaints.

So I am in a dilemma about what to do in such scenarios. I am neither enjoying the job, nor confident about my future here, nor able to quit it and join any other organization without a relieving letter, experience letter.

Please suggest me what I can do.

Thank you, Archana (Cite Contribution), Raj, and Abdul for your valuable comments and suggestions.

Yes, Abdul, I do acknowledge that I made a wrong decision joining the startup. I did try to gather all the information about the organization before joining, but unfortunately, it seems I missed many vital negative aspects before my joining.

Abdul, there was a reason behind leaving the largest IT organization after being there for 3 years and 2 months, which is career progress, and I think it was not wrong.

However, the decision to join this startup has turned out to be wrong. I joined it because of the project and the positive feedback from my previous leads and people familiar with the project. I am quite satisfied with the quality of technical work I have done in this startup over the last 4 months and the amount of knowledge I have gained in this short time span. Recently, I learned from the client that the project will be over in the next 6 months, and they are transitioning to other technologies, assigning future projects to a new vendor. Despite the client having finalized the new vendor, this information was not shared with me by the Managing Director (MD).

Therefore, one of my career ambitions, to lead a team, will not materialize here.

The main issues in my current organization revolve around the outlook and approach of the MD towards the project and resources. This includes hiding facts, making decisions that impact resources without informing them, and implementing new, misguided rules without consulting the affected resources.

Hence, it appears that I am wasting my time here. Investing this time in an organization with long-term projects would be mutually beneficial in terms of profitability, client satisfaction, resource reliability, and my own career goals.

I am troubled by the indirect threats issued by the MD to resources, as I believe there are better ways to retain and motivate resources without causing friction.

Therefore, I am considering updating my resume on job portals. I plan to be transparent with recruiting agencies and IT organizations about the following:

1. I can provide offer letters, salary slips, and bank statements from my current organization but cannot provide a relieving letter or experience letter without engaging in a legal battle with the MD.
2. I cannot provide the MD as a reference for similar reasons. I can offer phone numbers of colleagues for reference.
3. I can provide official and client emails as proof of my employment.
4. I request new organizations to conduct background verification before issuing an offer.
5. I can present all documents related to my academic qualifications and previous employment, along with references.
6. The only limitation is my inability to provide a relieving letter or reference from the MD. However, I can provide my resignation email.

If these conditions are acceptable to the recruiter, I am willing to proceed with interviews.

Please advise if my approach is appropriate. I am shaken after making a career-related mistake that is causing me significant distress, making it challenging to discern right from wrong.

Dear Mr. Shekhar,

Kindly have patience and expect things to take their own shape while you continue to think positively with hope that you will get a better opportunity to progress in your career. The only reason why I always talk about top management is because of their betraying/selfish approach.

1) Continue your search for a better opportunity with the best employers. If you get one, don't even dream of including this experience in your profile, as it will remind you of your painful past. Get in touch with the best consultants who can be of great help to you.

2) Since you haven't signed any agreement/bond with your company, even though your current company has framed its own rules and regulations (policies) without the consent of employees, it will have no impact on your resignation. However, do cross-check/evaluate the clauses mentioned in your appointment letter and proceed accordingly.

3) Consult an experienced lawyer and free yourself at the earliest. I hope there are good lawyers in India who can teach an unforgettable lesson to such MDs.

4) You have all rights to disclose details about your current organization, including Mr. MD, in this forum. Let's educate every member of this forum about the dirty practices adopted by top management.

I have no idea who has given rights to top management or organizations to frame their own rules and regulations and play games with employees' futures. It's a flimsy tactic found especially in the IT industry.

A) Do your homework before you join a new organization.
B) Don't expect more and more when you are content with what you are earning.
C) Don't even expect premature events to take place in your favor.
D) All that glitters is not gold.

Wishing you good luck.

With profound regards,

Hi (Cite Contribution)/Archana/Raj/Abdul. As I have received numerous interview requests after posting my resume, I took a moment to review my offer letter and came across the following clause:

Clause 7. Service Agreement - As the organization will incur significant expenses on your training/initial costs, you will need to sign an agreement to work for the organization for a minimum of 1 year after joining. Failure to comply will result in a liability to pay Rs. 2,50,000/- towards the training/initial costs.

If I decide to leave before completing the 1-year period, how will this clause impact me? I raised this question in a legal forum and received a response stating, "LEAVE IF YOU HAVE A GOOD JOB ELSEWHERE, NO CASE IS VALID IN THE EYES OF THE LAW." However, I am uncertain about this. A recent graduate who left the organization a month ago also mentioned consulting a lawyer in case the Managing Director decides to take legal action against her.

Please share your thoughts on the aforementioned clause.

Dear Mr. Shekhar,

As per clause 7 mentioned in your service agreement, I would like to know whether your company has invested in training programs aligning with the company's objectives. Also, please provide information on the initial cost as per your company norms.

Since you are not a fresher, I hope this clause will not bind you to your company if you decide to resign while meeting notice period norms. If you receive a better offer, I encourage you to join as soon as possible. I am curious to see to what extent your current employer will fight for genuine justice.

With profound regards,