Four days ago, the Karnataka High Court directed Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal and others to cooperate with the police probe into an engineer’s death, while extending interim protection from harassment by investigators until November 17. The case arises from an FIR alleging abetment to suicide under the BNS and has become a flashpoint for how fast-growth workplaces handle performance pressure, grievance redressal, and managerial conduct. While the proceedings are ongoing, the court’s message is plain: cooperate, and let due process run without turning it into a trial by outrage—or silence.
Inside product and engineering teams, this kind of headline lands with a thud. Colleagues who worship speed also see fear: will targets and “raise the bar” feedback cross a line? Employees who spoke up about burnout wonder whether they’ll be branded “weak”. Managers, meanwhile, feel whiplash—told to deliver moon-shots and to be endlessly empathetic. If HR doesn’t set a shared language for psychological safety, escalation paths, and duty of care, teams will retreat into DMs and whisper-nets. Whatever the court decides, your culture will be judged on whether people felt safe to ask for help—and whether help arrived before it was too late.
Compliance and leadership need a real spine here. Update codes to prohibit abusive supervision; publish anti-bullying and after-hours outreach norms; and codify manager training on feedback, documentation, and accommodations. Stand up multiple grievance channels (ICC is not enough), log time-stamped interventions, and run wellbeing audits with red-flag routing to HRBP/legal. When a serious allegation surfaces, trigger a legal hold on chats, laptops, and calendars; separate investigative interviews from appraisal decisions; and protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Your goal isn’t PR—it’s preventing a preventable tragedy while honoring due process.
@ET HRWorld
What one policy sentence would make your “hard-driving” culture unmistakably non-abusive?
Which signals (meeting load, weekend pings, 1:1 notes) will you track to catch burnout before it escalates?
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)
5Inside product and engineering teams, this kind of headline lands with a thud. Colleagues who worship speed also see fear: will targets and “raise the bar” feedback cross a line? Employees who spoke up about burnout wonder whether they’ll be branded “weak”. Managers, meanwhile, feel whiplash—told to deliver moon-shots and to be endlessly empathetic. If HR doesn’t set a shared language for psychological safety, escalation paths, and duty of care, teams will retreat into DMs and whisper-nets. Whatever the court decides, your culture will be judged on whether people felt safe to ask for help—and whether help arrived before it was too late.
Compliance and leadership need a real spine here. Update codes to prohibit abusive supervision; publish anti-bullying and after-hours outreach norms; and codify manager training on feedback, documentation, and accommodations. Stand up multiple grievance channels (ICC is not enough), log time-stamped interventions, and run wellbeing audits with red-flag routing to HRBP/legal. When a serious allegation surfaces, trigger a legal hold on chats, laptops, and calendars; separate investigative interviews from appraisal decisions; and protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Your goal isn’t PR—it’s preventing a preventable tragedy while honoring due process.
@ET HRWorld
What one policy sentence would make your “hard-driving” culture unmistakably non-abusive?
Which signals (meeting load, weekend pings, 1:1 notes) will you track to catch burnout before it escalates?
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
To make a "hard-driving" culture unmistakably non-abusive, a policy sentence could be: "We commit to fostering a culture of respect and empathy, where high performance never comes at the cost of our employees' mental health and well-being."
To catch burnout before it escalates, you can track the following signals:
1. Meeting Load: Keep a check on the number of meetings an employee has in a day. If it's excessive and leaves little time for focused work, it could lead to burnout.
2. Weekend Pings: Monitor the frequency of work-related communication during non-working hours. Regular weekend pings could indicate an imbalance between work and personal life.
3. 1:1 Notes: Regular one-on-one meetings with team members can help identify signs of stress or burnout early on. Look for signs like decreased productivity, increased frustration, or a lack of enthusiasm.
Remember, the key to preventing burnout is not just to monitor these signals but to take timely action. This could involve providing additional support, adjusting workloads, or offering mental health resources. It's crucial to create an environment where employees feel safe to voice their concerns without fear of being labelled as "weak".
From India, Gurugram
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
To catch burnout before it escalates, you can track the following signals:
1. Meeting Load: Keep a check on the number of meetings an employee has in a day. If it's excessive and leaves little time for focused work, it could lead to burnout.
2. Weekend Pings: Monitor the frequency of work-related communication during non-working hours. Regular weekend pings could indicate an imbalance between work and personal life.
3. 1:1 Notes: Regular one-on-one meetings with team members can help identify signs of stress or burnout early on. Look for signs like decreased productivity, increased frustration, or a lack of enthusiasm.
Remember, the key to preventing burnout is not just to monitor these signals but to take timely action. This could involve providing additional support, adjusting workloads, or offering mental health resources. It's crucial to create an environment where employees feel safe to voice their concerns without fear of being labelled as "weak".
From India, Gurugram
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)CiteHR is an AI-augmented HR knowledge and collaboration platform, enabling HR professionals to solve real-world challenges, validate decisions, and stay ahead through collective intelligence and machine-enhanced guidance. Join Our Platform.
Workplace-Menta l-Health-scaled .jpeg
Employee Grievance Redressal.ppt