Toxic culture undermines learning and respect for juniors
Pros
1- Exposure to large-scale industry events and government stakeholders. 2- Good learning opportunities for freshers in terms of coordination and execution. 3- Some departments and support staff are cooperative and helpful.
Cons
1- Extremely poor work-life balance with late sitting culture being normalized. 2- Junior employees are often treated with little respect and unnecessary pressure. 3- Leadership in certain teams can be highly unprofessional and demotivating. 4- Instances of inappropriate conversations, favoritism, verbal humiliation, and boundary-crossing behavior were often normalized instead of being professionally addressed. There were situations where junior employees were made uncomfortable through personal remarks, indirect intimidation during probation periods, unnecessary late-hour pressure, and repeated public embarrassment over minor issues. At times, the environment felt more fear-driven than mentorship-oriented, which negatively affected morale and mental wellbeing. Unfortunately, there was also a perception among employees that raising concerns or speaking up against such behavior could backfire professionally. Instead of issues being handled transparently, people often felt discouraged from reporting problems due to fear of being isolated, targeted, or informally sidelined within professional circles. 5- Employees are expected to remain available beyond office hours without recognition or compensation. 6- Lack of structured mentorship, role clarity, and healthy people management. 7- HR intervention and employee wellbeing mechanisms did not feel effective. 8- Another concerning aspect was the lack of trust employees had in internal escalation mechanisms. There was a strong perception that HR and certain senior management members were closely aligned, which discouraged people from raising genuine concerns. Many employees felt that if they spoke up against unprofessional behavior, the issue could eventually be turned against them instead of being resolved fairly. This created an atmosphere where people preferred to stay silent out of fear that their time in the organization could become unnecessarily difficult or that their professional reputation could be informally impacted. 9 - In certain cases, workplace boundaries and professionalism were not maintained appropriately. Junior employees were sometimes exposed to uncomfortable situations including unwanted physical familiarity, pressure to participate in habits like smoking despite refusal, and repeated exposure to inappropriate comments or sexually toned discussions about women by senior individuals, which created a deeply uncomfortable work environment.
