Sebi: Claims about work culture are wrong and officials are misinformed by ‘external elements’: Sebi

Bombay: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) On Wednesday he said his officers had been misled by unknown parties.external elements‘ by attacking the credibility of senior management and the institution through concerns about the regulator’s leadership and HR practices expressed in a letter to the government early last month.

In a five-page statement issued late in the evening, Sebi said it did not want to speculate on who these “outsiders” are or what their motive is. But the regulator added that “junior officers have been receiving messages from outsiders outside their group, which in practice prompts them to approach the media, the Ministry (of Finance) and the board of directors, perhaps to serve their own ends.”

ET reported in its Wednesday edition that Sebi officials have filed a complaint with the Finance Ministry over leadership and HR practices that fostered a “toxic work culture” at the organisation. The main complaint has been the “harsh and unprofessional language” used by leaders towards them. “Shouting, scolding and public humiliation have become a norm in meetings,” reads the August 6 letter, signed by around 500 Sebi officials.

‘Bargaining power’
They also expressed concern about the “minute-by-minute” monitoring of their intraday movements and the imposition of “unrealistic work goals, with changing targets.”

Sebi said the August 6 letter to the finance ministry was not sent by the employees’ associations. However, officials named in the letter said they disagreed with the employees’ associations’ comments, after media reports of their protests, that the complaints pertained to “only a few disgruntled employees”.

“We firmly distance ourselves from the statements made by the employees’ association to the media… The statement is not only incorrect but also dishonest considering that they are aware of the full extent of employees’ discontent and frustration,” the letter reads.

Sebi’s statement late on Wednesday said its junior officers were mistaken in believing that they were being underpaid even at a CTC (cost to company) of ₹34 lakh per annum and that it would be in its interest to “use work culture issues to negotiate monetary benefits”.

According to the report, allegations of unprofessional work culture are unfounded and appear to stem rather from instances such as underestimation of processing capacity of agents (up to a quarter of actual capacity), misreporting of status of achievement of key result areas, transferring files between departments over a long period to avoid decision-making and adjusting ratings of poorly performing agents to make them eligible for promotions, Sebi added.

In such cases, the officials concerned have been held accountable, given a firm response and corrective action has been taken, the regulator said. It also said it reviewed the KRAs of its employees after they complained. Most of the KRAs were reaffirmed as is by three to four levels of management, with only a few departments seeing minor changes in their KRAs, it added. Sebi said in the recent past, apart from numerous other benefits, employees have been demanding a 55% hike in house rent allowance (HRA) over those set in 2023.

Accountability issues
Sebi also said it was regrettable that some elements had tried to diminish the significant capabilities of its employees by urging them to believe that as “employees of a regulator”, they should not be held to “high standards of performance and responsibility”. The employees also raised an issue regarding the upgradation of Sebi’s automated management information system for KRAs. In this context, a 15-minute silent protest was held, it said.

Sebi said a group of employees consciously devised a strategy to change the narrative and frame the issue as something related to the work environment, with the aim of having bargaining power to ask for more benefits. Accordingly, a letter focusing on work culture was drafted and sent to the Centre on August 6. Seven days later, apparently as part of the strategy, a second letter was sent within a list of 16 demands, for numerous monetary and non-monetary benefits, including an increase in employee remuneration (HRA).