The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has said that claims of unprofessional work culture at SEBI are misplaced and were not endorsed by any of its employee associations.
Such claims, the regulator said, seemed to stem from disgruntled “junior officers” misled by external elements. There were instances with regard to misreporting of KRA status, prolonged shuttling of files between departments and adjustment of appraisal marks of poorly performing officers to make them eligible for promotion.
“In such instances, the officers concerned have been held accountable. The introduction of the online MIS system was aimed at ensuring that deserving employees receive due recognition based on objective performance assessments. It is unfortunate that some elements have attempted to diminish the significant capabilities of SEBI employees by instigating them to believe that they should not be required to have such high standards of performance and accountability,” a five-page note put out by the regulator on Wednesday noted.
An email sent to the Finance Ministry last month, by 500 employees, had accused the top leadership at SEBI of creating a toxic work culture, setting unrealistic targets and micro-management of employees. This was an anonymous email, said SEBI, and has been condemned by officers as well as employee associations.
In the recent past, employees had demanded a 55 per cent increase in house rent allowance and updation of the management information system (MIS) for key result areas (KRAs). A 15-minute silent protest was held in this context.
Post this, a letter focused on “work culture” was sent on August 6 with an aim of having greater bargaining power to seek more benefits. A second letter was submitted with a list of 16 monetary and non-monetary demands, including that for automatic promotions at lower performance ratings without interviews, the regulator said. The cost to company for entry level SEBI officers is about Rs 34 lakh per annum and the new demands would have raised this by about Rs 6 lakh per annum.
“SEBI is committed to serving the complex market ecosystem to a high level of transparency, and responsiveness. Equally, it is committed to enhancing the capacity of all its employees and giving them the opportunity to actualize their full potential,” the regulator said.