Are Star Performers Above All?

Sexual harassment is a recurring problem around the globe and sadly it is often overlooked as a ‘problem’ by the employers. Oftentimes, employers have been in a dilemma when the star performer is to be tried for any kind of disciplinary conduct. Recently, I came across a very interesting matter involving the behaviour of one such ‘star performer’.  

Swati (name changed to protect identity) was presenting the sales statistics to the management of her Company. Her team didn’t meet the expected target and didn’t do too well as against Rishabh’s(name changed to protect identity) team who was also touted to get the prestigious ‘salesman of the year’; award in the upcoming annual Rewards and Recognition party.

Rishabh approached a visibly upset Swati and suggested “If you hang around with me, I could probably help you on how to increase your sales and meet the target”. Swati didn’t appreciate the statement but was too disheartened to react to anything at all. A few days later, Swati bumped into Rishabh in the parking lot where he told her that she needs to start using her assets in order to get more sales or to keep her bosses happy. When Swati expressed her discomfort over his language and asked him to refrain or face consequences, he got very angry and replied that no one in the Company will touch him no matter what he does. Rishabh was very confident that the company does not want to lose him as he’s an invaluable asset.

Swati approached her immediate boss Rajiv (name changed to protect identity),who was also Rishabh’s boss, about the parking lot incident. Rajiv echoed Rishabh’s words and advised her to concentrate on her sales strategies instead of targeting the best performing sales person.

It is when the matter was brought to the IC’s attention, that Rishabh was met with a befitting penalty for his behaviour and Rajiv with corrective counselling. Kudos to the IC members to have looked at Rishabh as a mere employee, a mere respondent and not a star performer. After all, the IC, under the Act, is formed, to be unbiased and it is imperative for the IC to make at least one such strong decision to pass on a strong message to the entire organisation, that this behaviour is not acceptable despite what your role or background is. If an organisation tries to save an important employee in spite of him being accused of sexual harassment, think of the kind of message and the value system the Organisation is trying to drive down. This sets in a culture where employees will come of the view that as long as they are productive and super performers, they will go scot-free for all unethical/immoral practices.

Most employers would carry Rajiv’s mindset of protecting the star performers, after all such employees add revenue to the employers pockets. They would have sexual harassment and other disciplinary policies in place but may be reluctant to lose their super performers, leaving such policies applicable to the non super performers. The essence of ‘The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 is provide for an IC that can go beyond being influenced and kneeling under the pressure of employer preferences. The Act also envisages all employers to have a Sexual Harassment policy in place to protect women employees from being harassed. I might sound like a broken record when it comes to company policies. So here it goes again: no matter what policy you have, you must follow and enforce it.  It doesn’t matter if it is a star performer or not.  In my opinion, failure to equitably enforce a corporate policy is often worse than not having one.