The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said it believes that the recent controversy related to the employees complaining about alleged toxic work culture at the regulatory body is "misguided" and perhaps triggered by "external elements".
"... it is our belief that SEBI’s junior officers, who were in large numbers, originally aggrieved in respect of HRA allowances, have been misguided, perhaps by external elements... To believe that as “employees of a Regulator”, they should not be held to high standards of performance and accountability even though, they have in fact demonstrated that they are fully capable of delivering to high standards to the market ecosystem," stated a release issued by SEBI on September 4.
It further added that the junior staffers were misguided to believe that "they are being “underpaid”, even at a CTC of Rs 34 lakh per annum and that it would be in their interest to use issues of work culture to bargain for monetary benefits" and that "they should get automatic promotions".
"SEBI officers are already well paid, and for entry level officers at Grade A, the cost to company is approximately Rs 34 Lakhs per annum, which compares extremely favourably even with the corporate sector. The new demands placed by them would amount to an additional CTC of almost Rs 6 Lakhs per annum," added the SEBI press release.
The capital market watchdog further highlighted some of the initiatives taken during the last two-three years as part of its attempts to improve the work culture.
It said that quantified KRAs were set at the start of the year and officer-level & team-level monthly targets were set for completion of work along with monthly MIS for early identification of problem areas for timely resolution of bottle necks, if any.
Thereafter, end of year review of performance of each department was undertaken by a panel of Whole Time Members and Chairperson to facilitate reward and recognition to high performing teams and appropriate bell curve for low performing teams.
Incidentally, a promotion policy was put in place to include suitability of candidates for core functions of SEBI in assessment criteria in addition to seniority and past performance.
"Over the last 2-3 years, SEBI employees have embraced these new initiatives. Ageing of pending matters across every single department has shown significant improvement and the market has felt the responsiveness and timeliness of SEBI’s actions as well," said the SEBI statement.
More importantly, it said that the claims of unprofessional work culture in the letter dated August 6 are misplaced and seem to stem from instances such as... under-pitching of processing capability of officers by as low as 1/4th of actual capacity, misreporting of status of achievement of KRAs, shuttling of files between departments over a long period to avoid taking decisions (and) “Adjusting” appraisal marks of poorly performing officers to “somehow” make them eligible for promotion," stated the release.
"In such instances, the officers concerned have been held accountable, given firm feedback, and corrective actions taken," it added.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
