Kriti – Freedom at Stake
Here is a short story I wrote for "Workplace discrimination based on Gender diversity" but did not provide it to my professor as I selected my colleague's work. Hence I take the liberty to post it in my blog. Worth a read.
Freedom
at stake
Kriti just got down from her
office car after being late at office today and rang the door bell of her PG,
when she heard her paying guest landlord came bashing at her “What work do
respected girls do at night and get dropped so late at night? If this repeats
as I have been seeing, you might have to look for a different accommodation.”
“Sigh”, came the response from Kriti looking at her mobile which showed 2 am and
thought ‘not again, why do I have to keep explaining her? When will women have freedom?’ After
convincing her landlord that she had late deliverable at office, she was let
inside her PG apartment.
Kriti
works for a news portal company “Praja Times News” that started about 5 years
ago. She has about 6 years as a cyber journalist and joined this company 4
years back. Her work schedule demands her to stay late when required to
accommodate the late news or the last minute changes which sort of now became a
norm. She hails from a small village near Davangere and is currently in
Bangalore for her job.
Just
before dozing off, she recollects the incident that happened at her office the
same day. Her performance appraisal with her supervisor Rajiv did not go well.
In spite of all her good efforts, she was denied the ‘Star reporter of the
year’ and was rated average. The award went to Anand, her peer who was rated
exceptional as per Rajiv. Kriti was frustrated at this repeated appraisal
ratings with no recognition or salary. While wondering what to do she looked at
the mobile which showed 3:24 am and thought better to doze off for now, another
hectic day in the waiting tomorrow.
“Good morning Kriti” woke her
up. It was her roommate Sana. With a heavy heart and a headache, she woke with
a grim face. Sana on hearing to her previous day’s story at the office, asked
her to approach the ‘Workplace discrimination’ helpline at her office as they
both worked for the same company. Good idea, thought Kriti, fed up for being
repeatedly ignored for her performance by Rajiv for the last 4 years. Same time
last year she had raised her voice against her ratings (average performer)
given by Rajiv but she was convinced to accept it. Anand was rated better than her in that year too. This year her article on women sexual
harassment #MeToo had got a lot of accolades from the public and her peer
journalist. Her #MeToo article got the most page views in India compared to the
other news paper articles on the same subject. Her news cover stories on ISRO
record 104 spacecrafts being launched, new president Ram Nath Kovind being elected, Nirav Modi and PNB’s scam expose
along with Priya Prakash Warrier’s wink were most read stories by the public.
These editorials showcased her talent and values as well as had the voice of
the today’s generation well captured.
On
reaching the office at 11:45 am, she spoke to Sachin the HR manager to find out
the procedure to complain against workplace discrimination. Sachin on giving
her the helpline number told her “please be discreet until the complaint is
resolved. You know how the word of mouth is in the office environment” and saw
the nod from Kriti.
Days passed, when Rajiv was
notified on this complaint raised and was called upon to meet workplace
discrimination committee members – Surabhi, Sachin and Karthik.
“Rajiv as
you are aware of the ongoing complaint raised by Kriti, why do you think she
took a step like this?” inquired Karthik.
“I am
literally surprised too. Kriti is a good journalist who put her best effort in
her work. She had raised her voice last year too against me on her performance
ratings given and had shown her dissatisfaction. But taking it to this level is
not something I had expected of her. She has taken a step hastily” Rajiv was
trying hard to keep an even tone in his voice.
Surabhi, the
head of the committee, was going thru Kriti’s performance appraisal records for
the last 4 years and saw that Rajiv was her supervisor all these years. She did
notice the commendable job done by Kriti and was rated average. ‘Well, it
cannot happen for 4 consecutive years’ she thought ‘was it that Rajiv always
saw the best performer in Anand?’.
“Rajiv on
what basis did you give Anand the star award this year?” Surabhi asked
assertively.
“Well, Anand
had worked on the article of Sridevi’s death coverage as well as her life
history that got published in ‘Sunday
News’. The public loved it. Also his election coverage in North east states
was exceptional” came the spontaneous response from Rajiv.
“I see”
Surabhi compared Anand’s performance appraisal reports with Kriti’s for the
last 4 years “What do you think about the #MeToo article from Kriti?”
“It is good
but the public loved the article on Sridevi’s death report a bit better. You
know how public responses drive our business and finances. Gone are the days when
values are given more weight-age over profits” came the response, sounding
confident.
Sachin the
HR manager was curious to see that Rajiv had always preferred Anand over Kriti
for her consistent 4 years in a row. Be it the performance appraisal ratings,
salary hike based on that, bonuses on top of it, rewards announced each year,
everything seems to have favored Anand. Even for the next month’s video
coverage with the state’s new Chief Minister Priya Shah, Anand was
preferred. Priya Shah had won her elections
recently and #MeToo was her one of the campaign agenda too. In fact Priya had
tweeted on Kriti’s #MeToo article on how women should raise their voices
against the sexual harassment.
“Rajiv, why is Anand being
selected for the video news coverage with CM Priya next month? Isn’t the topic
of discussion #MeToo, something which Kriti has written?” Sachin questioned.
“Yes of course, Kriti and Anand
were the obvious choices but you know Anand would make the stage bright. He has
the charm, wittiness, coolness to handle the pressure. Kriti on the other hand
is more sober and shy. She lacks the confidence on the stage due to her
appearance” came the reply from Rajiv.
The
committee cross questioned Rajiv for some more time and asked him to leave the
room. They further went on to interrogate Kriti and Anand too as well as their
peers to find out their opinion. Of the 8 people reporting to Rajiv, 6 were
cyber journalist, 1 editor and 1 analyst. Three of them were females and other
5 were male. After all the interrogations, the committee decided that Rajiv was
highly biased towards Anand and was ignoring Kriti’s exceptional performance.
“What does
Rajiv’s boss had to say about this? Wasn’t he supervising Rajiv? Kriti was not
the only culprit, the other female journalist too were being rated below
average on their performance. It seems obvious Rajiv has a biased mindset
towards female reportees” Surabhi spoke and looked at Sachin. She thought to
herself “When will men let women grow in this corporate world? Doesn’t talent,
competency matter at all?”
After three
weeks of investigation, Kriti got her deserved credit in her work. She was
announced the “Journalist of the year” award. She looked at her watch, excited
to reach her PG and share this news to Sana. It was already 1:20 am and wondered
what her land lord has to say tonight.
‘Are women really free to be themselves?’ she thought.
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