‘Another one bites the dust…and another one gone and another one gone…Another one bites the dust…Hey, I'm gonna get you, too.’ a 1980 song by British rock band ‘Queen’ came to mind when the newspapers on 21st June read ‘Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigned late Tuesday night from the company he cofounded in 2009.’ This was followed by the memory of 16th June news which said ‘The Viral Fever (TVF) co-founder and CEO, Arunabh Kumar resigned - he was accused of sexual harassment by a former employee.’
Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick
"Shivangi Prasad speaks (a corporate lawyer running a firm called POSH at Work for assisting organizations in prevention of sexual harassment at workplace)”: Are these resignations new? Not really and neither are they specific to any Country or Industry. In 2015, Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who also got Noble Peace Prize for IPCC, resigned following an accusation of sexual harassment by a female researcher at The Energy research Institute (TERI). In 2016, he also resigned from TERI where he was Member of Governing Council & Executive Vice-Chairman. Similarly, in 2013, Tarun Tejpal, Editor of Tehelka stepped down due to a similar complaint against him.
But why do resignations take place? To put it simply, for protecting brand image. One thing common in all these examples is, they were widely publicized by media. It began with the complaint against Tejpal, to minute details of Pachauri’s propositions to his colleague, to Uber’s Susan Fowler’s blog and anonymous blog about Kumar – all of which were in public domain and extensively talked about. This, certainly, took the management of these organizations by surprise. With ‘Image’ being the most important contributor to profits, naturally management could not be expected to remain attached to a bad name! Hence, a simple quick fix – severance.
Moreover, today, with such outburst of the start-up culture and investors investing millions in startups to build a brand name, a complaint against leaders of such start-ups can be a severe blow to the efforts. It is, therefore, not surprising to see reports stating Kalanick had to resign as CEO from Uber after pressure from five big Uber investors. Similarly for Kumar, from reports, it seems the decision to keep him away from TVF was taken by hedge fund Tiger Global Management which owns 25% stake in TVF with investment of about Rs. 70 crores.
But apart from protecting brand image, do these resignations serve any other purpose? These people can simply continue with new businesses, new jobs etc. so how does it help? Well, if these names are merely googled today, the words ‘sexual harassment’ is all that flashes! None of their accomplishments follow. It’s been four years, the case is still pending but there is no other information available about Tejpal apart from updates on his case. Similarly for Pachauri and Kumar, with cases pending, it’s difficult to dissociate their name from allegations against them. Their names have become co-existent with understanding ‘consequences of sexual harassment at workplace’ and more often than not are used as examples of ‘what not to do at work.’ In such situations, catching up on career may seem like a dream or even a lost battle.
From society’s point of view, such terrifying examples of lost careers certainly act as a deterrent for those who may like to take their position for granted or feel they are irreplaceable. The hope is society will eventually mature and reach a stage where sexual harassment at workplace, as an act will reduce and as a concept less talked about! But for now, Another One Bites The Dust!