What came first, chicken or egg?

The twists and turns in a mortgage firm's promotion story

- TAMAL BANDYOPADHYAY

What came first: The chicken or the egg?

Since the amniotic egg showed up roughly 340-odd million years ago, and the first chicken evolved around 58,000 years ago, at the earliest, it's safe to bet that the egg came first. So says the Australian Academy of Science.

But the case under discussion today is a bit more complicated than the egg-and-chicken question.

Like last week's column, this one too is about human resources (HR) practices in the financial sector. Note: I am merely narrating the incidents as they unfolded; not saying who's right and who's wrong.

The assistant general manager (AGM)-HR of a large listed housing finance company, in which a public sector bank is a majority stakeholder, claims that on October 26, 2024, he sent an email to the firm's managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), and deputy managing director (DMD), pointing to the alleged influence the mortgage firm's general manager (GM) had on the recruitment process. Some four-and-a-half hours later, at 7 pm, the company handed over a transfer order to the AGM.

The AGM claims he was punished for blowing the whistle. The management's version is different: The AGM, being part of the HR department, was aware of his impending transfer, and his email was an attempt to stall it.

Why was he being transferred? Well, the management's version is that he was not doing well with the new assignment, and it was felt he should be part of a department where he would be able to deliver. The executive, however, stands by his version, that he's paying the price for resisting a GM's overarching influence on HR issues.