Honesty is not the best policy

[1]

Frankness comes at a price, it’s a given. More so, when the person in question is one’s boss. A recent study by the British Psychological Society suggests that telling your boss what you really think of him is good for an employee’s health. However, many professionals in the capital beg to differ and opine that it’s a risky affair, which is most likely to backfire.

*Neha Kumar, a banker, chose the alternate route to calm her hyper boss. She shares, “One day I took the courage and told my boss to loosen up and go for walks in the evening or spend more time at home. I gave him books so that he could ease up at work and not put us under too much pressure since he wanted a super duper end result every time he would give an assignment. I don’t know if he relaxed or paid heed to what I told him, but he did get off my back after my frank outburst.”
There’s a thin line that ideally should not be crossed in a professional worksphere. But changing times today demand that a person spends nearly 50 per cent of his day in office and some level of proximity is understandable with superiors. Agrees Sudip Bhattacharya, who works in a MNC in Gurgaon, “Share as much as is acceptable with your reporting senior. The best of organisations know that it’s only human to bring your problems to office and they are fine with it.”
In a world of increased complexity and competitiveness, every employee contributes to making the organisational promise come true. So, it becomes crucial to an organisation’s health to know how your employees are doing and how engaged they are.
Agrees Anurag Bhartiya, senior vice president, human resources, Max New York Life Insurance who states, “If they feel listened to, they will want to make a difference. At Max New York Life, we have always focused on creating a healthy work environment that encourages open communication and empowerment. We have also built processes that facilitate employee feedback like TownHalls, Employee Pulse Surveys and Performance Reviews. We encourage constructive feedback at all levels because we believe that it is good for the manager to become a better leader and enhance his team building skills. It also creates a highly satisfied workforce.”
But mutual respect and trust counts too, as one sided equation can’t work. Shweta Sarkar Ghosh, public relations manager avers, “You need to be practical at work, your frankness can land you into a sticky situation.”
*Mehak Ahuja, a media professional, quit her job recently. “Discussing your personal life with your boss is not a good idea, as he may blurt it out at the most unexpected moment. But I also agree that a direct contact with the boss is way better. If you share a good rapport with your senior, it can prove to be helpful. For example, I was asked to interview the head honcho of an international brand and was told to ask some rather catty questions. I told my boss, I won’t be comfortable. Rather than losing his mind, he accompanied me to meet the gentleman and we got our interview.”
A boss’ image has changed, today, young professionals want to maintain an open relationship. Abhinav Rahul, who has two decades of experience and is head corporate communications with Max New York Life Insurance shares, “Young professionals question the status quo and bosses play an equally important role in ensuring an open environment.”

* Some names changed on request