Publicly Criticizing an Employer Is a Risky Career Strategy
(Photo: Kavish Kataria; LinkedIn)
May 4, 2024
Businesses and organizations in most countries, especially in the West, regularly fire employees for a host of reasons, including cost cuts, weak job performance and disobeying rules.
It is rare for employees to publicly criticize their employer after they are laid off. Few, if any, businesses or organizations will hire such an employee. This is because employers fear that such a job seeker will likely publicly criticize them in case they are laid off or for not being paid a larger salary and bonus. In countries with pro-labor laws, such employees could file lawsuits as well as bring negative media publicity to the employer – even if the employer wins the case.
Typically, in a court case or an arbitration process, employers have far superior legal resources than a fired employee. Hence pro-employee lawyers and career coaches suggest that, even if an employee has solid grounds to contest a firing, it is best to control one’s anger and agree to a settlement with the employer. The employee should focus instead on finding another job, they say.
This week, Kavish Kataria’s post on LinkedIn titled MY SIDE OF THE STORY got worldwide media attention. From 2021 to 2023, he traded Indian stocks and stock indexes at the Hong Kong office of Societe Generale (SocGen). In December last year, the French bank “fired me and terminated my contract,” he states. “It is very easy for an organisation to put the entire blame on traders and make them the scapegoat…Instead of taking the responsibility of the lapse in their risk system and not identifying the (risky) trades at the right time…”
