In a shocking reflection of corporate toxicity, a team of professionals recently walked away from a project riddled with micromanagement, favoritism, and abuse, according to a post by Redittor on r/IndianWorkplace.
What started as a promising assignment last September quickly unraveled into a cautionary tale of everything that can go wrong under poor leadership.
Four individuals were onboarded to the project, but one—a woman—was let go within a month. The official reason? “No budget.” The actual reason? She used work-from-home options that were officially permitted by company policy but personally forbidden by the manager, who demanded a 5-day office presence despite an almost-empty ODC (Offshore Development Center).
Another teammate with AWS DevOps expertise was forced into unrelated support tasks and even made to design PowerPoint animations. When he asked for a skill-aligned release, things turned ugly. The manager began humiliating him publicly, often demanding updates in a WhatsApp group only to chastise him for responding there. His probation was extended, he was placed on a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan), and fired the next day. Even on the bench, the harassment didn’t stop. When HR finally got involved, they shockingly backed the manager—until he resigned, when they did an about-face and begged him to stay.
A third teammate was pushed into development work far outside his job description. When he took a couple of days off due to a family emergency, the manager mocked him for tending to his ailing grandmother. The man eventually quit—without another job offer—despite the manager’s desperate attempts to retain him. Ironically, during his notice period, he received a promotion and a hike, which the manager vehemently opposed.
The last remaining team member wasn’t spared either. Despite doing the bulk of the development work, he was micromanaged, forced to send hourly updates, and monitored on Teams and email while others got a free pass for sycophancy. His TL routinely took credit for his work during client meetings. Even after submitting his resignation, the manager tried to sabotage his “Diamond Club” recognition—an elite internal accolade—simply because he was serving notice.
To this day, no replacements have been hired. The manager insists on hand-picking “orphaned” candidates who don’t need work-from-home flexibility. His remarks? “I wish my resources were orphans.”
Despite it all, the developer continued working till his last day. “I figured if I’m stuck, I might as well get better at what I do,” he said.
The fallout? A dismantled team, no new hires, and a legacy of mismanagement that HR conveniently ignored.