Mumbai Founder Criticises Employees Quitting After Payday, Internet Reacts

Kiran Shah, the founder of Mumbai-based startup GoZero, is facing backlash for his LinkedIn post criticising employees who resign shortly after receiving their salaries. In his post, Mr Shah shared he recently changed his company's pay date for employees from the 10th of every month to the 1st. However, he said some of his employees misused this policy and resigned the moment the salary was credited, and didn't show up to work the next day. 

"I used to give salaries on the 10th of the next month. A lot of startups I know do the same. Some even give on 15th of the next month. I realised this causes a lot of inconvenience to the team who has outgoings in the 1st week. From December 2023, I changed the salary payment date to 1st of every month," Mr Shah wrote on LinkedIn. 

"And while most of them are exceptionally loyal towards the mission, there are an unfortunate few who misuse this and resign the moment we credit the salary on 1st and don't show up to work the next day. This has happened yesterday, the 4th incident overall since I moved the salary processing from 10th to 1st," he continued.

The entrepreneur assured that the incidents would not affect his decision to change the payday policy. "If i start penalizing the entire team for a couple of such dumb folks, then it puts a question mark on the culture I am building at GZ," he wrote. 

"However, to all the folks out there - don't ghost your employer once you get the salary. If you are not happy with the work or remuneration or boss or founder or colleagues or location or any damn thing, have a communication with your manager. Or even the founder - I am super approachable to anyone in the org. But do it in a professional way that doesn't burn bridges," he advised the employees.

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Mr Shah's post has gone viral on social media, sparking outrage among people. Several users labelled his post as "tone deaf". 

"Some companies somehow feel they do a favour if they disburse salary on 1st let's wake up and smell the coffee it's being done for ages now and in case of MNCs last working day of the month. Focus more on reasons why the employees are absconding and fix those," commented one user. 

"Receiving salaries on time is the right of every employee, most start ups these days are exploiting employees by expecting them to work extra hours in light of the "hustle culture" and still end up not receiving their salaries. Such startups need to have proper HR processes in place. The problem is much bigger than setting up a credit date," wrote another. 

"I am missing the connection here between the date of pay and not showing up the next day after receiving the salary.  Changing pay date DOES NOT solve for not showing up the next day. It only gives you a leverage over the employees to not leave without serving notice period as the employees wouldn't get paid for the 10/15 days of the month, which in itself doesn't reflect a great culture. So you are right in not going back to the old pay cycle due to a few who are misusing it. I just dont understand the message you are trying to convey," said third user.