I had been living in Spain for 7+ years when the recession hit and I was laid off with half our company. My daughter and I make decisions together so we turned on the computer, opened up Google Maps and started systematically working our way across the globe, short-listing a handful of countries where we both felt life would be a fun adventure for us if we had to leave Barcelona. I hopped on LinkedIn and within a week I received an email from a company looking for a chief marketing officer to launch their Indian company into 14 new markets over the next couple of years. After a friendly email exchange with the CEO, a phone interview was setup.
From the first few seconds on the phone I liked him. You know, the phone is a funny thing. Someone could be wearing fuzzy kitty slippers and still have on their bathrobe and no one would ever be the wiser. But there is ONE thing that is – in theory – 100% silent but can be detected and heard through a phone line…and that is a smile. You should try listening for one next time you are on the phone because this IS true. I could tell right away that the CEO was smiling and had a genuinely vivacious character during our first call. As the line from the movies goes, “he had me at hello”!
The same energy and smiles followed the next phone interview as well as throughout the days I spent in Bangalore during my face-to-face interviews and our employment negotiations that turned into a HYSTERICAL negotiation process when I had my first run-in with the famous Indian head bob.
On Signs of Respect
I was the first foreigner ever hired at the HQ in Bangalore at both my first job and with my current company (which has 2,000 employees) and I am treated very well by the male colleagues at work. Just like with my female colleagues, all of the junior guys address me as ma’am, but it doesn’t stop there. One of these ‘special’ treatments I’ve experienced at both jobs makes me think its a custom in the workplace in India. The security guards who sit at the entrance of either the building or on each individual floor in the building will stand up at least the first time each day when I walk past them and say either ‘hello, madam’ or ‘good afternoon, madam’ and might even give me a small salute. It’s a sign of respect because I’m part of the leadership team and I find it sweet and actually really like it. Although at the beginning it bothered me because I already stood out so much that having the security guy stand and draw more attention to me wasn’t a really welcome thing but now I secretly like it and hope they never stop.
On Their Feelings About Working With Women
I am happy to say that I have only had ‘ego’ difficulties with one male colleague so far in eight months (like always, it is the person who had temporarily taken over the marcom duties while they filled my role). In Spain, I worked for a couple of men over the years who were all roughly my age but with far less or no marketing or comms experience and whenever my opinion differed from theirs (because mine was right, of course, hehe) I caught a ton of attitude from them. It was as if they wanted me to be a ‘yes’ girl and their egos played such a huge role in our daily exchanges that working with them was a nightmare. Yet in India, my superiors are quite different and I feel that they appreciate my experience and expect me to bring it 100% to the table and I have yet to feel like I’m personally expected to be a ‘yes’ girl.
On Small Talk & Pleasantries…and Being Late
Generally speaking, Indian men don’t always get right down to business. There is an inherent trait built into the men here that makes them natural conversationalists and they don’t start a meeting without some light chit-chat and banter first about personal topics to catch up a bit or get to know someone a bit better. This was definitely something to get used to because in the U.S. and Europe we have grown so militant about start and end times of meetings, staying on topic and ensuring that no time is wasted that this can drive a westerner crazy (I remember trying to calculate the amount of money LOST once while 18 of the highest paid employees in the company sat waiting for 25 minutes for two people who were running late).
The chit chat thing actually works out great in India because most people are ALWAYS late, so this gives the late-comers a chance to arrive! It seems to me that being up to 15-30 minutes late is still considered just ‘fashionably late’ here 😉
One thing I really like that I’ve noticed with the men but not women is that if I haven’t seen a colleague in a few days or it is post-weekend, a couple of the guys at work will walk up and want to catch up on what’s new, which is quite nice.
On Managing Indian Men
Indian men are actually a real joy to work with. My own AMAZING team is comprised of all men and we form a fantastic unit and I have never once felt any attitude like they don’t want to work for a woman, something that still happens in the U.S. and Europe. I have to admit that I wasn’t quite sure how that was going to play out here, given the fact that India is still a very male dominated country and women are not really equals. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a westerner or they treat all women this way but it doesn’t affect me in the least I’m happy to report.
On Their Clothing
The men here don’t use clothing as an extension of themselves like in other countries. I work with clever, highly experienced and brilliant guys and they all have a much more casual approach to dressing than I’ve seen elsewhere. The biz dev, accounts guys and the upper management all look sharp but without the power suit 99% of the time. Like the women, there simply isn’t much importance given to the materialism of their outward appearance.
One thing I find absolutely wonderful is when the Hindus at work have gone to temple before coming into the office or were involved in a puja (ceremony ritual) and have come in wearing a tilak (the red dot on their forehead). I am still a bit in awe of that more so than the bindis on women for some reason. I also find it lovely when there is a very important puja at work to bless the building or our work tools and the gentlemen will come in wearing formal Indian apparel.
On Socialising and Work Events
Bonding with male colleagues outside of work is really different in India too given that it basically doesn’t happen. Throughout Europe and in the U.S. we mix and mingle without really thinking twice about it with both female AND male colleagues from work for lunch and happy hour, it’s one of the best way to make a team more productive together and enrich the working relationship. When I worked with the online marketing company Aedgency in Barcelona, we held an annual summer beach party with the entire company. We had 200+ people from work in swimming costumes with all the girls in bikinis. Everyone was eating and drinking cocktails, playing football and even dancing on the beach to a DJ spinning groovy house tunes on the sand. Now I just shake my head and laugh when I try to imagine that same scenario here in India. It’s not right or wrong, it’s just different here.
Here we have engaging cake cutting ceremonies and really lovely pujas (ceremonies to bless everything from the office, calling lists, computers, etc). There are annual team days with fun activities like synchronized dances and team building exercises and celebrations to share milestones with the entire company. But no casual happy hours and I have only been to lunch once with one male Indian colleague of mine, which is again different because for years I went to lunch with the guys from work every day.
On the Importance of Chai
Tea seems like more of a part of life here in India than even in the UK and I really like the way every single colleague of mine on the management or executive team will offer me a cup of tea any time we sit down together. I remember feeling jacked up on caffeine the first week I worked in India because of the constant set of training meetings I was in with the different team members…and each would be really offended if I didn’t want tea so I drank buckets of it at first. Now I only say yes if it is a long meeting but it still makes me smile every time a gentlemen graciously offers me a cup of tea.
Lastly…On How I’m Treated
I know that I am treated slightly different at times at work. Not by my peers so much but by junior team members and I am okay with that. But something interesting that I have heard a few times during the past eight months is that because I am not Indian that I will be treated differently (insinuating ‘better’) by my superiors. I have never personally been on the receiving end of a bad temper since my arrival but I do know that in my last company that my Indian colleagues DID experience this from time to time. Since changing jobs I have never heard of it going on at the new company so I don’t know if this idea is true or not but I find it interesting that this is the perception of my work mates. Personally, I’d like to think that the negative treatment was unique to my old job and that this perception is false…but if you have some feedback you can offer up please feel free to comment.
Don’t miss the flip side to this article: Working With Indian Women
Discover more from Angela Carson | Oversharing & Nomad Life in Asia
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