[Update]Sad! Samsung India Employee Tries To Kill Himself Due To Unfair Work Policies

Update: March 2nd, 2015

[box type=”shadow” ]We have edited and removed certain portions of this article as it seems the Samsung employee in question was at fault here. The Samsung employee who attempted suicide has apologized to the Samsung management regarding his behavior, and has admitted that he was not in his proper emotional state when he posted the updates on Facebook. The OfficeChai report (cited previously) where they had interviewed the employee has also been deleted.

We have the Samsung employee apology letter in our possession, and based on it, we can say that the employee seemed to be emotionally fragile, when he tried to harm himself. He has absolved Samsung of any wrongdoing.

Note: After we had discussions with Samsung representatives, we have edited certain parts of the article to show the facts.

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[Content Deleted] The content below this has been written at the time when article was first published [Feb 26th 2015]

Is there something wrong with work ethics and HR policies of Samsung? Or the work pressure is way too much to handle? Issues regarding racism, partiality and prejudices have also reportedly come up not only in India but in other global offices as well.

– At the same location where this person was employed, another female employee threatened to commit suicide due to sexual harassment. Last year in May, a female employee at Samsung R&D Institute India Pvt Ltd located in Bagmane Constellation Business Park, Outer Ring Road filed a police complaint against her three senior staff members for sexually harassing her.

Samsung India Response: We wish to inform you that said female employee has given apology letter to the Company stating that she had made allegations in an emotionally weak situation and has withdrawn all her allegations and apologized for the same.

– As per a comment posted in one of the online complaint boards in India, an employee of Samsung in Bangalore has described his MD as ‘Hitler’ who had made mandatory log in time as 8.00 AM; and even if any employee is late by 2 minutes, half day salary would be deducted.

Note: This incidence mentioned above is from November 2010 and the current Samsung India MD may not have the same working style.

– As per a discussion on Glassdoor, employees are alleging harassment of female employees by the managers with claims that an employee committed suicide recently, but the matter was buried. The complaints range from long working hours, racism and partiality by Korean managers.

Samsung India Response: The above discussion pertains to the same female employee mentioned in first point. She given apology letter to the Company stating that she had made allegations in an emotionally weak situation and has withdrawn all her allegations and apologized for the same.

– In January, 2014, a 36 year old factory worker in Korea committed suicide due to harsh labor control rules imposed by the management. In his suicide note, he said that he can’t withstand the torture.

– A 51 year old VP in Samsung Korea committed suicide in 2010, due to work pressure and stress.

– In Korea, a young factory worker in Samsung’s LCD factory committed suicide in January 11, 2011, which was his joining day. As per reports, he was so shocked and stunned by the working conditions and rules, that he couldn’t even stand a day. In the same month, another factory worker had committed suicide at the same location.

– In January 2011, workers and management in Samsung’s Vietnam factory clashed violently due to issues related with working conditions and their ‘rules’. The factory was built at an expense of $2 billion, used to assembling phones which were manufactured in China.

– In May last year, thousands of workers in Korea demonstrated against Samsung for the death of one of their workers, whose dead body was reportedly stolen by the police. He was fighting against the company’s policies for factory workers.

– In Brazil, the Government filed lawsuit against Samsung for labor violations which include excessive work hours, insufficient breaks, and hazardous working conditions. The Govt. sought $108 million from Samsung.

There are numerous other cases pertaining to these issues in Samsung, globally. In an interesting Quora thread, employees of Samsung India shared some of the deepest secrets of the company. For example:

– Partiality between Indian and Korean employees: Indian employees are expected and asked to work long hours, but are not given any overtime bonus, whereas Korean employees are given all benefits.

– As per an employee, there are separate washrooms for Korean and Indian employees; separate dining facilities and they are treated differently. Even a junior Korean employee would be asked to monitor senior Indian employees.

– There is huge discrepancy in terms of salaries

– As per a comment, Indian employees are expected to ‘obey your seniors and HQ’

And one employee describes the Samsung environment as:

As of now 2014, Samsung employed 4,27,000 employees globally out of which 3,26,000 employees are in Samsung Electronics which manufactures semi-conductors, consumer electronics, telecom equipment and more. In the year 2013, Samsung had revenues of $327 billion.

The word Samsung translates into ‘three stars’ and in Korean culture, 3 signifies big, powerful and numerous.

But it seems that this enormity, hugeness and massive operations of Samsung globally is crushing their employee’s emotional and mental stability, and making them vulnerable to lose confidence within themselves.

Samsung follows a strict hierarchal structure from top to bottom within their organization, with special care to impose the strict cultural and traditional norms. But if it leads to employees killing themselves, then is it worth it?

If you are an employee from Samsung, then we would appreciate your views on this issue.