She paid ₹2 lakh bond to quit toxic bank job: ‘I worked 12 hours a day, no leaves, cried daily after work’

Madhurima, a former bank employee, opens up about the verbal abuse and toxic work conditions, she endured before eventually quitting.

What does it cost to escape a toxic workplace? For a 31-year-old woman, the price tag was exact: ₹2 lakh in bond penalties, a canceled vacation, and a 50% pay cut at her new job.

Madhurima, 31, said her mental health improved considerably after she quit her toxic bank job.

Madhurima (who did not wish to reveal her last name) spoke to Hindustantimes.com about why she decided to quit her job at a government-owned bank — a job, incidentally, for which she had prayed and prepared for two years.

“I was crying every day after work,” the 31-year-old told HT over a phone call. “I was working more than 12 hours a day, sometimes even on Sundays. My leave requests were denied and I could not even use the washroom during work. It gave me a severe UTI,” she revealed.

During the course of the conversation, Madhurima elaborated further on the harsh realities of working in a toxic environment, saying that she paid ₹2 lakh as bond penalties to quit the job that was giving her suicidal thoughts.

Joining the toxic bank job

Many Indians see a bank job as a ticket to a secure future. That’s what Madhurima thought when she spent two years preparing for the IBPS exam after completing her master’s.

The 31-year-old, who is originally from West Bengal, was eventually selected and posted to a bank branch in rural Karnataka. She joined the bank in October 2022 and had to undergo a mandatory nine-month training.

“My salary was good; I was getting ₹70,000 in-hand at that time,” she said. “I also got a house rent allowance, so I didn’t have to worry about rent either.”

However, Madhurima soon realised that her high salary came at the cost of her mental peace.

‘I developed a UTI’

When Madhurima got married in December 2022, she was in the middle of her training period. She was barely allowed any leaves.

“I got married within 4 days and then left for my training again. I could not stay with my husband or in-laws,” she revealed.

Not being allowed to take leaves would soon become a recurring theme in her lives. Madhurima told HT of one instance when she got a severe urinary tract infection because she could not take washroom breaks during the hectic work day.

Even more shockingly, she was then denied sick leaves by the bank.

“As a cashier, customers start coming in around 10:00 am and up until 3:30 pm. The reason I developed a UTI was that from 10:00 am to 3:30 am, I could not take a break. I was sitting constantly at the cash counter,” she said.

“I suffered from a severe UTI for 2 to 3 months while working at the bank—there was bleeding and everything—but I couldn't take leave because I had to report to the office,” she revealed.

This was just one of many instances of toxicity that the assistant bank manager faced at her branch.

12-hour days, extra work on top

At her bank posting, Madhurima was not allowed the luxury of a 9-to-5 schedule. Instead, she describes working over 12 hours a day, getting extra work on top, and then getting berated for not being able to complete the extra work.

“I had to go to the bank on Sundays as well,” she said.

The 31-year-old told HT that her day usually began at 8:30 am, and she sometimes worked past 10:30 in the night. Even on a good day, working till 7 pm was the norm.

Madhurima said that after wrapping up at 7 pm, she was expected to go around the village where she was posted, selling insurance policies and trying to get new customers.

For a young woman who did not speak Kannada, walking around alone in the village after nightfall was a frightening proposition.

“My branch head told me that after closing cash at 7 pm, I had to go out and collect new accounts from customers. I thought, this is a village, and people don't understand English or Hindi—how am I going to convince them? For me as a girl, it was very risky to go out after 7 PM to collect accounts,” she revealed.

‘I cried every day after work’

Madhurima got candid about the toll that her toxic job took on her mental health.

“I cried every day after work. I was so exhausted,” she said.

She became so irritable that she stopped talking to her parents over the phone, afraid that she would snap at them. “I stopped talking to my parents. They came to visit me at my home near the bank, but I could barely talk to them for half an hour. When I reached home, they were afraid I would snap at them because I was so irritated and cried every day,” she said.

“Something else happened as well: I had to report to a senior who wasn't my direct manager, and he verbally abused me.

“He said, "You are a girl; they shouldn't hire girls in banks," and things like that. I reported it to HR in Mumbai, and they called my senior, after which he changed,” she revealed.

The breaking point

For almost two years, Madhurima endured 12-hour work days, unrealistic targets, no sick leaves, working weekends and even verbal abuse. Her breaking point came in February 2024, when she was not allowed to take leaves to attend a friend’s wedding.

“I had applied for leaves three months in advance. Three days before I was scheduled to go on leave, my boss told me that an audit was going on and I could not leave,” the West Bengal native said.

Madhurima alleged bias in the organisation, claiming that certain seniors were allowed to go on leave during the audit. For her, this incident became the metaphorical straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I resigned immediately after that,” she said. “Immediately after that incident, I put down my papers in March. I only had to serve a one-month notice period because I was still on probation.”

Taking a pay cut at new job

Madhurima had to serve a one-month notice period after formally putting in her papers in March 2024. During the one-month notice period, she applied to jobs religiously, reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn and sending cold emails.

It was a tough time in the job market, and she wanted a work-from-home opportunity. Eventually, she found a Bengaluru-based startup that hired her, but she had to take a massive pay cut in the process.

“My salary became half,” she said. “I was getting ₹70,000 at the bank. I joined the startup at a salary of ₹35,000,” she said.

On top of that, she had to pay a bond of ₹2 lakh to quit the job.

What she lost in terms of money, Madhurima gained back in happiness. Her new workplace is blissfully free of any toxicity — “My manager is so helpful. He and others in the organisation have taught me so much,” she said.

Over the last two years, her salary has also doubled. As Senior Customer Support Executive at the startup, she now earns ₹60,000 working from home and gets to live with her husband in Hyderabad.

Mental peace over money

“Even though I was earning good money and getting benefits at the bank, it wasn't worth it. My mental peace was gone. I was so depressed and was having suicidal thoughts at that time,” she said.

“Even though I took a pay cut and my salary isn't as high as my friends in banking, I have the freedom to choose when to take leave.

“When I worked at the bank, I couldn't visit my parents' place or anywhere. Now I can go to my hometown for a month, stay there, work remotely, and take leaves because there is transparency in the organization,” she concluded.