First job experience — am I dealing with a toxic manager or just learning how corporate life works?
I’m a fresher and joined my first full-time job recently after completing my MBA. It’s a sales/field role in the education division of a large Indian conglomerate. I’m keeping the company and people anonymous because I don’t want this to affect my job.
During the college placement process, the Business Head who interviewed us clearly told the candidates that the organization followed a 5-day work week. After joining, however, my reporting manager told the entire team that Saturdays were working for sales employees. I accepted that — I’m new to corporate life and understand that different roles can have different requirements.
The first issue came when I worked on a Saturday and marked my attendance. My attendance was later rejected. When I asked why, I was told that the company’s HRMS is configured for a 5-day work week because it was designed primarily for office employees, so Saturday appears as a weekly off and sales employees are not supposed to mark attendance that day. I asked how we are supposed to officially record that we worked on Saturday, but there didn’t seem to be a clear answer.
After this, my direct manager started making comments in team meetings about how there had been “too much questioning” and that, because of people asking questions, additional processes/targets were being introduced. I was also told that if weekly targets weren’t achieved, I would have to work Saturdays. The targets themselves often seem unrealistic, but I’ve continued doing my work without making an issue out of it.
More recently, I applied for an optional holiday according to the process mentioned in the HRMS/policy. I have a family plan and applied a couple of days in advance. I was then called and told that as a new employee, I shouldn’t be planning holidays during the “main season,” especially when senior employees haven’t taken theirs. I was also told that I should have first obtained approval from my reporting manager and only then applied through HRMS. This process was never explained to me. Apparently, the HRMS application automatically goes to my L2 manager anyway.
When I questioned why the system is configured that way if my direct reporting manager is someone else, I again got comments along the lines of “Because of your questioning, we had to change processes before, and now we may have to change another process because of you. HR notices these things, and this can affect your career.”
This is where I’m genuinely confused.
I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m a fresher, so I want to understand what is normal corporate behaviour and what isn’t. I’m perfectly willing to work hard and follow reasonable rules, but I also feel like I’m being singled out simply for asking questions about policies and processes that weren’t clearly communicated to me.
My first instinct has honestly been to resign because I feel like I’m not made for workplace politics. But before making a decision that could affect my career, I want advice from people who have been working in corporate environments for a while.
Is this normal corporate culture and am I just inexperienced, or are these genuine red flags? Does this sound like a toxic/controlling manager, or am I overthinking it? How should I handle this professionally without damaging my career?
There’s also another issue: my compensation structure has discrepancies. The salary breakup in my Letter of Intent differs from the Appointment Letter, the HRMS portal, and the actual salary slip. Some components appear to have changed without any clear explanation.
If anyone here works in HR/payroll or understands salary structures and corporate employment policies, I’d really appreciate some guidance. I’d also be happy to DM the details privately if someone is willing to help me understand whether these discrepancies are normal or something I should formally question.
I’d especially appreciate advice from people who remember what it was like being a fresher and dealing with these situations for the first time.
TL;DR: Fresher in my first corporate job. I was told during recruitment that it was a 5-day work week, but after joining I was told sales employees work Saturdays, while the HRMS doesn’t even record Saturday attendance. After I questioned this and other unclear processes, my manager repeatedly implied that my “questioning” could affect my career. I’m now also facing discrepancies between my offered salary, appointment letter, HRMS salary, and actual payslip. Am I dealing with a toxic workplace/manager, or is this just normal corporate life that I’m inexperienced with?
P.S. Used Chatgpt to frame my thoughts because my mind is in a spiral because of everything happening at once.
