Indian CEO posts appreciation pic of exhausted employee asleep in autorickshaw, receives backlash

Appreciation very rarely results in a string of negative reactions. But Shantanu Deshpande, CEO of the Bombay Shaving Company, experienced that unusual circumstance. Last year, Shantanu Deshpande came under fire for advocating an 18-hour workday for youngsters.

Recently, Deshpande posted a picture on his LinkedIn page along with an appreciation post. In his post, Deshpande recently praised the company's head of sales, Shanky Chauhan, for his dedication and for being the 'heartbeat' of the company.

“He LOVES the company. His eyes twinkle when he talks about his work, his team, his stores, his distributors, his customers," the CEO wrote about Shanky.

"I've seen hard-working, driven people. People who put in the hours and do everything possible and everything impossible, both. But no one continues to surprise me on this axis the way Shanky Chauhan does," Deshpande wrote on LinkedIn with a photo of the employee dozing in an autorickshaw.

"On paper, he is our head of sales, our chief of staff, and the head of the people committee. But in real life, he is the heartbeat of the company.... While he is a diamond asset, Deepak and I struggle to get him to switch off. We constantly worry about his health. We realise that for him to do justice to his own commitment to the company, longevity is everything."

His LinkedIn post was posted on Twitter by a user named Garv Mallik.