Gurgaon Entrepreneur Defends Revealing Driver’s ₹53,350 Salary, Calls It ‘Radical Transparency’

A content creator and entrepreneur based in Gurgaon, Ankur Warikoo, has discussed the response that has followed his previous article covering what his long time driver earns and what he is expected to do in his job after his previous post went viral.

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Warikoo’s post sparks debate

Warikoo has recently written that one of his drivers by name Dayanand Bhaiya earns over 50000 a month which is way above the average wage of the same jobs. Warikoo had earlier on in his initial post that Dayanand Bhaiya is given an annual increment of eleven per cent, is a member of the family and has keys to their home and even their ATM pin. The most recent increment increased his monthly salary to 53,350.

This disclosure came as an eye opener and came with mixed feelings in the sense that some users wanted to know why they were being subjected to such disclosure on the Internet.

Internet reacts over privacy concerns

One user commented: "Acknowledgement?? It is called making someone's life public. Why was the need to share his personal details like his salary? You could have acknowleged his efforts in person."

Warikoo replied: “And what makes you think I haven’t done that. You seem to have never led a team.”

Another user wrote: "Nice to consider them a part of family (have always done)… but sharing salary amount is very cringe. Even if one said that the idea is to encourage people to give decent salaries, still cringe and disrespectful because it dilutes the effect."

To this, Warikoo responded: “You seem new to my content. Salaries are open for everyone. We follow radical transparency for a reason.”

Questions about financial security

Another comment read: "All good, but why flexing something like sharing an ATM PIN? I know we do not follow every rule here, but you are someone who talks about finance. Does that really sit right with you?"

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Warikoo simply replied: "Yes."

A further comment expressed concern: "I respect the good work Warikoo has done in educating the masses about finance. But publicly sharing someone's salary, benefits, and that they have your ATM pin and house keys etc can be dangerous."

Warikoo offered a detailed response: “One, you are right. Just that he does not have access to our personal finance. Our ATM pin is not our personal finance. You are wiser than this. Two, agree with you. Just that there are far bigger risks to me and my knowns and you will have to trust me that I understand those and have guardrails on. Three, strong disagree. There is a reason why a nobody like me gained any level of acceptance when it came to personal finance. Because it should not have been personal and I made it public. Starting with me. My business income. My investments. My performance. My salary. None of this should have ever been personal. We are conditioned to believe it should be. Salary is a great example. Companies spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to hide salaries from their employees. Why? Because they do a terrible job of determining the salaries. It is their incompetence masquerading as this is personal information, do not share it. I always abhorred it. So in my startup, salaries and the basis for it is one hundred per cent transparent.”

Earlier post praised loyalty and trust

Earlier, sharing a picture with his driver on X, Warikoo wrote: "The latest annual increment has raised our driver Dayanand Bhaiya’s monthly salary to ₹53,350 plus insurance, one month Diwali bonus, and a scooty. He joined us thirteen years ago at ₹15,000 and has since become an integral part of our family while building his own life. His three children are well settled in good jobs and happily married. He continues to live frugally, with unwavering punctuality and discipline, wakes up at four thirty a m, sleeps by eight thirty p m, is never late, and always carries a smile. He is not just our driver, he is our trusted partner. He drives our children to classes, holds duplicate house keys, knows our ATM PIN, handles all important errands that do not require our presence, treats me as his own and is someone I trust blindly with the safety of my family and myself. He saves us time, mental load, and effort. In return, all he ever wanted was trust which we gladly gave. He has been one of the best uses of our money, and I cannot wait for him to reach one lakh per month in the next five to six years."

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