Being a Startup does not mean compromise!

?I've been battling with a hell lot of confusion to decide whether or not should I write about this as relates to my recent experience.

I tried to convince myself of letting this nightmare go and get over it but after visiting my old workplace Edge and seeing how everyone including HR so warmly greeted and treated me as an ex-employee, I gathered the courage to address this paramount issue because everyone deserves respect at the workplace and even if you are working with a startup, they have no right to take away your self-esteem and menta peace for money.

The motive behind this is not to badmouth any particular Org but to convey (firstly), how I made a bad choice of choosing money over culture (that I would never have predicted without actually having spent time there) and 2ndly to make sure I raise voice for my former co-workers so that their suffering would stop and they do not have to take the drastic step that I had to take by resigning to breathe out of toxicity.

When I left EDGE after having worked for 14 months in the company, I was super scared to take the risk of missing the culture and environment that EDGE offers, but I hoped and anticipated practicing and preaching what I learned from EDGE in the new workplace and to cultivate nearly close if not same as of the previous companies that I worked for.

I, however; made my move for a better salary package and in hopes of better and quicker career growth considering the rocketship ride of a FINTECH startup. (hint hint: Good Lord I was mistaken)

The hiring, onboarding process was pretty smooth, or at least that's what I thought it to be (better salary package), so were the training sessions.

I have to admit they have been fruitful and beneficial for each one of us, especially myself; having a sales background. Orientation, training, policy briefing, introductions, meet & greet were pretty fair and the team was welcoming. To my surprise, other team members greeted the new ones by sharing their food.

Fast forward to the first 4 days, some extracurricular activity was organized and everyone was directed to come 30 minutes early than the said time, and everyone was supposed to arrive earlier than their shift timings, even those who never signed up for the game (because they were never asked to give their consent).

To my dismay, some people were found drunk on the floor that day, maybe in anticipation of the weekend, but the last time I checked, drinking on the floor and in the training room was not an acceptable practice even if you are a startup and have no HR policies.

Adding to my disappointment, was the way some managers were treating their subordinates by addressing them “TU” and making them a laughing stock in front of other team members for not being up to speed. (You did a terrible job at training the new resource if they are not up to speed Sir).

What could be worse? It seemed like I had to witness firsthand, how the managers were reaching out to female team members after work hours (calling for non-work) and dictating to them who to be friends with, and offering cigarettes to non-smokers (implying this would help them to get along with the team better).

It kept getting worse when harassment was reported against a manager; the victim was rebuked; put the burden of proof on her shoulders and was asked to play team player by not speaking up against such incidents.

(Was later given a warning to not report any such incidents as this would bring a bad impression to other employees).

Orgs like KeepTruckin and EDGE always encouraged open communication through an open door policy and any employee can reach out to even the CEO or President of the company, which I experienced myself by reaching out to?Obaid Khan ?the Co-founder and COO at?KeepTruckin ?and?Iffi Wahla ?the founder and CEO at?Edge ?and I was heard and appreciated for bringing ideas, concerns, problems during my stay at respective firms and my team lead, manager, director, VP were really happy to know about it.

Now, this startup claimed the same, and rightly so because my CEO was open to meeting my former CEO on my request to share and discuss my idea, and he did; but this was not accepted by the management in the Pakistan office, let alone appreciate it.

I was told to stick to my job and to ask my line manager and the country manager and the senior team member, and, another senior team member, and, the manager of another department (I am sure they would have told me to ask the watchman as well if no one else was there) before reaching out to any senior-level management in the company for work-related discussion. How open is that!

To me, it seemed like I was supposed to just do the dials like a call center agent, not get up from my seat without the permission of my line manager and not be friends with anyone that they would not like.

People were told to be friends with only certain people of a certain group and not with their batchmates and with the people of other teams and when someone refused, they were blamed for building teams within the team. Isn’t this what we call hypocrisy?

Would female team members feel comfortable around their immediate manager who drinks on the floor and in the training room during work hours, invites them to the parking lot to take smoke breaks with him, eat only what he eats and leave their friends because the manager does not like it?

People were told to be friends with only certain people of a certain group and not with their batchmates and with the people of other teams and when someone refused, they were blamed for building teams within the team. Isn’t this what we call hypocrisy?

Would female team members feel comfortable around their immediate manager who drinks on the floor and in the training room during work hours, invites them to the parking lot to take smoke breaks with him, eat only what he eats and leave their friends because the manager does not like it??

And when such a person was reported to the senior-most official in the said location, he would threaten to fire the victim for speaking up and do nothing about the guilty.

The only rebuttal to all the valid objections was, we are a startup and we do not have time to address such issues. Well if that’s what you can argue, you are not the right place for a professional who is not willing to compromise mental health and self-esteem for money.

I resigned and put my Linkedin status as?#opentowork ?where after going through several rounds of interviews within the past two days with multiple companies, I got 3 different offers that are beating what I was offered by this toxic startup, not because of their business model but because of insecure, unprofessional, self-centered and inferiority complexed toxic people who would not tolerate another team member outgrowing their authority.

?I learned my lesson of losing an amazing culture and environment for a mere better salary package, and I would never settle for a toxic workplace again even if they are offering 10times more than the market rate.

I am not naming any names, but please be aware of such people and places, one bad move in greed can bring a disastrous setback. Choose wisely, stay positive but don’t look away if you or someone around you is suffering, never compromise your mental health and self-esteem for a better salary package.

I always proudly share with my friends and colleagues when they ask about my experience with?Touchstone Communications ,?RDX Sports ,?KeepTruckin , and?Edge ; that TouchStone cultivated a sense of hard work and persistence in me, RDX strengthened my confidence by reassuring my skills in the same, KeepTruckin made me realize what’s an amazing workplace is worth and how to make use of it, and EDGE taught me self worth.

I am grateful to all the coworkers, managers, leaders all the companies I worked and these two in particular for showing their employees how they deserve to be respected and cared.

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