By Otomewo Oritsejolomi Joshua
Nneka was excited to start her new job at a marketing firm. The job meant a lot to her. She had been writing since she was young, but this was the first time she was going to be paid for it.
On her first day, she could barely contain her excitement. She was in a bubble of joy, but it didn’t take a week of work before it burst.
“My boss was incredibly rude, she never missed an opportunity to shout. I get that I made some mistakes, but there are ways to go about correcting an entry level employee without being mean. When negotiating my salary we agreed on N50,000 per month, but at the end of the month, I was told I was on probation; so they’ll only be paying me half. Don’t get me started on the incredibly wicked deadlines? On some days I was expected to come up with five 500-word articles.”
Nneka’s experience is not a unique one. Working in a Nigerian company can be a harrowing experience. Last Monday, Tech Cabal, Nigeria premier technology publication published a story chronicling how past and present employees of Bento Africa, a payroll startup, suffered under their boss Ebun Okubanjo. This story had a domino effect as employees of several companies had to raise awareness on the challenges of working in the private sector.
Tobi started working at a startup media company for his internship, and he tells us about his experience.
“I was not an intern, I was an errand boy, doing everything, from sweeping the office to buying food for everyone. The few times they allowed me to write a story, someone took credit for it. Their excuse was that I had no experience,” he said.
There are many reasons a workplace might get toxic. According to Damilola Solanke, a human resource expert, the founder and top management of a company through their actions dictate the culture of that company.
“As a human resource expert, my work is shaping the culture of a company especially as it relates to how it treats its employees, and a big part of that work is checking the excesses of founders. However I understand to some extent the problems they face. Many of them are under much pressure as they have collected money from investors and they have to deliver results, as a result they unwittingly become mean. This is not an excuse for their behaviour,” she said.
She advises job seekers to evaluate a company before accepting a job offer.
“The interview time is a time for you to evaluate the company, after they finish asking you questions, you ask them questions too. Try to also ask other employees their working conditions. The gatekeepers and cleaners can be valuable sources of information to help you make your decision,” she added.
The ongoing discussion about horrible bosses and toxic workplaces is highlighting the larger issue around workplace culture and labour ethics in Nigeria. There are toxic bosses and toxic staff, both products of the environment that bred them. But to break the cycle, we have to focus on how we see, treat and respect each other outside of the workplace.
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It was Bread and Beans and Amala I was buying throughout my IT
Nigerian companies 🤝 doing rubbish
But that Ekun Okubanjo guy is really not okay, read the story and saw his tweets,he needs to be checked.
When that first video of Okubanjo where he was shouting at a customer at his gym came out, we gave him the benefit of the doubt thinking the customer was wrong. He obviously did not deserve it.
This one say they are under pressure, you better keep whatever pressure you are under between yourself and your God. If you shout at me, I’ll change it for you.