When a workplace is a healthy environment, transparency can be an employer’s best friend. However, when a workplace is toxic is where things can get a little ugly.
Disgruntled employees of DAWN are complaining about pretty much everything they can. From salary to culture to leadership— there really is very little employees aren’t willing to share.
Exhaustion mei ghalti b na kero, chutti b na mango, ap unreasonable baat kerain tau gussa b na kero.
Basically robots ki tarhan tik tik kertay raho, mrr jao, khud ko maar do. Humara kaam kero bss.
— Hurmat Majid (@MajidHurmatKhi) June 14, 2020
So I went through a week of hell because I had to go meet my father. I was looking after my child, working full time, trying to run errands and do as much possible, because I couldn’t get time off work.
Someone else just got a week off for the second time on four weeks.
— Hurmat Majid (@MajidHurmatKhi) June 14, 2020
Tbh, it’s necessary to address the root cause of all this: Dawndotcom does not hire it’s employees on its own payroll but with a third-party contractor named Xpert Services. This has been deliberately designed so that the workers can’t become part of the paper employees union..
— Sajjad Haider (@SajjadHaider1) June 15, 2020
Really triggered by this thread. Struggling to find the right words to explain what some colleagues and I went through at the same workplace. The tactics they used to bully people, especially the ones who had no options of leaving, was another level of sick. https://t.co/VkDCoEiief
— Ema Anis (@EmaAnis) June 16, 2020
Witnessed the toxic work culture (favouritism, classism, bullying) @dawn_com first hand. It was why I didn’t stay for long. Watched ppl in mangmnt publish articles on classism and sexism while unashamedly bullying & intimidating women & those with a different class background https://t.co/EtaXbyVL2b
— Zehra Naqvi (@fzehran) June 15, 2020
I am sharing these details to point to a larger work culture at Dawn and journalism in Pakistan, and in solidarity with Hurmat and the many testimonies that have come out. In no way do I mean to pin point one individual or dismiss the crucial work Dawn does as a media institution
— Zehra Naqvi (@fzehran) June 17, 2020
I was hired to work at @dawn_com‘s Blogs desk as a senior sub-editor. I was quite excited about the work and treated well at first, but upon refusing to silently partake in the favouritism or abide by the toxic social norms of the office, behaviour toward me changed.
— Zehra Naqvi (@fzehran) June 17, 2020
That there was a group of us who were enjoying our lunch too much and that was an issue, that she and I should not have lunch together. He threatened to have her fired, kept her behind for separate meetings.
— Zehra Naqvi (@fzehran) June 17, 2020
For a long time, I was demotivated and decided journalism was probably not for me if that’s what it was like. This is how people get pushed out. If you think @dawn_com work culture wasn’t so bad, I assure you, you were being given preferential treatment. It was also offered to me
— Zehra Naqvi (@fzehran) June 17, 2020
In a series of shocking tweets, the ex-employees exposed the exploitative culture of the organization. The tweets came after a current employee shared how she has been going through a rough patch due to her work environment.
According to the employees, they were asked to work exceedingly long hours and limit their paid time off. Their projects were brutally criticized by executives in front of their peers.
One of the employees revealed the inside stories of Dawn.com, saying, “I have been ‘scolded’ like a child by my superiors in front of my peers for minor mistakes, and when confronted, they had no apology or remorse for their treatment.”