For context: I have a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in biology and I recently graduated with an MBA from a top 10 business school. I have about 6 years of work experience, but have been looking to switch sectors into something closer to my educational background in biology and haven’t had much luck, primarily because of not enough experience in that sector within this geography. So when I got offered a job at a local startup, I jumped at the opportunity.
There were some red flags from day 1: they massively low-balled me with the salary; their offer was lower than the amount on the posted job description. They explained it as, “you have low experience” which was fine, because really, I did only need the experience. Then came day 2, when the receptionist was clocking my times in and out of the office (without my knowledge), basically bathroom breaks, going for lunch etc. This amounted to a grand total of 40 minutes, I found out later.
Then today. HR called me in to ask me to sign the labor contract. During the course of the conversation, I asked about leave policy which I had read (in government labor policy guidelines) comes into play after probation. She said that yes, that is legally mandated; however at this organization the leave policy policy comes into effect after a year at discretion of management and barring extreme sickness or a death in the family, I would not be granted leave, even if I was fine with unpaid leave. She further went on to tell me that my time outside the office yesterday had come to the attention of management and that they were not happy. It was required of everyone in the office to let admin know when and why we were leaving office. When I asked to clarify she said that in the past people have spent as much as 30 minutes in the bathroom and that is unacceptable. So everyone is now required to inform admin when they leave and specify if it’s for lunch or a meeting or a bathroom break (she also mentioned that if it’s stomach issues, that should be reported too as that would mean a longer bathroom break). By this point, I had already moved past incredulity. I asked her if any of these “rules” were legal and if she could show me the official company policy. She said that I could take it up with management, which is basically just one person, the company’s founder. In my conversation with him, he informed me that it wasn’t official policy to inform anyone of my bathroom breaks, rather, it was his company’s culture. He proceeded to tell me that as good as I was at my job, I shouldn’t expect “special” treatment and should report all my breaks and the reasons for them like apparently everyone else does. And if I did not like his culture, I could quit and join a company that follows legally mandated labor practices. So I did.
EDIT: Thanks for the support folks! This post felt like therapy and your responses took me a long way down the road to healing. It’s tough to see how many of us have been put through this; I do wish I could name the company like many of you requested, but I don’t believe this company is going to stay in business much longer and the man in charge seemed to have an ego big enough to make things difficult for me. Thanks again.