When I was first offered a job a TikTok, I was happy to be working full-time from home. It would help me financially, I hoped; and maybe, in the future, I can move up a little and then leave. I knew I would leave at best in three years, but I did not know it would be at the expense of my mental health.
It is not so much mental health that bothers me, but the despondency I'd feel in the presence of others after having worked at TikTok. The managers have absolutely no empathy and find gaslighting employees to be absolutely normal because we “should be grateful to be working at TikTok”, as moderators mind you.
As soon as my training ended, within the first month, my enthusiasm began to die down; and by the six-month mark, the experience molded me into a person who despised humans for the indignity they demonstrated in the TikTok videos and mental abuse exuding from the company who, despite its wax-lyrical about mental health, goes as far as to create what one employee described as a “kill list”; which basically means management and hr conspire to abuse a person until they leave the company. You can read about it here: https://www.ft.com/content/f9f5f344-84df-404a-96bd-0047a94bdf34
Let's assume you aren't on that list, then how do they treat you? Within the first of my tenure at TikTok, KPIs increased by 30% or so, even though they were incredibly insane to begin with. This coupled with the dismal working hours and shift patterns, inevitably took a toll on people, spawning some serious cases: One colleague of mine they were becoming more and more depressed as time passed, and they couldn't do anything because they needed this job. He had mentioned this to the manager of the department, who replied with: “Oh, I wouldn't say it is affecting your mental health”, in the most condescending way possible. Literally, two weeks later, this very same manager took a mental-health sick leave, of around a month, because some people did not give positive feedback about her. I informed my colleague about this, and they weren't happy to say the least. But this person said they so scared to complain about clear gaslighting and abusive behavior that they felt they can lose their job. They are right, they'll be “managed off”.
So what happens when you complain about a manager? I became friends with another employee who started at the same time as me. She was in contact with the other girls in the training team, and they informed her that the manager who started with them was incredibly rude, condescending and abusive, causing an exodus from the team, but not before they complained numerous times: HR did absolutely nothing. One of the other girls in her team, who started with me, left three months into her tenure; but because she was a girl of steal, she made sure this “piece of shit” got a mouthful. The manager is still at the company.
Some people may put this down to a lack of organization in HR. Although this is true in general, it isn't when it comes to abusing and pressuring people. I witnessed managers who were actually really good to us and contributed to the success of our team get moved away because they were too nice to us, for absolutely no reason and in an instant. It happened to two of our managers, who were finally replaced by the most toxic sycophant I have ever seen. This manager gaslit around 20 moderators in team meetings several times, telling them they do not know what certain words mean and implying that they were stupid. He shouted at people who tried to them that they do things this way because that is how previous managers did it because, when this manager first started, they were looking for bs reasons to get people into trouble. So people tried to explain they weren't doing anything wrong. This manager went as far as making up company rules and shouting at people for not following them. This “person” also lies quite often about what someone did or said.Some people complained but nothing happened to this person.
Any manager who isn't a sociopathic drone is immediately moved somewhere else, fired; or they quit. Most teams within the company hate their managers. One employee once told me they were close to jumping off the desk and battering their manager, and that it took enormous self-control to actually avoid it. Why?We are constantly pressured, lied to, condescended and abused. For instance, if the team complains about the shift patterns, which they have for the almost three years I have been there, the manager pretends to have raised it with the shift team, only to return and tell us we should be grateful for the shift pattern within the company.The managers are intentionally chosen to be this way and forms of socialization are only kept within the teams. In fact, in the office in which I work, they have split the teams into specific areas and employees aren't allowed to gather for too long in the common areas, as they have sensed the discontent of the employees, which may spread to real action if they were to talk about it. This is a common tactic that also occurs in meetings with teams: The teams are split.They want someone to constantly watch and control you, tell you what to leave and use accusatory language all the time. So they want a literal drone
So what happens when we all voice our opinions in a space? Well, last time people voiced their concern for the low-pay and forced work-from-office system, which costs employees transportation money and time. This was in an online team meeting between all the moderation teams. TikTok's response was to organise a meeting with a crypto-bro-looking douchebag. This enormous waste of time proceeded to condescendingly tell us how to spend our money. He said things like: Avoid going to bars and instead, we should buy wine from the store and sit in the park. The message was the following: “Don't live, just exist. Sit in the cold if you have to. Live in a cave. The company's profits are important, and you do not matter. All else is trivial.” As douchebag was spewing his inane nonsense, which was in an of itself condescending and belittling, another douche was employed to gaslight people who raised their discontent with the whole thing, in the comments section. I could not believe my eyes and ears. It is the only moment in my life I legitimately felt envious of blindness and hearing impairment.
The worst part of everything is that people who have been treated worse than you never help you out. They are too scared to lose their jobs and often abandon the people that had their backs. It is a highly toxic place.
Why people continue working here for more than two to three years and why people use this app; I will never understand because here's something else: It is a stupidity generator and is specifically designed that way. I do not want to watch humanity decline to depths of ideological hell while I am working in deteriorating conditions, just like my comrades (working people) all around the world, to keep it afloat.
I will be quitting TikTok very soon, as I am way passed my threshold; in fact, I have been incredibly tolerant, even after watching 90% of those who started with me and after me leave the company as soon as they found another job that paid around the same. Career progression is only possible if you exist within the cult, and not desirable in these circumstances anyway. The tenure at TikTok is around 9 months. It is time.
There's much more to say, but I would leave that to us, who you can read here:
https://www.teamblind.com/post/TikTokByteDance-toxic-culture-z7giSDj0
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/06/tiktoks-toxic-culture-reviews-on-glassdoor-impact-hiring.html
https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/former-tiktok-moderator-asked-to-leave-up-disturbing-violence/13613958 (this person started after me and left over a year ago)
https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/9/23063350/tiktok-work-culture-stress-investigation-united-states
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tiktok-employees-complain-working-there-is-hell
Edits: A few typos