If you care even a bit about this company, please read my email till the end.
It has been a long time coming. Unfortunately, I am no longer interested in working for Neemopani due to its over-ridiculous rules and policies. I am facing burnout, complete lack of productivity, and frustration because of the current work culture. And let me assure you, you are only killing productivity. Many scripts are not made, because we fear if we stay late and come accordingly in the morning, we will face a penalty. At least that’s what I feel. I don’t want to create any more scripts for Neemopani.
At this point, it feels almost embarrassing to tell that if you hire creative people, shepherding them around like a flock of sheep doesn’t work. This goes double especially if you are trying to run a film studio or content creation studio. There is ZERO flexibility. The output is measured in form of how we are able to come on time.
I am a professional copywriter, a content writer, and a non-fiction and fiction ghostwriter. Currently, I have affiliations with four companies. I handle freelance work for all of them. When I came to Neemopani, I had a passion and high hopes. I came as a normal article writer, but I soon adapted and started writing scripts. I also started writing spoof articles to match Neemopani’s style. I am now swamped by the amount of work I have to handle. I need to do that to cope with the rise of recent inflation.
Unfortunately, as time passed, I started noticing the over-strict rules and regulations.
· You can stay late for the shoot, or you can even leave at 9-10 pm without making any of that extra time count. I know about conserving the resources but all the hard work done i.e. coming early for shoots or staying late is just forgotten. And you are supposed to come back again tomorrow at the earliest time possible. Extra hours are not counted but one minute delay is just unacceptable. By the rules of Neemopani, if you come at 10.01 am (10.00 am in the regular time), then at the end of the month, you will get a salary cut of PKR 1000 for 30 minutes delay because that 1 minute adds up every day. There are ZERO concepts of mental health and to be honest, recently this place has become immensely draining and negative. We are real living human beings with emergencies and needs.
· Only recently, we had another policy imposed which forbids a single woman from traveling with a single man. While none of us agreed to this, it sounds very ridiculous. On one hand, we are planning Netflix-level series, and on other hand, we are becoming accustomed to those orthodox settings again. Once these typical orthodoxical approaches might have worked when people used to rely on only one source of earning. Now, they don't since people need to earn enough money to feed their families. The least you can do is make your employee’s life less miserable.
Many of us asked for a transport facility, as fuel prices are rising. But we were soon denied any facility. Apart from that, the over-strictness just kills the vibe. You are asking us to put our heart and soul into creating feature films. But at the same time, you are trying to run this place like a real estate company. It is very embarrassing to remind anyone at this stage that a change in policies is due but I think that’s too much to ask. The current culture asks that you work like a robot (which is ironic since the rules make it impossible to reward you for hard work, and punish you instead if you even try to innovate).
The consequence of this is that I will be the 10th person leaving Neemopani. Frankly, the old manager had high aims for this place. And only one person has been able to match those expectations. That person is the current manager. However, I am seeing that despite all her hard work, despite her staying late, and even coming to the company with all the aches, she is still facing penalties like most of us. The company has made it impossible for us to have a personal life. Mental health is outright ignored here. And despite seeing so many people leave, things haven’t changed. PATTERNS ARE REPEATING!
I offered you a chance to prove my new way of work. I told you that I would be giving you 3x output. My approach was a hybrid style of work. Unfortunately, you succumbed to your older rules and didn’t even give me a chance to prove myself.
The company’s suffocating work culture doesn’t allow you to innovate. My output started from writing 3 articles and scripts, along with working on multiple things at once. I have also gone for some shoots. However, seeing how everything was turning out, how everyone was getting overworked and nobody’s pleas were taken into consideration, I just restricted myself to doing the minimum amount of work. And you can check my record. Last 2 months, I was doing 2 articles regularly. I was not innovative but I came on time and didn’t ask for any leave. However, this compliance came with a cost. I didn’t think about Neemopani’s growth or even my growth. I just didn’t care… All I cared about was making money by doing the bare minimum. And your rules allowed that… it is like playing safe works but working hard is outright sacrilegious.
I will not be coming to the office anymore. My mental health is my top priority, and I also need to grow in my career. The worst thing right now would be to just point all this blame on one person and ignore everything that I just said. Also, you have the perfect formula for making talented people leave which is working perfectly. Maybe instead of suffocating us with those policies, try coming up with something that actually results in greater employee outputs and a lesser turnover ratio.
Here is research on how to improve productivity in one of the creative places.
All of them have one thing in common which is workplace flexibility.