The serious workplace harassment and humiliation that had been going on for a long time in Thyssenkrupp’s office in Budapest was investigated following an online forum post with the involvement of the German owner, but since then everything has remained the same.
There is no more room at the meeting, the girl would go out to get an extra chair. Manager: no need, you can sit on my face
– the quote above is from June In a Reddit post can be read in which An employee of the Hungarian subsidiary of the German company Thyssenkrupp reports on the harsh harassment and humiliation experienced by female employees at the company. As a result of the post, an internal investigation was finally launched, but nothing has changed since then, it turns out Telex from his article.
A male colleague takes a photo of a female colleague in a short skirt in the office and shows the other colleagues in an obscene way that she should be fucked
– can be read in the summer post, to which there were several comments about similar experiences. In connection with the case, the paper contacted Thyssenkrupp’s headquarters in Hungary, from which ten days later they announced in a statement that an investigation had been launched and indicated that the company rejects “discrimination, sexual harassment, gender discrimination or any form of abuse”.
Writing on Reddit under the username Ithinkso12, the worker who later introduced herself to Telex as Szandra told the paper, even though more than three months have passed since your post was written, there has been no significant development.
They still don’t understand the problem, why it’s not funny when a man tells a woman why he came to the meeting as a decoration or to sit on my face
he said.
In the comments on Reddit, former employees of Thyssenkrupp’s Budapest office they report incompetent and toxic leadersthere was someone who wrote, “after one of the steeper cases, they did take a small step forward, including compensation, but unfortunately it did not cover my therapy. They spoke to us very condescendingly and gaslighted us regularly: while they didn’t assign me a task despite my request, they scolded me for not working – a woman who joined the company as a student worker at the age of 19 told Telex on the phone.
Every morning, the seniors told the current company gossip to the students, talking about everyone behind their backs.
As part of the investigation of the case, a German committee arrived at the Budapest office, and according to the author of the Reddit post at first it seemed that they really took the matter seriously. He said that in the office where the investigation took place, dozens of women complainedthey replaced each other.
Two German HR professionals and one external Hungarian lawyer were present. I recounted several specific cases, named persons and witnesses, and presented written evidence. They seemed quite shocked.
In comparison, even after two months, they received only one e-mail asking for their patience. Before writing the post that triggered the scandal, Szandra too reported several cases to HR, but no action was taken against themjust the advice not to go to the office in short clothes next time.
They left us completely alone. Before the company events, the girls gave each other advice on how to escape from the situation when the drunken male colleagues start grabbing us, she said.
The husband of one of the female employees also spoke to Telex. The man claims that his wife’s boss obtained the woman’s sick pay papers, from which, after learning that the woman was pregnant at risk, he spread the news in the office, “he took my wife away from everything and […] he questioned why he didn’t say at least half a year earlier that he wanted a child,” he said.
This boss is no longer with the company, but the co-worker who grabbed my wife’s bottom at the Christmas party is.
“They say it’s so good, it’s like we’re still in college now”
Sandra emphasized, a few dozen employees from the middle and top management are the ones who maintain the toxic atmosphere in the thousand-person companythe organizational culture of the entire company is determined.
Those who do not fit into this macho culture and try to protect women are laughed at or scorned.
The Budapest University of Technology (BME) golyatáboraiban According to Szandra, the reports about the harassment that took place show very similar cases, she believes that it is not by chance, since his colleagues socialized in the same BME communities.
The company’s domestic subsidiary started as a small business, in which boys who had just graduated from the technical university created the organizational culture themselves. Many of them still work here.
Several people threatened Sandra in messages on Reddit, saying that they would find out who she is and “she will be fired”.
She is not afraid of being fired, as she will soon resign herself, but she is afraid that women who go home from work crying will still not be believed.
Cover photo: AFP
