Hey everyone!
I've been working in a international SME since last year. This company's MD is an expat. Throughout my time here, I've witnessed multiple, almost daily instances of verbal abuse by the MD to the employees. I understood that this has been going on ever since he entered the company and he was actually worse back then compared to how he is now.
I am an executive and I directly report to my HOD who reports to this MD. Almost every day in the meeting room, I can hear him hurling insults at the HODs, yelling at the top of his voice, slamming the table and even resorting to personal insults by mentioning their parents, spouse etc. Nobody thus far has dared to speak up against him.
There was once when he came to the lab to talk to my team. I had my hands in my pocket and he yelled at me to take them out. I was shocked because this display of unprofessionalism was astounding and I have never seen anything like this before in my other two previous companies. That was my first time experiencing his emotional abuse firsthand.
Anyway, seeing this happen almost daily, I try to ignore it and go on with my work as I genuinely like working with my team. The other day, I sent an email to one of our counterparts (the MD was in the loop) and he responded to my email in red, bolded font aggressively asking if that email that I sent was necessary. He then proceeded to barge into our office to yell at me. I tried to explain myself and my POV and he just kept talking over me and trying to intimidate me. In the middle of explaining myself, he mentioned my dad and I got upset and told him to stop disrespecting me and to not bring my dad into this. He proceeded to walk up close to me to intimidate me. I backed off and told him he could fire me if he's not happy with me. He then proceeded to ask me if I am not happy working in the company to which I responded yes and he congratulated me for speaking up. He then proceeded to explain why he was upset with my email (which he could've done in the first place) and returned to the office. This whole experience left an extremely bad taste in my mouth and I am particularly upset he had to mention my personal life.
I am wondering what I can do about this. So far, my options are:
a. To report to JTK. I was planning on doing this once I get a new job and I get an opportunity to tender my resignation. But I am not sure if it's advisable to just do it now. I have some evidence in the form of recordings, WhatsApp screenshots and email screenshots.
b. Tender my resignation now and report to JTK. I have no job leads at the moment and I am afraid I would need to risk a period of unemployment.
Going to the HR is not an option as its pretty much common knowledge they won't take any action (his abuse has been going on for 5 years with no consequences whatsoever). There's a whistleblower platform to the main HQ but I don't have confidence in that either.
I would love to hear from you guys if you have gone through any similar situations and your advise on what I can do.
Many thanks in advance 😄