How Did the Working Conditions in Egypt Lead a Multinational Company’s Employee to Suicide?

On December 25, an Egyptian employee called Nour Ashour jumped from the third floor, out of his company’s window, and died instantly following continuous abuse from his boss and work stress.

Nour’s family told Al-Watan newspaper that he had no home since his ex-wife took his apartment, and he has been sleeping in the company for 5 days.

Nashwa Abdel Fattah, the employee’s ex-wife, said that Nour died of psychological pressure caused by the manager's abuse because he frequently needed to enter the bathroom.

Nour, 45, was an employee of Teleperformance Group in Cairo since 2019, and his financial affairs were insolvent, as he owed 1,000 Egyptian pounds to the supermarket next door to his home, and 15,000 pounds to other entities, and he relied on paying off this debt on the bonus that will come down to his salary in February 2022.

But in December 2021, his manager decided to deduct four days from his salary by claiming that Nour goes to the bathroom too many times at the company, which is true because Nour had diabetes, which causes him to go to the bathroom more often than his colleagues.

"The manager informed Nour during the dismissal without investigating him, the event was very difficult for him, he felt humiliated and refused to continue working, and to succumb to a 20-year-old manager although Nour is 45," Nashwa said.

The incident was widespread on social media, then, according to Egyptian media, there was a fire at the headquarters of the company, causing the damage of the company's cameras, which hindered the work of the judiciary, being unable to unload the cameras.

Several sources told Egyptian media that the chairman of the board of directors sent an official email to the employees of the company, in which he confirmed that the fire was caused by a short circuit, and was quickly controlled.

 

Company Slavery

The suicide incident sheds light on the work environment and worker conditions in Egypt, especially in multi-billion-dollar companies.

Call centers are usually servicing first world consumers with third world employees, due to low wage labor costs.

Sermin Magdi, a former employee at Teleperformance, wrote on Facebook that if someone gets hired at Teleperformance, then “Welcome to slavery, welcome to psychological complexes, and welcome to endless deductions from your wage.”

Abdallah Anter, another employee in the same company, said in a Facebook post: “The employee’s shift is 9 hours straight, with an hour break in between, divided into three breaks, and you aren’t allowed to communicate with anyone or eat or check your phone in the working hours.

“Moreover, you have to come half an hour early every day to log in the system on your computer, and you aren’t allowed to have a headache or ease for even one minute; a one minute late employee will immediately get deductions.

“We forget in these working conditions that we work to live, we’re rather living to work,” he added.

“Eye ache, headache, ears ache, absence of any social life, the rarity of promotions, psychological pressure, and many other negative effects of this company are present on a daily basis.”

 

No Rights

The lack of workers’ rights is not exclusive to Teleperformance only, rather it extends to the whole work environment in Egypt in many sectors.

Zeinab Hamdy, a 24-year-old employee at a multinational call center in Cairo, says that the work conditions are inhumane in general, “but for call centers specifically, we are treated as machines.”

In her interview with Al-Estiklal, Zeinab mentioned that she had to work for 10 hours daily plus 2 hours for the transportation from home to work.

“Through these hours, you are forbidden to go to the bathroom except in specific hours, you can’t look away from your desk or you will get a punishment, you even can’t hold your mobile phone while you’re in the company.

“I hold a bachelor degree in Law, and many of my colleagues were graduates of Engineering, Commerce, Art, and several other faculties. The call center is a job for anyone who couldn’t find a job in his field of study,” she concluded.

Ali Nader, an employee at a multinational company in the food sector, says that what happened in Teleperformance is a prototype of the suffering of workers in most of the factories and companies in Egypt.

“The workers in our company have no rights at all, they can get dismissed whenever the manager feels like it, they can get deductions for any reason or without reason at all.

“Moreover, the company does not cover their health insurance during accidents in the company, nor do they have a long-term contract, so it’s basically no job security and no employment security,” he said in his interview with Al-Estiklal.

“One time, a worker didn’t call in for an excuse to be late for work, one of his family members had an incident and had to be hospitalized and he was the only one available to support him, nevertheless, the company immediately expelled him.

“Another time, one worker asked for a break because he was too tired from the maintenance of the factory’s machines, but the manager refused saying ‘sorry but it’s the company’s policy,’” he concluded.