According to a report shared with the Washington Post by Mikhail Klimentov, Andy “Reginald” Dinh, the Co-Founder and CEO of TSM supposedly creates a “toxic work atmosphere” within the company. Dinh is said to spread fear among his employees, and the article details several incidents to back up this allegation.
As per the report, several TSM employees claim they had witnessed Dinh’s rage and retaliation on multiple occasions, creating fear amongst employees. The report includes statements from current and former TSM employees, many of whom had supposedly similar experiences with the organisation’s CEO.
One of the TSM employees also brought up the recent employment termination of the company’s Head of HR. The organisation reportedly laid off its HR manager just two weeks after joining the company because Dinh allegedly didn’t like his questions.
NEW: Over a dozen workers at TSM and Blitz told The Post about the "culture of fear" fostered by Andy Dinh, and a resulting exodus of talent.
Some workers may have also been misclassified as contractors, not employees, based on interviews and docs we got.https://t.co/LOHFrBRDQk
— ℳikhail Klimentov (@LeaderGrev) May 4, 2022
The accusations also included verbal abuse, public shaming, and rage, alleging that Dinh instilled fear among his colleagues. Because of the hostility toward TSM employees, many of the staff found meetings with Dinh frightening and attempted to avoid them. Anthony Barnes, former Senior Program Manager at Blitz, also shared that no one was interested in meeting Dinh one-on-one because there would be no witnesses if anything went wrong.
Dinh’s behaviour was described by Barnes as unpredictable. “Who knew if Andy was going to scream or yell at you, degrade you, be friendly, or just be confused or inquisitive? You weren’t sure what Andy you were going to get. But the more people on the call, the more likely Andy wasn’t going to be a complete volcano,” said Barnes in a statement for Washington Post.
TSM and Blitz accused of employee misclassification
Former TSM and Blitz employees also pointed out the misclassification of their job status. The organisations reportedly classified staff workers as contractors rather than employees, depriving them of various benefits and employee perks.
Gillian Sheldon, TSM and Blitz Spokesperson refused to comment on the allegations, stating that organisations won’t be discussing confidential personnel issues and complaints made by anonymous individuals.
Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng (left) and Andy “Reginald” Dinh (right). Image credit: Riot Games
This is not the first time TSM and Dinh are facing such accusations. According to statements by Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, a former member of TSM’s League of Legends lineup, Dinh verbally abused and bullied numerous TSM players. He’s also being investigated by Riot Games over the same allegations.
Reading peoples' anecdotes that Andy was nice to them and thus downplay the fact that he harassed and abused people at TSM as their boss is just so disgusting. No wonder people don't feel good about speaking up about their abusers
— Yiliang Peng (@Doublelift1) November 12, 2021
Following the recent accusations, Dinh acknowledged that his words were harsh and that he was working on improving his communication with his colleagues.
Dihn’s case only adds to the heap of similar accusations that have been emerging in the esports and gaming industry in recent years. Abuse and misconduct, infamously known to be an issue at Activision Blizzard and a number of other gaming companies, pose a serious threat to the work culture in this space.
Header: Riot Games
