Interview

PEDRO MARIANO believes that he can make the difference

He studied Marketing and Advertising, but dropped out to work in banking. He wrote a book. He’s currently an entrepreneur dedicated to fighting injustice in civil society. He created the Assedius.pt platform after being a victim of bullying in the workplace. He’s main objective is to solve the individual problem of each of the victims who present themselves. He believes that labor harassment is still a taboo topic in Portugal, but despite the “rocky path” he has taken, he considers that the evolution has been positive and constant. He’s a fighter, resilient, but positive. Above all, he believes that he can make a difference, as the fight for justice is his greatest weapon.

FIRST, TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF: WHO IS PEDRO MARIANO PERSONALLY?

I am an entrepreneur and a creative person, with a great spirit of curiosity, innovation and resilience. More and more I follow my intuition and punctually ask my mentors for advice, and then I make the decision that my conscience/reason dictates and usually it’s never wrong. On the other hand, I have a deafening sense of justice that drives me to act actively in the civil society, developing projects aimed at improving the quality of life of people and companies.

THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFE, YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INVOLVED IN VOLUNTEERING. YOU VOLUNTEERED AT VARIOUS SITES, COMPANIES, LOCATIONS. WHAT DOES VOLUNTEERING MEAN TO YOU?

I was a scout and since then I have always enjoyed helping and caring for others. For me, volunteering is a permanent principle of mutual help and concern for others. Throughout my life, I have always been enrolled and participated in volunteer activities in all the companies I worked for, as well as in actions developed by the community where I live. It may seem like a cliché, but I always gained more than I gave, life is a great lesson, we all need everyone! I learned from my first manager, my dear friend Santos Silva, that it takes a lot of patience and resilience to lead teams, and since then, when I took up my first management position, I followed his advice: listen to the concerns and what the career goals of each contributor are. To obtain these answers, with simplicity, is enough to listen to them and then make decisions that help them achieve the objectives they propose within what is imposed as the institution’s objective.

YOU WERE ENROLLED AT ISCET IN MARKETING AND ADVERTISING, BUT DROPPED OUT TO GO TO BANKING. WHAT LED YOU TO CHANGE AREAS AND GIVE UP ON THE COURSE?

What made me change areas at that moment was the search for the economic independence from my parents, although I really liked my work in banking and the principles that it contained at that time. However, the taste for marketing and advertising was always present, and alongside that activity I was also exercising in this area, developing numerous projects. Over the years the principles I believed in banking have changed, I stopped seeing myself as a person in this work and then dedicated myself full time only to the area of marketing, advertising and new technologies.

YOU WERE LINKED TO BANKING FOR OVER 20 YEARS. DURING THIS TIME, DID YOU MANAGE TO ACHIEVE WHAT YOU SET OUT TO DO, YOUR GOALS?

During the time I worked at the bank, not only did I fulfill the objectives that were proposed to me, but I often exceeded them. As I mentioned in the previous answer, for a long time I reviewed myself professionally in the values that the bank defended, and this constituted a stimulus to increasingly improve my performance, leading great teams and obtaining excellent results. When the situation changed, and certain values changed, with which I did not identify and which I refused to follow, because I considered it ethically reprehensible, I ended up being a victim of bullying at work, which led me to leave this area.

YOU LEFT WHEN YOU WERE MANAGER OF ONE THE BANK’S BRANCHES. WHAT MADE YOU LEAVE?

Continuing with the answer given to the previous question, the reasons that led me to leave were the fact that I did not identify with the unethical principles of certain people with whom I had a professional relationship in the banking sector, which slipped into the practice of the aforementioned moral harassment and consequently led me to the decision of my departure.

YOU ARE THE FOUNDER OF ASSEDIUS.PT. WHAT LED YOU TO FOUND THIS COMPANY? WHAT DOES THIS PLATFORM CONSIST OF?

First of all, the main reason behind the creation of this platform was the fact that I myself have been a victim of bullying in the workplace and I have known firsthand the harmful effects that such harassment entails. Then I challenged Dr. Noémia Carvalho to write the book “Labor Harassment – When work imprisons”, entirely dedicated to the topic of harassment and also with my personal testimony. As I really like people and sharing everything I know, I decided to gather everyone and all the information I had to start developing a platform for the internet and thus Assedius was born. The platform consists of an absolutely private technological mechanism, which lives on its own capital, absolutely independent of ideologies or established powers. The main function of this platform is the impartial reception and impartial treatment of cases arising from moral and/or sexual harassment in the workplace, consisting of both legal and psychological guidance for the victims of these behaviors. The main objective is the prompt and effective resolution of the individual degradation that the victim of harassment suffers.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST DIFFICULTIES YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED SINCE LAUNCHING THIS PLATFORM?

The biggest difficulty encountered was its public dissemination in the media, in public and private institutions, because without subterfuge, the topic is still a taboo in Portuguese society. Despite everything, having the notion that we are still doing “the path of stones”, the evolution has been positive and constant.

WHAT IS THE PROFILE OF THE VICTIMS WHO TURN TO YOU AND RESULTS?

Now, with 5 years of experience, we have a perception of the entire journey of victims who come to us. This problem is transversal, ranging from street sweepers to management positions. Harassment usually happens more between bosses and subordinates, but there are also cases between peers and subordinates about bosses, the latter being less common. Nobody is safe! After the first consultation, everyone is clarified and more relieved, since from then on they have our support and can appeal whenever they wish. In the most serious cases, a 24-hour telephone number is provided to follow up the victim. Victims are always very grateful for our work and we occasionally receive calls to inform them of the development of the situation. Unfortunately, the largest number of victims is still among women and among these those who have positions of relevance, responsibility and that require competence. Easy targets for those who want to denigrate their professional image in order to achieve their job.

ASSEDIUS.PT ALSO HAS REGINA SAMPAIO (LAWYER), NOÉMIA CARVALHO AND SILVIA CORAZZA (PSYCHOLOGIST), WHO ACCOMPANY THE VICTIMS. HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS FOLLOW-UP?

The Assedius.pt team also counts on the collaboration of two more jurists (Dr Filipa Leal and Dr Diana Maria Nunes who also holds the position of CLO) and an administrative collaborator (Mário Bessa). The importance of this team is, as mentioned in the previous point, the guidance, the help of the victims with the resource of very experienced professionals in this matter, with the primary aim of solving the labor contingency but mainly in helping to solve the health issue/illness that harassing behavior inevitably causes in victims and their families or close people. I add to these facts an economic loss, first of all for the victims who often resort to sick leave, for the companies or institutions where they work, and ultimately for the State that is all of us.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE WITH ASSEDIUS?

The main objective is to solve the individual problem of each of the victims. Having been one of them, I know well the importance of that. For this, there was a need to fill a void that existed in the fight against harassment in our country, with an absolutely exempt platform that deals globally with the victims’ problems, that is, at the legal level and at the mental health level. We intend to be a reference in this field, differentiating ourselves from all the public and semi-public institutions that already exist, all with the aim of raising awareness, preventing, solving and combating a phenomenon in full growth in our society, which is today considered the exhausted society.