A woman whose boss repeatedly passed off her work as his own detailed how she started watermarking her presentations only to be replaced and given less than a month to find a new job.
Romanian Kristina Shevchenko, 25, shared her trick to prevent her work from being stolen in a viral TikTok video in late January, recalling how she caught her manager presenting her ideas to senior management without giving her credit.
“I was walking past the office and saw my work being featured in a room full of very influential people,” she told BuzzFeed of the market research she did for two weeks at her first corporate job in 2019.
Scroll down for video
Kristina Shevchenko, 25, from Romania shared her trick to prevent her work from being stolen in a viral TikTok video.
She explained that after convicting her manager of passing off her market research as his own, she began “hiding” her signature on her work.
“However, my name was never mentioned,” she said, adding, “It broke my heart.”
Sevchenko, who refrained from disclosing her former company’s name, was told she would rarely submit her work, but she was surprised that her boss removed her name from the study and gave her no credit. .
When she tried to talk to her manager about how she wanted to be recognized for her hard work, her concerns were dismissed.
That’s when she started “hiding” her signature, so every time someone downloaded one of her PowerPoint presentations, her watermark was added to it.
Sevcenco’s viral video has been viewed over 3.7 million times, and many of the commenters may be related to their hard work being stolen by their bosses.
Sevcenco’s viral video has been viewed over 3.7 million times, and many of the commenters may be related to their hard work being stolen by their bosses.
“I’ve done this before. I got fired for watermarking “their” jobs. Until I showed [the] Date of creation. Then I took my idea with me. Still a win,” wrote one person.
“My boss sent me chain mail, asking how to react. I started replying to everyone instead of just replying to her,” added another.
“My manager did this too, so every time I sent out the final product, I sent copies to all the stakeholders she reports to via email,” someone else shared.
Others have asked for a guide to Sevcenco’s watermarks. In a follow-up video, she demonstrated how to add a watermark to a PowerPoint presentation, admitting she was surprised that it wasn’t “common knowledge”.
“You have to learn how to watermark your work because in corporations, especially the ones I’ve worked for, it’s very toxic and people steal your work very often,” she said.
Many commenters have asked Sevcenco for a tutorial on watermarking so they can try this trick for themselves.
In a follow-up video, she demonstrated how to add a watermark to a PowerPoint presentation, admitting she was surprised it wasn’t “common knowledge”.
However, Sevchenko told BuzzFeed that she was reprimanded for her actions and eventually replaced after being given less than a month to find a new job.
While Sevchenko advocates for employees to be recognized for their work, her actions have had consequences.
She told BuzzFeed that she ended up having to remove the watermark and resubmit the project after being warned never to do so again.
Her boss also got his manager to talk to her about “how things work here” and her career began to suffer.
‘[My manager] no longer gave me so many projects, [and] she talked to everyone about how to work better, [except] me,” she recalled. “Later I found out that I was replaced and I had 21 days to find another job.”
Sevchenko moved to work for another company and is now self-employed as a freelance consultant. She explained that she had no ill will towards her former manager because her boss was the same way.
‘I sincerely believe [my manager] was a good person, but the manager made her like that, ”she said.