Employees lift lid on ‘toxic’ culture under former Sony Music boss Denis Handlin

Employees at Sony have lifted the lid on the company’s alleged “toxic” culture under former boss Denis Handlin in an explosive report.

More than 100 current and former Sony Music employees have made bombshell claims about the company’s “toxic” culture under former chairman and chief executive officer Denis Handlin.

Employees have alleged inappropriate behaviour ranging from sexism, discrimination and daily abuse to systemic bullying in an explosive report obtained by the ABC’s Four Corners.

“His day-to-day dealings with people were pretty much at the executive level so they’re the people who really copped the abuse and the toxic behaviour,” Sony Music Australia’s former finance director, Alan Terrey, told the ABC.

Pop singer-songwriter Amy Shark with former Sony Music Australia chairman and CEO Denis Handlin on November 28 2018.

Denis Handlin, the Chairman & CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, pictured with Delta Goodrem.Picture: Dylan Robinson

“Occasionally, he would bring some lower minion into a board meeting and absolutely destroy them in front of his superior. “But it was meted out to everybody.”

Handlin, 70, was CEO of Sony Music Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand as well as overseeing parts of Asia.

He was also chairman of the ARIA board and an Officer of the Order of Australia and was considered the most powerful man in the Australian music industry, having produced some of the country’s biggest stars including Guy Sebastian and Delta Goodrem.

Terrey and others claim that same power went to Handlin’s head and subsequently created a “mean” and “ruthless” leader, who routinely subjected employees to “humiliation” during his more than 50-year tenure.

Handlin dressed as Adolf Hitler in an undated internal staff video.

Footage of Handlin as Hitler.

“Denis got consumed by power. No question about it,” Terrey said. “It was his company. It was his train set. And anyone below him, including myself as 2IC, were basically puppets and he pulled all the strings and he demanded his actions to be followed.”

An undated internal staff video shows Handlin dressed as Adolf Hitler and joking about the company culture which some say is an example of his consistently “inappropriate” behaviour.

Former vice-president of Sony Music Australia, Tony Glover, was sacked earlier this year when claims of sexual misconduct were made on social media sites, however, he claims he was used as a “scapegoat”.

Molly Meldrum with Handlin.

Glover was accused of bullying and sexually harassing his female employees .

He initially denied the claims but now says he doesn’t recall any incidents of inappropriate behaviour because he may have been drunk at the time and claims the company had a drinking culture.

He was let go in April after an independent investigation.

“I think that the thinking was, ‘the heat’s coming, we need to do something about this. What’s the best way to deal with it? Let’s take out a senior exec. Nothing to see here, move on,” Glover told Four Corners.

Handlin was also ousted in June and Sony announced it was investigating the workplace culture but the company insisted that he was only leaving because it was “time for a change of leadership”.

“The thing that has upset most of us ... was that [Sony] said, ‘Oh, we just found out about this problem, this has just come to light’. That’s such a load of hogwash,” said Terrey.

In a statement to Four Corners, Handlin denied any wrongdoing.

“I have always provided support and encouragement to women in the industry and personally championed diversity,” he said.

“I would never tolerate treating women in an inappropriate or discriminatory manner. At any time I was made aware of this sort of behaviour I took action to ensure that it was stopped and didn’t occur again.”