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A ton of time is an exaggeration. I think this is the first time Redfin is mentioned by name on HN.[1] And I don't think my account is anon if you and Glenn bot

A ton of time is an exaggeration. I think this is the first time Redfin is mentioned by name on HN.[1] And I don't think my account is anon if you and Glenn both can figure out who I am. I enjoyed working at Redfin, and I believe they are disrupting real estate in a good way. I would say I love the site. I spend a ton of time advocating for Redfin. But I wish Glenn tried to build a more inclusive work environment. When I worked at Redfin, a number of people complained about racist and sexist incidents. All of them were minor. For example, boss touching a black woman's natural hair. No one wanted to escalate it to management, because they didn't feel it was safe or that people wouldn't care. Some co-workers were empathetic, while others expressed disbelief and defensiveness. Many were dismissive because "it's worlds apart" from their experiences. A couple of us eventually escalated to management. The lack of empathy was disappointing but not unexpected. A handful of my friends have left or want to leave partly due to these incidents. That's not good. What would you do? Feel free to PM me. I think a private conversation would be more honest and involve less posturing. [1] https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=kelukelugames%20redfin https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e... Looks like I only say nice things about Redfin. :)

wpietri 10y ago
Wow, the hair-touching thing. You may enjoy/cringe at this parody workplace training video: https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/786655684809274/ https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/78665568480927...
xenophon 10y ago
Thanks for sharing these experiences, man. I never heard of an incident like the one you describe, but I can totally believe that experiences like these happen by the law of large numbers. To employ a tired but accurate adage, no organization of any meaningful size is immune to this category of concerns, especially not in the tech world. Which of course is no excuse; where my experience remains different than yours is in your characterization of the management team. I've found them to be proactive and sensitive in forwarding inclusiveness and educating employees on the ways inadvertent discrimination can cause harm -- and as a minority, I never had any problems. As I'm early in my career I don't have much of a benchmark, but I'd love to PM you to understand what you would have done better. Above all, thanks for engaging productively -- I apologize for coming in hot, but hope you understand that I feel loyal to an organization and leadership team that, in my view, has done a fantastic job making me feel welcome.
- kelukelugames 10y ago
  You are still being dismissive. In an office of ~200 people, I personally know four women who left for reasons ranging from the hair incident to being told that having a child is a career limiting move. I don't think a 2% departure rate is due to the law of large numbers when the company culture is small enough to be shaped by Glenn. Anyway, when did you work there? There is a good chance you benefited from a more sensitive management team caused by a few awkward exits.

wpietri 10y ago

Wow, the hair-touching thing. You may enjoy/cringe at this parody workplace training video: https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/786655684809274/ https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/78665568480927...

xenophon 10y ago

Thanks for sharing these experiences, man. I never heard of an incident like the one you describe, but I can totally believe that experiences like these happen by the law of large numbers. To employ a tired but accurate adage, no organization of any meaningful size is immune to this category of concerns, especially not in the tech world. Which of course is no excuse; where my experience remains different than yours is in your characterization of the management team. I've found them to be proactive and sensitive in forwarding inclusiveness and educating employees on the ways inadvertent discrimination can cause harm -- and as a minority, I never had any problems. As I'm early in my career I don't have much of a benchmark, but I'd love to PM you to understand what you would have done better. Above all, thanks for engaging productively -- I apologize for coming in hot, but hope you understand that I feel loyal to an organization and leadership team that, in my view, has done a fantastic job making me feel welcome.

kelukelugames 10y ago
You are still being dismissive. In an office of ~200 people, I personally know four women who left for reasons ranging from the hair incident to being told that having a child is a career limiting move. I don't think a 2% departure rate is due to the law of large numbers when the company culture is small enough to be shaped by Glenn. Anyway, when did you work there? There is a good chance you benefited from a more sensitive management team caused by a few awkward exits.