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"Three months later he spoke to a meeting of our Black Employees @ Netflix group..." Wait, what? Black employees have a "group"? How many different race, cul

"Three months later he spoke to a meeting of our Black Employees @ Netflix group..." Wait, what? Black employees have a "group"? How many different race, culture, sexuality, and gender identity groups are there at Netflix? Is this internal corporate tribalism an American tech company thing?

eesmith 8y ago
Every large company I've visited in Europe seems to have an ex-pat group, based around the cultural identity of "foreigner". I don't see why a (say) large French company would blink at (say) Swedish employees having an employee group of people interested in Swedish culture, who have a Swedish-style coffee break once a month, and organize events around midsummer and other holidays. Do you think a Swedish employee group at Crédit Agricole is a problem? You make "internal corporate tribalism" sound like a bad thing. Is a photography club also internal corporate tribalism?
- dingaling 8y ago
  > Is a photography club also internal corporate tribalism? Of course not, anyone can join that group even if they're not a particularly good photographer at that time. The test of membership is 'personal interest' which is not an inherent, immutable trait. But a Swedish-ex-pats group directly conflicts with equality ( everyone has the same opportunities ) on a corporate scale and diversity ( tolerate and leverage differences ) on a group scale. I would protest to C-level management if such a group existed on company premises or company time. And I'd hope they'd align with me, else come the time for the E&D report there might be some interesting comments.
  - eesmith 8y ago
    I said "an employee group of people interested in Swedish culture". I did not say "Swedish-only group". I think that difference is the nub of this topic. If a non-Swede were to show up to the Swedish group, and be harassed (eg, be told to leave on the basis of not being a Swede), then that's an civil rights violation already in the US. Was tejohnso's question specifically about employee groups which discriminate membership on the basis of national origin, sex, etc.? As I understand US law, an employee organization which uses donated company space or funds and which discriminates on the basis of sex, national origin, veteran status, etc. is covered under the same anti-discrimination laws that the company itself is. More specifically, "It is illegal to harass an employee because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information." ... "The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer." (quotes from https://www.eeoc.gov//laws/practices/ https://www.eeoc.gov//laws/practices/ ). Since tejohnso was talking about things which were at US tech companies, I assumed that tejohnso was referring to currently-legal US practices. Is "Black Employees @ Netflix group" restricted to only people who self-identify as black? Or is it also open to people who do not consider themselves black? (Eg, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) membership is not limited to colored people). I do not know. Nor do I know if it uses Netflix resources. I do know that my sister's women's group at a large international company has men who are members. I think your statement "The test of membership is 'personal interest' which is not an inherent, immutable trait" is too narrow. Religion faith is a mutable trait. Just like we both would reject an on-site employee club which excluded non-Swedes, I would also reject an on-site employee club which exclude non-Protestants.
- tejohnso 8y ago
  > "Do you think a Swedish employee group at Crédit Agricole is a problem?" For the employees, I would think it strange that they group themselves as such within the company since their common interest in Swedish culture has nothing to do with Crédit Agricole. If they want to organize events around midsummer I would expect them to conduct all of that organizing outside of the business. I don't think it's a problem for them, but I guess I just find it somewhat inappropriate. For the company, yes, I think it's closer to being a problem. I would think there's a near 100% chance that there would be some kind of HR related issue that comes about because of the existence of this group. Doesn't matter how innocent it is. Someone, at some point, is going to have an issue, and there's just no good reason for the company to allow it. Employees can gather for their special coffee meetups and plan holiday events outside of the business.
  - eesmith 8y ago
    Could you explain more what "nothing to do with Crédit Agricole" means? I assume a company is interested in the physical and mental health of its employees. Every large company I have visited has internal employee groups for all matter of topics; sports, movies, gardening, art, jogging, and more. An expat organization can help people get over the culture shock of working in a French company. Surely "there's a near 100% chance that there would be some kind of HR related issue that comes about because of the existence of" any of these groups, yes? Yet we see that most companies have such groups. Could it be that there are benefits which outweigh the possible negatives? Because that's my impression of why companies allow these groups to use company resources.
    - tejohnso 8y ago
      > Every large company I have visited has internal employee groups for all matter of topics; sports, movies, gardening, art, jogging, and more. > Yet we see that most companies have such groups. There's a significant culture difference between us then. My experience is the opposite. I've never seen that. Not saying it doesn't exist, but it's strange to me. I don't doubt that a group can be useful or interesting. In fact I've joined expat groups through meetup.com when I was traveling abroad for months at a time and completely understand the benefits. It's just the idea of having it associated with the corporation I find odd. Next up: Employees for Palestinian Freedom. At Netflix!

eesmith 8y ago

Every large company I've visited in Europe seems to have an ex-pat group, based around the cultural identity of "foreigner". I don't see why a (say) large French company would blink at (say) Swedish employees having an employee group of people interested in Swedish culture, who have a Swedish-style coffee break once a month, and organize events around midsummer and other holidays. Do you think a Swedish employee group at Crédit Agricole is a problem? You make "internal corporate tribalism" sound like a bad thing. Is a photography club also internal corporate tribalism?

dingaling 8y ago
> Is a photography club also internal corporate tribalism? Of course not, anyone can join that group even if they're not a particularly good photographer at that time. The test of membership is 'personal interest' which is not an inherent, immutable trait. But a Swedish-ex-pats group directly conflicts with equality ( everyone has the same opportunities ) on a corporate scale and diversity ( tolerate and leverage differences ) on a group scale. I would protest to C-level management if such a group existed on company premises or company time. And I'd hope they'd align with me, else come the time for the E&D report there might be some interesting comments.
- eesmith 8y ago
  I said "an employee group of people interested in Swedish culture". I did not say "Swedish-only group". I think that difference is the nub of this topic. If a non-Swede were to show up to the Swedish group, and be harassed (eg, be told to leave on the basis of not being a Swede), then that's an civil rights violation already in the US. Was tejohnso's question specifically about employee groups which discriminate membership on the basis of national origin, sex, etc.? As I understand US law, an employee organization which uses donated company space or funds and which discriminates on the basis of sex, national origin, veteran status, etc. is covered under the same anti-discrimination laws that the company itself is. More specifically, "It is illegal to harass an employee because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information." ... "The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer." (quotes from https://www.eeoc.gov//laws/practices/ https://www.eeoc.gov//laws/practices/ ). Since tejohnso was talking about things which were at US tech companies, I assumed that tejohnso was referring to currently-legal US practices. Is "Black Employees @ Netflix group" restricted to only people who self-identify as black? Or is it also open to people who do not consider themselves black? (Eg, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) membership is not limited to colored people). I do not know. Nor do I know if it uses Netflix resources. I do know that my sister's women's group at a large international company has men who are members. I think your statement "The test of membership is 'personal interest' which is not an inherent, immutable trait" is too narrow. Religion faith is a mutable trait. Just like we both would reject an on-site employee club which excluded non-Swedes, I would also reject an on-site employee club which exclude non-Protestants.
tejohnso 8y ago
> "Do you think a Swedish employee group at Crédit Agricole is a problem?" For the employees, I would think it strange that they group themselves as such within the company since their common interest in Swedish culture has nothing to do with Crédit Agricole. If they want to organize events around midsummer I would expect them to conduct all of that organizing outside of the business. I don't think it's a problem for them, but I guess I just find it somewhat inappropriate. For the company, yes, I think it's closer to being a problem. I would think there's a near 100% chance that there would be some kind of HR related issue that comes about because of the existence of this group. Doesn't matter how innocent it is. Someone, at some point, is going to have an issue, and there's just no good reason for the company to allow it. Employees can gather for their special coffee meetups and plan holiday events outside of the business.
- eesmith 8y ago
  Could you explain more what "nothing to do with Crédit Agricole" means? I assume a company is interested in the physical and mental health of its employees. Every large company I have visited has internal employee groups for all matter of topics; sports, movies, gardening, art, jogging, and more. An expat organization can help people get over the culture shock of working in a French company. Surely "there's a near 100% chance that there would be some kind of HR related issue that comes about because of the existence of" any of these groups, yes? Yet we see that most companies have such groups. Could it be that there are benefits which outweigh the possible negatives? Because that's my impression of why companies allow these groups to use company resources.
  - tejohnso 8y ago
    > Every large company I have visited has internal employee groups for all matter of topics; sports, movies, gardening, art, jogging, and more. > Yet we see that most companies have such groups. There's a significant culture difference between us then. My experience is the opposite. I've never seen that. Not saying it doesn't exist, but it's strange to me. I don't doubt that a group can be useful or interesting. In fact I've joined expat groups through meetup.com when I was traveling abroad for months at a time and completely understand the benefits. It's just the idea of having it associated with the corporation I find odd. Next up: Employees for Palestinian Freedom. At Netflix!