5 ms·

Gitlab seems to have a real problem keeping women on staff or in management

onlypylons 7y ago
I work at GitLab. Article sums it up. All of it seems right to me. There's also internal pushback and criticism on the diversity blog post. I guess the plus side is if you're a man and agree with everything the e-group says you'll go pretty far. CEO and CMO keep saying there are inaccuracies in the story to discredit core concerns. Seems like they're positioning it as performance issues (it wasn't, they were all amazing and top talent) because they'd only not be able to comment on reasons for termination. That makes sense because disagreement with e-group and some in s-group more than once or twice is a performance issue now. Hard for them to say everyone is lying and the lived experience of everyone is wrong and they don't have a diversity problem with a straight face, so implying it's a performance issue seems fitting.
- jhurewitz 7y ago
  Thank you for your support! That really means a lot. And for the record, performance was not given as a reason for my termination. I was told it was because I could not get along with, or work with my managers, whom I had reported concerns against.
- bluesunday 7y ago
  The Chief People Officer was forced out for doing her job.
  - coralg 7y ago
    I work at GitLab and I tend to agree. It's insane!
  - AnonGitLabEmpl 7y ago
    Yeah pretty much. If you don't agree with the exec team, or otherwise to improve the situation you'll get the axe.
- anonxlabber 7y ago
  What are they saying that is inaccurate about the article?
  - AnonGitLabEmpl 7y ago
    They aren't telling us anything because of "privacy" concerns. Here is what the official response from Sid was: "There was an article published in The Register today regarding the recent departures of female leaders from our company. There were multiple inaccuracies in the article. Because we value the privacy of our current and former employees, we do not discuss personnel issues publicly." EDIT: the official response does go on to point to recent blog posts and other diversity "efforts" as well as ways to anonymously send in complaints or concerns.
    - relaunched 7y ago
      People only file complaints if they feel safe to do so and the complaints are handled appropriately. A way to lead on transparency might be to share number of investigations, internal and external, and what the findings were. There are ways to share findings without revealing names. Additionally, a company can benefit from transparent remediation discussions, which are very important. Transparency is easy when it comes to being transparent about things you want to get out into the world. The old humble brag approach to transparency, if you will. But, values are only values if they are upheld when it's hard. I'm not aware of any laws that require investigation findings to be private. However, ignoring material risks has huge penalties. This isn't legal advice, but willfully violating laws, in the US, is oftentimes the basis for treble damages,
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - Acatalepsy 7y ago
        I've anonymously reported an incident as a GitLab employee. It was ignored. I encouraged someone else to report an incident and it was handled dreadfully by the interim Chief People Officer at the time. The person ended up leaving due to the terrible experience and real fear of retaliation. They're now supposed to be handled by the Chief Legal Officer which I find odd.
- coralg 7y ago
  hmmmm... Men discrediting women...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
bluesunday 7y ago
So the CEO and CMO are disparaging the women in the article? After they said they don't comment on personnel issues?
- GitLabber1000 7y ago
  Also the CLO whose actions imply they were fired for performance.
  - bluesunday 7y ago
    actions?
    - coralg 7y ago
      She told people about a "legal process".
      - jhurewitz 7y ago
        A”legal process”? What does that even mean? What did she say and who did she tell? I still am having current GitLab employees reaching out to me, ones I never even met before, sharing their stories about how they are afraid to make reports, asking me about the legitimacy of the Lighthouse reporting tool, asking if it is truly anonymous and who reviews the reports. I guess the must be really pushing use of that tool now based on the number of questions I have gotten about it.
        coralg 7y ago
        It was vague - like "hint, hint". She told quite a few people.
        GitLabber1000 7y ago
        I’d report what she did but I don’t want to get fired.
GitLabber1000 7y ago
From the comments in the article: Hysterical post: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/ceo/ https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/ceo/ So it's everyone else's responsibility to speak up to the CEO (!) to help improve his flaws? This "Readme" seems like psychological manipulation of the masses and at the highest level.
- relaunched 7y ago
  Ask Jamie about speaking up to Sid and the board.
  - GitLabber1000 7y ago
    Ask all the women mentioned.
- AnonGitLabEmpl 7y ago
  Why be responsible for your own actions when you can have everyone else be responsible for you?

I work at GitLab. Article sums it up. All of it seems right to me. There's also internal pushback and criticism on the diversity blog post. I guess the plus side is if you're a man and agree with everything the e-group says you'll go pretty far. CEO and CMO keep saying there are inaccuracies in the story to discredit core concerns. Seems like they're positioning it as performance issues (it wasn't, they were all amazing and top talent) because they'd only not be able to comment on reasons for termination. That makes sense because disagreement with e-group and some in s-group more than once or twice is a performance issue now. Hard for them to say everyone is lying and the lived experience of everyone is wrong and they don't have a diversity problem with a straight face, so implying it's a performance issue seems fitting.

jhurewitz 7y ago
Thank you for your support! That really means a lot. And for the record, performance was not given as a reason for my termination. I was told it was because I could not get along with, or work with my managers, whom I had reported concerns against.
bluesunday 7y ago
The Chief People Officer was forced out for doing her job.
- coralg 7y ago
  I work at GitLab and I tend to agree. It's insane!
- AnonGitLabEmpl 7y ago
  Yeah pretty much. If you don't agree with the exec team, or otherwise to improve the situation you'll get the axe.
anonxlabber 7y ago
What are they saying that is inaccurate about the article?
- AnonGitLabEmpl 7y ago
  They aren't telling us anything because of "privacy" concerns. Here is what the official response from Sid was: "There was an article published in The Register today regarding the recent departures of female leaders from our company. There were multiple inaccuracies in the article. Because we value the privacy of our current and former employees, we do not discuss personnel issues publicly." EDIT: the official response does go on to point to recent blog posts and other diversity "efforts" as well as ways to anonymously send in complaints or concerns.
  - relaunched 7y ago
    People only file complaints if they feel safe to do so and the complaints are handled appropriately. A way to lead on transparency might be to share number of investigations, internal and external, and what the findings were. There are ways to share findings without revealing names. Additionally, a company can benefit from transparent remediation discussions, which are very important. Transparency is easy when it comes to being transparent about things you want to get out into the world. The old humble brag approach to transparency, if you will. But, values are only values if they are upheld when it's hard. I'm not aware of any laws that require investigation findings to be private. However, ignoring material risks has huge penalties. This isn't legal advice, but willfully violating laws, in the US, is oftentimes the basis for treble damages,
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - Acatalepsy 7y ago
      I've anonymously reported an incident as a GitLab employee. It was ignored. I encouraged someone else to report an incident and it was handled dreadfully by the interim Chief People Officer at the time. The person ended up leaving due to the terrible experience and real fear of retaliation. They're now supposed to be handled by the Chief Legal Officer which I find odd.
coralg 7y ago
hmmmm... Men discrediting women...

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

bluesunday 7y ago

So the CEO and CMO are disparaging the women in the article? After they said they don't comment on personnel issues?

GitLabber1000 7y ago
Also the CLO whose actions imply they were fired for performance.
- bluesunday 7y ago
  actions?
  - coralg 7y ago
    She told people about a "legal process".
    - jhurewitz 7y ago
      A”legal process”? What does that even mean? What did she say and who did she tell? I still am having current GitLab employees reaching out to me, ones I never even met before, sharing their stories about how they are afraid to make reports, asking me about the legitimacy of the Lighthouse reporting tool, asking if it is truly anonymous and who reviews the reports. I guess the must be really pushing use of that tool now based on the number of questions I have gotten about it.
      - coralg 7y ago
        It was vague - like "hint, hint". She told quite a few people.
      - GitLabber1000 7y ago
        I’d report what she did but I don’t want to get fired.

GitLabber1000 7y ago

From the comments in the article: Hysterical post: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/ceo/ https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/ceo/ So it's everyone else's responsibility to speak up to the CEO (!) to help improve his flaws? This "Readme" seems like psychological manipulation of the masses and at the highest level.

relaunched 7y ago
Ask Jamie about speaking up to Sid and the board.
- GitLabber1000 7y ago
  Ask all the women mentioned.
AnonGitLabEmpl 7y ago
Why be responsible for your own actions when you can have everyone else be responsible for you?