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11 of then ~20 Black employees by early 2019* had complained to HR about racism. That's over half! And that's only the people with the fortitude or optimism to

11 of then ~20 Black employees by early 2019* had complained to HR about racism. That's over half! And that's only the people with the fortitude or optimism to talk to HR (HR is notoriously useless at many companies). That's a complete disaster. 15 of that 20 quit! Why wasn't that treated as an emergency? *At the end the article says at the end of 2019 there's 31 Black employees of 1000. At the beginning of the article about the beginning of 2019 it's about 20 of 600 before 15 Black employees quit.

sonotathrowaway 6y ago
It was treated as a disaster - they labeled the leavers as “political” and announced they instituted policies to prevent future “political” employees.
- briane80 6y ago
  Ah more power to them. No sane person wants political activists in your company, spreading identity politics and wokism.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- bra-ket 6y ago
  It's a private company, they can do whatever they want as long as it doesn't violate the law. And if there is a legal case against them the accuser has the burden of proof and due process. All I see from this article is a bunch of hearsay & rumors. It looks like a smear campaign to get some quick 'reparations' by riding a popular trend. We have this thing in the US called presumption of innocence, but apparently in case of racism accusations you're guilty as soon as proclaimed guilty by the media. Coinbase legal team should definitely sue NYT and this 'team' of accusers for libel & slander. The hysteria is getting ridiculous.
  - enumjorge 6y ago
    Neither the parent nor the GP said anything about Coinbase violating laws. I’m not sure how the legality of their actions is relevant to the discussion. I don’t think employees recounting their personal experiences while at the company is rumors or hearsay. And the article mentioned many of them had to sign an NDA in exchange for a severance package so I don’t think “reparations” are the goal.
    - bra-ket 6y ago
      if the legality is not questioned so what are we talking about? Public shaming? Making the world a better place via baseless accusations and media witch-hunt? Coinbase is pre-IPO, considering early 2021 public debut. This case stinks of extortion of settlement money via very well timed smear campaign.
      - enumjorge 6y ago
        Several black employees claim to have experienced racism at a noteworthy tech company. It’s been posted to HN for the same reason all the other stories, discussion. Do these employees need to ask you for permission before they can go to the press to talk about what they experienced? You complain about baseless accusations and then make a claim about this being extortion for settlement money.
        bra-ket 6y ago
        If their rights have been violated why don't they go to court with all the available evidence? Accusation of racial discrimination in a workplace is a serious deal, and it's not up to the media to decide who's right or wrong solely based on one side (disputed) claims. It's called defamation and they are legally liable.
        sksnskkcahan 6y ago
        Are you saying that the highest standard you’d hold a company to is mere compliance with the law? Hope I never have to work somewhere where that’s the best we can do.
snicksnak 6y ago
According to the article 15 black people left in total between late '18 early '19. It seems that the compliance team makes up the major part of the departures (up to 8 quit, depends how you read it). From the article this could be attributed to coinbase opening an office in portland and employees declined to move. The headline also mentions that black people were fired, but never follows up on it.
pjc50 6y ago
> Why wasn't that treated as an emergency? Companies can be incredibly callous about retention issues, especially if fixing them involves noticing which managers are responsible for behaving badly towards their staff.
- MattGaiser 6y ago
  Especially when the solution to these issues is also a retention issue as you likely have to fire other people for their behavior.
- drewcoo 6y ago
  > retention issues Well we allow those companies to continue to dismiss their interactions with most of the people in the company as "retention issues," so I think I can spot an actual cause here. Roll in typical treatment of customers as barriers to profit and we have a theme starting.
- NelsonMinar 6y ago
  Or if the real problem is at the top.
- HarryHirsch 6y ago
  "Callous" would mean it's about you, but think about it from the viewpoint of the company. If the aggrieved employee leaves, the problem is solved.
  - pjc50 6y ago
    Hiring and onboarding costs money. Having people quit costs money in replacing them. Allowing managers to drive them out and incur the cost of replacement is basically allowing them to light money on fire for their entertainment. Not from the POV of the company, but from the individual actors within it, is the problem solved. Principal-agent dilemma, innit.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - 6y ago
username90 6y ago
The cynical view is that you can either kick out your racists or those who complains about racists. And given how "diverse" tech is I wouldn't be surprised if the company would have a bigger problem if the racists left instead of the black people.
- eli 6y ago
  No, the cynical view is that the people in charge are racist.
- CryptoPunk 6y ago
  Tech is incredibly diverse.. The racial representation in tech is roughly proportional to the racial representation in Computer Science. i.e. it's not racism that is keeping black Americans out of tech, and suggesting otherwise with zero evidence beyond the observed racial disparity is extremely irresponsible.
  - eli 6y ago
    It’s not. It isn’t. And why do you think the racial diversity in Comp Sci doesn’t match that of America? Or even that of the general college population?
    - textgel 6y ago
      The same reasons that are always ignored or considered sinful by progressives. Some people are more interested than others, just the same way that nursing and numerous other non-diverse fields that you mysteriously aren't concerned about have people driven to them in numbers that don't match the population.
    - CryptoPunk 6y ago
      It is. A huge number of visible minorities are in tech. >And why do you think the racial diversity in Comp Sci doesn’t match that of America? That's a different subject, and nothing to do with whether tech is racist.
    - 6y ago
tomjen3 6y ago
This needs a name, but when you have a very small minority in a much larger group (women who are software engineers, black people in a white company or guys who work as childcare workers) you can see insane levels of hated against members of that group, even if most of the larger group goes out of their way to be friendly with the minority, because even a very small percent of the larger group that hates the minority can still be numerically larger than the entire group. Not to mention that one bad manager can cause trouble for numerous employees.

sonotathrowaway 6y ago

It was treated as a disaster - they labeled the leavers as “political” and announced they instituted policies to prevent future “political” employees.

briane80 6y ago
Ah more power to them. No sane person wants political activists in your company, spreading identity politics and wokism.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
bra-ket 6y ago
It's a private company, they can do whatever they want as long as it doesn't violate the law. And if there is a legal case against them the accuser has the burden of proof and due process. All I see from this article is a bunch of hearsay & rumors. It looks like a smear campaign to get some quick 'reparations' by riding a popular trend. We have this thing in the US called presumption of innocence, but apparently in case of racism accusations you're guilty as soon as proclaimed guilty by the media. Coinbase legal team should definitely sue NYT and this 'team' of accusers for libel & slander. The hysteria is getting ridiculous.
- enumjorge 6y ago
  Neither the parent nor the GP said anything about Coinbase violating laws. I’m not sure how the legality of their actions is relevant to the discussion. I don’t think employees recounting their personal experiences while at the company is rumors or hearsay. And the article mentioned many of them had to sign an NDA in exchange for a severance package so I don’t think “reparations” are the goal.
  - bra-ket 6y ago
    if the legality is not questioned so what are we talking about? Public shaming? Making the world a better place via baseless accusations and media witch-hunt? Coinbase is pre-IPO, considering early 2021 public debut. This case stinks of extortion of settlement money via very well timed smear campaign.
    - enumjorge 6y ago
      Several black employees claim to have experienced racism at a noteworthy tech company. It’s been posted to HN for the same reason all the other stories, discussion. Do these employees need to ask you for permission before they can go to the press to talk about what they experienced? You complain about baseless accusations and then make a claim about this being extortion for settlement money.
      - bra-ket 6y ago
        If their rights have been violated why don't they go to court with all the available evidence? Accusation of racial discrimination in a workplace is a serious deal, and it's not up to the media to decide who's right or wrong solely based on one side (disputed) claims. It's called defamation and they are legally liable.
        sksnskkcahan 6y ago
        Are you saying that the highest standard you’d hold a company to is mere compliance with the law? Hope I never have to work somewhere where that’s the best we can do.

snicksnak 6y ago

According to the article 15 black people left in total between late '18 early '19. It seems that the compliance team makes up the major part of the departures (up to 8 quit, depends how you read it). From the article this could be attributed to coinbase opening an office in portland and employees declined to move. The headline also mentions that black people were fired, but never follows up on it.

pjc50 6y ago

> Why wasn't that treated as an emergency? Companies can be incredibly callous about retention issues, especially if fixing them involves noticing which managers are responsible for behaving badly towards their staff.

MattGaiser 6y ago
Especially when the solution to these issues is also a retention issue as you likely have to fire other people for their behavior.
drewcoo 6y ago
> retention issues Well we allow those companies to continue to dismiss their interactions with most of the people in the company as "retention issues," so I think I can spot an actual cause here. Roll in typical treatment of customers as barriers to profit and we have a theme starting.
NelsonMinar 6y ago
Or if the real problem is at the top.
HarryHirsch 6y ago
"Callous" would mean it's about you, but think about it from the viewpoint of the company. If the aggrieved employee leaves, the problem is solved.
- pjc50 6y ago
  Hiring and onboarding costs money. Having people quit costs money in replacing them. Allowing managers to drive them out and incur the cost of replacement is basically allowing them to light money on fire for their entertainment. Not from the POV of the company, but from the individual actors within it, is the problem solved. Principal-agent dilemma, innit.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- 6y ago

username90 6y ago

The cynical view is that you can either kick out your racists or those who complains about racists. And given how "diverse" tech is I wouldn't be surprised if the company would have a bigger problem if the racists left instead of the black people.

eli 6y ago
No, the cynical view is that the people in charge are racist.
CryptoPunk 6y ago
Tech is incredibly diverse.. The racial representation in tech is roughly proportional to the racial representation in Computer Science. i.e. it's not racism that is keeping black Americans out of tech, and suggesting otherwise with zero evidence beyond the observed racial disparity is extremely irresponsible.
- eli 6y ago
  It’s not. It isn’t. And why do you think the racial diversity in Comp Sci doesn’t match that of America? Or even that of the general college population?
  - textgel 6y ago
    The same reasons that are always ignored or considered sinful by progressives. Some people are more interested than others, just the same way that nursing and numerous other non-diverse fields that you mysteriously aren't concerned about have people driven to them in numbers that don't match the population.
  - CryptoPunk 6y ago
    It is. A huge number of visible minorities are in tech. >And why do you think the racial diversity in Comp Sci doesn’t match that of America? That's a different subject, and nothing to do with whether tech is racist.
  - 6y ago

tomjen3 6y ago

This needs a name, but when you have a very small minority in a much larger group (women who are software engineers, black people in a white company or guys who work as childcare workers) you can see insane levels of hated against members of that group, even if most of the larger group goes out of their way to be friendly with the minority, because even a very small percent of the larger group that hates the minority can still be numerically larger than the entire group. Not to mention that one bad manager can cause trouble for numerous employees.