This caught me off guard, I am embarrassed to admit. After decades as an employment lawyer, I thought I was too cynical to be surprised. Judging a book by its cover, I thought Pinterest was run by home style mavens, not three Silicon Valley guys. Pinterest, your toxic work culture is a fitting end to 2020.
For those of you who do not know about Pinterest, it is a social media site with over 400 million active users seeking ideas on recipes, cake decorating, diets, interior design–almost anything really. The company is worth $38 billion and growing. It has 2,200 employees world wide. Of its users, who pin their favorite ideas or post their own, 70% are women. It was started in 2010–the Wild West years of start ups where HR and compliance was not given a thought. Time has caught up to Pinterest.
Pinterest just settled a law suit brought by its former COO for $20 million to her and her attorneys (of course). According to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing :”[A] commitment of $2.5 million to be used towards advancing women and underrepresented communities in the technology industry” was also paid as part of the settlement. That is a lot of cake and the fact that the lawsuit was settled publicly in a matter of months indicates some egregious behavior. The former COO alleged she was fired for “speaking out about the rampant discrimination, hostile work environment and misogyny that permeates Pinterest.” This is not the first time Pinterest has been in the news lately for its culture. Two former employees, minority women, described leaving the company that was “pure hell” on CNBC in October.
Oh tech darlings, the era of move fast and break things is over. Over the past five years employers have paid over $230 billion for toxic workplace culture issues. Even for hyper-successful companies who can afford the loss, public relations and recruitment suffer tremendously. Startups, like all companies, need to invest in people management and comply with the law. Could be a good resolution for 2021!
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