Dive Brief:
- On average, 40% of tech workers in a new Blind survey said they experienced retaliation from HR or a manager after reporting an incident. For the survey, the anonymous chat and review app polled 8,184 workers from top tech companies.
- According to Blind, the top five companies at which HR allegedly retaliated against workers include: Booking.com (64%), Pinterest (60%), eBay (55%), PayPal (55%) and Lyft (50%). Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon, Uber and Intel Corporation filled out the survey's top 10.
- Citing statistics from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Blind said that in 2017 alone, employees filed 84,254 discrimination charges with the agency and, of those, nearly half were retaliation charges.
Dive Insight:
Retaliation, defined by the EEOC as "punishing job applicants or employees for asserting their rights to be free from employment discrimination," is unlawful under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. HR departments are expected to hear workers' claims without bias, follow up on allegations, do what's necessary to correct misconduct and enforce anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation policies in compliance with federal, state and local laws.
Another troubling aspect of the survey — beyond HR's alleged involvement — is the dismal record that many high-profile tech companies have in recruiting, hiring and retaining workers that Title VII was drafted to protect. Sexual harassment, racism and ageism are often recurring claims against tech companies. While many tech companies have put forth efforts to improve their diversity and inclusion efforts, with companies like Intel meeting what they call "full representation" in their workforces, many of these efforts have stalled due to "diversity fatigue," a 2018 Atlassian study noted.
Part of the issue is that companies focus too much on hiring underrepresented people and not enough on inclusion, overall. HR leaders can create cultures of inclusion within their organizations to help the company benefit from the innovative and financial advantages a diverse workforce offers and lower the risk of liability.
