But according to 23 current and former Coinbase employees, five of whom spoke on the record, as well as internal documents and recordings of conversations, the start-up has long struggled with its management of Black employees.
In Silicon Valley, where entrepreneurs and investors often preach high-minded missions and style themselves as management gurus, Coinbase has held itself up as a model. Since the start-up was founded in 2012, Brian Armstrong, the chief executive, has assembled memos and blog posts about how he built the $8 billion company’s culture with distinct hiring and training practices. That has won him acclaim among influential venture capitalists and executives….
On days when reporters or photographers came in, they said, they were told to be present so they could be in the photos to display the company’s diversity. But in meetings, they were talked down to and ignored. By mid-2018, some said they had started talking to human resources and their managers about the behavior.
One Black employee said her manager suggested in front of colleagues that she was dealing drugs and carrying a gun, trading on racist stereotypes. Another said a co-worker at a recruiting meeting broadly described Black employees as less capable. Still another said managers spoke down to her and her Black colleagues, adding that they were passed over for promotions in favor of less experienced white employees. The accumulation of incidents, they said, led to the wave of departures.
Ruby Bhattacharya, a recruiter at Coinbase in 2017, said the search for employees for this “consistent culture” often meant looking for people who resembled the other staff. Ms. Bhattacharya, who is gay and was born in England to Indian parents, said her colleagues made it clear she did not belong.
“I was told I don’t have the right brain for this,” she said. “It was constant condescension.”
Ms. Johnson-Porter, who resigned last year, said Coinbase often turned its scrutiny on the person who complained. After she spoke up, she said, her boss started taking issue with her work. “Those of us who were vocal about the unfair treatment — they either pushed you out or created an issue that wasn’t an issue to force you out,” she said.”
www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/technology/coinbase-cryptocurrency-black-employees.amp.html
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