The inside story of Pinterest's toxic workplace that caused CEO Ben Silbermann to admit to employees, 'I'm embarrassed'
- Business Insider talked to 11 former Pinterest employees who told us the company's "nice" reputation wasn't their experience.
- Two Black female employees who quit In May discussed their struggles with the company from fighting for pay, to fielding internet threats.
- Other Black ex-employees described being fired or "pushed out" of the company with no real explanation.
- Still others said they regularly experienced or witnessed managers who yelled at employees until they cried.
- Pinterest CEO has recently sent an email to the troops saying that he's "embarrassed" and vowed to investigate, among other planned remedies to change the culture.
- Read the full report on what it was like to for these employees to work for Pinterest before the company promised to investigate.
When Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks, Pinterest's former managers of Public Policy & Social Impact, saw the company's statements of support for Black Lives Matter, they felt they had to speak out.
They were two of the company's most visible Black women, often speaking with the media, and had quit their jobs there after months of battle with the company over pay, promotions and other incidents: Banks found herself fielding questions from a hired private investigator, her requests for increased pay stonewalled, she said; Ozoma faced death and rape threats and her personal info was leaked online, she said.
Business Insider has since spoken to nine other former Pinterest employees in addition to Ozoma and Banks, eight of whom left the company between 2019 and May 2020. They told us the inside story of Pinterest's culture, what it was like for them to work there, and how, what they believed were the root causes.
Many of these former "Pinployees," as Pinterest employees call themselves, said that despite the company's attempt to create a "nice" corporate culture, the reality vastly different.
They described untrained young managers who yelled at employees until they cried, a chaotic organization where teams are focused on taking credit rather than collaborating and where people, especially Black employees, were suddenly fired or "pushed out" after meeting and exceeding their performance goals.
"When I resigned, I emailed my boss and HR. I started seeing a therapist and I said, 'I've been diagnosed with severe depression and PTSD.' And HR never messaged me back," one white woman who quit in 2020 said.
"You come in and are happy. But the toxic culture eats away at your soul," said one former Black salesman who was "pushed out" in late 2019 after he brought in millions of dollars in sales from a very high profile customer, only to have his manager assign a white man as a so-called partner and give him a bad review. "It's like a dagger to the heart."
The culture was particularly baffling because CEO Ben Silbermann was universally described by employees as a nice, quiet man, who was very visible at the company.
Silbermann has since admitted in an email to the troops: "I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't understand the depth of the hardship and hurt many of our team members have experienced. I need to do better."
To understand how an internet company with a mission to help people "create a life they love" turned so toxic for the people working inside, read Business Insider's full report: