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New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

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Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#21

Post by robertlagrant »

dogman144 wrote: post #10

Coinbase's recent actions add interesting additions to the ammunition available for responding to employee activism. I think the longstanding questions in this area are: - are the activist employees just a vocal minority - who will care (or support) if those activists are ignored -> who just wants to get back to work and focus on whatever it is that Company X does for profit. That presents a somewhat cynical view of…

> 5% of employees left, and the makeup of the 5% reflected that of the overall workforce. I have to think other companies paid attention to this outcome, although I wonder what internal polling and the like led to CB doing it.

What's your read on this? Bad outcome or good?

Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#22

Post by bigbubba »

maxharris wrote: post #2

How did Mozilla fare after these same cultural forces excised Brendan Eich? And how's the Brave browser doing in comparison? (I'm using it to type this very message.) And before downvoting me, please note that I'm Jewish (ethnically speaking - I am more of a scientific pantheist in my actual views, but I digress) and bisexual. I do not support Cirne's charities or politics. I am merely calling into question the tacti…

Is there actually any data on Brave's market share? It's been my assumption that they have far fewer installs than Firefox, but admittedly my impression is not informed by any real data.

Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#23

Post by robertlagrant »

barumi wrote: post #11
bmarquez wrote: post #7

> Cirne’s wife is a contributor to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, another sore point for many New Relic employees even though she has no role with the company...They see his wife’s donations to Trump as antithetical to the company’s stated values... What do the employees want to happen? Cirne to divorce or publicly condemn his wife over political contributions? He can't forbid someone else from making…

> What do the employees want to happen? Cirne to divorce or publicly condemn his wife over political contributions? This wouldn't be the first case where donations were made through an illusory third-party for the sake of plausible deniability.

Sigh. Speculation.

Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#24

Post by bigbubba »

bmarquez wrote: post #7

> Cirne’s wife is a contributor to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, another sore point for many New Relic employees even though she has no role with the company...They see his wife’s donations to Trump as antithetical to the company’s stated values... What do the employees want to happen? Cirne to divorce or publicly condemn his wife over political contributions? He can't forbid someone else from making…

I suppose these complaining employees have a very regressive mindset in which it's a man's role to boss around his wife...

Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#25

Post by robertlagrant »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #14
Gygash wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

Don't forget the paradox of the paradox of intolerance (a.k.a. the meta-paradox of intolerance) which states that Popper's paradox of intolerance is often cited by those seeking to justify their own intolerance, ironically identifying themselves as also among those whom the paradox of intolerance warns against. (I jest but, in seriousness, always remember that Popper's paradox works as a justification for any side an…

It's because tolerance is not what's actually being discussed. It's morality. No-one thinks we should tolerate rape or murder, or considers the locking in a box of those who commit those acts as being in any way intolerant, even though to a dictionary definition, it is.

It's just about changing morals, with the idea of tolerance as the vehicle that smoothed the way. All the dichotomies dissolve when things are seen for what they are.

Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#26

Post by sushicalculus »

robertlagrant wrote: post #21
dogman144 wrote: post #10

Coinbase's recent actions add interesting additions to the ammunition available for responding to employee activism. I think the longstanding questions in this area are: - are the activist employees just a vocal minority - who will care (or support) if those activists are ignored -> who just wants to get back to work and focus on whatever it is that Company X does for profit. That presents a somewhat cynical view of…

> 5% of employees left, and the makeup of the 5% reflected that of the overall workforce. I have to think other companies paid attention to this outcome, although I wonder what internal polling and the like led to CB doing it. What's your read on this? Bad outcome or good?

I'd say a good outcome for the company. Avoid the distraction of the vocal minority purposefully trying to create "scandals" to subvert the company's leadership.

Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#27

Post by juridatenshi »

gedy wrote: post #3

Seems like he is being singled out for his outside-of-work religious beliefs. This is not a good look for those employees who believe in "inclusion".

> In September, Cirne told employees that Beloved in Christ will aid victims of the wildfires that burned more than 1 million acres across Oregon.

He mentioned his personal, religious charity at work and targeted it at all employees as part of a fundraising effort (admittedly for a good cause in this case). At that point, it's not just outside-of-work.

Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#29

Post by erik_seaberg »

freen wrote: post #4

Free speech doesn’t mean consequence free. If you were gay, would you be comfortable with an overtly homophobic boss?

I might worry about my direct manager acting on biases, or about the company’s policies, but not the CEO’s personal opinions. New Relic has over 2,000 employees, how would he even remember my name?

Re: New Relic employees report unrest over work culture, CEO’s donations

#30

Post by thatswrong0 »

bmarquez wrote: post #7

> Cirne’s wife is a contributor to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, another sore point for many New Relic employees even though she has no role with the company...They see his wife’s donations to Trump as antithetical to the company’s stated values... What do the employees want to happen? Cirne to divorce or publicly condemn his wife over political contributions? He can't forbid someone else from making…

He could at the very least state that his wife's political views are not a reflection of his own. Sure, it's speculation, but I would guess that, given his other questionable donations, he probably isn't opposed to his wife's political donations.

IMO this, along with a few other choice quotes from the article [0][1], indicate to me that he's neither an inspiring nor effective leader. He blames his employees rather than himself for the failings of the company, and he blames his employees for combative discourse rather than his own actions and donations. Yuck.

Sidenote, the rush to his defense in this comment section is nothing short of odd.

[0]: "It is clear that some of you are devoting more energy and attention inwards, than towards our customers.”

[1]: Two days later Cirne sent a scolding memo to the entire company, admonishing employees to work harder and warning that New Relic was trailing competitors.

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