Live data from Hacker News

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

oregonlive.com

31–40 of 61 posts

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

#31
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?

You're making the CEO extremely rich and he's donating more money than you'll probably ever make to what many consider to be the enemy, so its pretty reasonable you might not want to work for the company or the CEO anymore

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

#32

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…

Holding him to the same standards that the company publicly advertises it has is not silencing.

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

#33
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...

Agreed. I was previously getting downvoted on the basis of mentioning Trump, but that wasn't the point...this was.

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

#34
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> Sigh. Speculation.

Not speculation, it's a pretty clear refutation of the hypothesis that channeling a donation through a third-party severs all links between the contribution and those who actually make the contribution.

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

#35
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 th…

> He could at the very least state that his wife's political views are not a reflection of his own.

It's unreasonable to expect somebody to publicly denounce their spouse like this. It's inappropriate for people to make a coworker's spouse a matter of contention in the first place.

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

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

> He could at the very least state that his wife's political views are not a reflection of his own. It's unreasonable to expect somebody to publicly denounce their spouse like this. It's inappropriate for people to make a coworker's spouse a matter of contention in the first place.

That's not denouncing. That's a neutral way of stating that he had nothing to do with those donations.

And stop pretending that this is just any ordinary coworker. This is the public face and leader of the company that publicly advertises a certain set of values. This is also a person who has been made rich by the success of the company, and then is using that money to donate to very morally questionable causes (either directly himself or via his wife).

The guy literally donated an "ordinary coworker's" years salary to an organization that explicitly discriminates against members of the LGBTQ+ community. Do tell me exactly why it is inappropriate for employees of the company to complain about such dubious donations of their CEO, who they helped make mind-numbingly rich?

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

#38
post #36

Our politics has broken down. A minority rules, and the only avenue left to the majority is questionable tactics like this. More of these seemingly idiotic conflicts will arise until Congress functions again.

And to a non-American the code of conduct trying to bar employees from political initiatives seems... oddly controlling.

Did we forget to disagree and discuss?

The CEO here should address the dissonance between his actions and the stated values of the company when questioned. One does not have to agree, but he should care enough to address it.

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

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

You're making the CEO extremely rich and he's donating more money than you'll probably ever make to what many consider to be the enemy, so its pretty reasonable you might not want to work for the company or the CEO anymore

Ultimately I am replaceable. My work is worth more than my cost, but it’s not me making making shareholders and management rich, it’s the customers. When I hire a doctor or a tax accountant, they absolutely don’t get a veto over my politics or how I use my money, and for the same reason I would never expect to boss the CEO around.

I’d have to work at a tiny PAC to avoid everyone who disagrees with me, or go full Tarn & Zach Adams.

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

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He could at the very least state that his wife's political views are not a reflection of his own. It's unreasonable to expect somebody to publicly denounce their spouse like this. It's inappropriate for people to make a coworker's spouse a matter of contention in the first place.

That's not denouncing. That's a neutral way of stating that he had nothing to do with those donations. And stop pretending that this is just any ordinary coworker. This is the public face and leader of the company that publicly advertises a certain set of values. This is also a person who has been made rich by the success of the company, and then is using that money to donate to very morally questionable causes (eith…

> This is also a person who has been made rich by the success of the company,

Would you say the degree to which a coworker's personal relationship with their spouse is 'your business' is proportional to their salary? Or how exactly do you figure this works?

His relationship with his spouse is his business, not yours. It's really that simple.

Post reply on HN