Social media major, Facebook, apologised on Friday after a group of current and former black, Hispanic and female Asian employees anonymously shared several racist incidents against them at the workplace.
“No one at Facebook, or anywhere, should have to put up with this behavior,” Bertie Thomson, Facebook vice president of corporate communications said in a statement. “We are sorry. It goes against everything that we stand for as a company. We’re listening and working hard to do better.”
The post, written by 12 unknown employees under a group name, ‘FB Blind’. The group laid out several incidents of the discrimination by their white colleagues and the human resources department.
“Racism, discrimination, bias, and aggression do not come from the big moments,” the note read. “It’s in the small actions that mount up over time and build into a culture where we are only meant to be seen as quotas, but never heard, never acknowledged, never recognized, and never accepted.”
It further added, “we may be smiling. We may post on Instagram with industry influencers and celebrities. We may use the IG ‘Share Black Stories’ filter and be featured on marketing pieces. We may embrace each other and share how happy we are to have the opportunity to work with a company that impacts nearly three billion people
“On the inside, we are sad. Angry. Oppressed. Depressed. And treated every day through the micro and macro aggressions as if we do not belong here,” wrote the Facebook employees.
The anonymous note maintained that the overall atmosphere in the company worsened when the non-white employees’ work started getting recognised and they were treated equally.
“We are remaining anonymous because Facebook creates a hostile culture where anyone that is non-white is made to feel fear for their job and their safety to report any bad behaviours, the note read.
“The only thing we can hope for in this cathartic exercise is to influence change by sharing our stories and hope that no one else experiences the same discriminatory behaviors that we have,” employees said in post.
(With inputs from agencies)