Google Jigsaw employees reveal toxic culture

Employees of the Google offshoot Jigsaw, which was created to tackle the extreme corners of the internet, have revealed the toxic culture that exists at the company – where misogyny is rampant, staff quit and HR complaints are routinely ignored.

Speaking anonymously, former and current staff have accused the firm of poor leadership, retaliation against outspoken employees and an inability to retain workers – particularly women engineers – many of whom have quit in disgust. 

In an damning expose by Motherboard, some staff pointed the finger of blame directly at the Jigsaw founder and CEO Jared Cohen, who is described as having a ‘white saviour complex’, of being culturally ‘tone deaf’ and of being a ‘tech bro’.  

Employees of the Google offshoot Jigsaw, which was created to tackle the extreme corners of the internet, have revealed the toxic culture that exists at the company – where misogyny is rampant, staff quit and HR complaints are routinely ignored (CEO Jared Cohen is pictured)

Jared Cohen (left), Director of Google Ideas, and Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google pictured together. Cohen is accused of being a poor leader by staff in a damning expose

Jared Cohen (left), Director of Google Ideas, and Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google pictured together. Cohen is accused of being a poor leader by staff in a damning expose

Such is the alleged culture at the company, roughly two dozen employees quit since the middle of last year, reducing staff numbers to about 60, Motherboard reports.

The report is set to be a source of enormous embarrassment for the Google project, which describes itself as a ‘think/do tank’ which intends to solve geopolitical issues such as extremism and censorship using technological solutions.

However, far from being a real world version of the Eden Jigsaw intends to create online, staff have now unmasked a slew of problems at the workplace so severe that Jigsaw’s first-ever engineer – who built the engineering team – felt compelled to quit.

In his departing email, Lucas Dixon, who was Jigsaw’s chief scientist, wrote that: ‘What’s actually important to me now is ‘being real’… this applies both for team culture, for technical work, and for having an impact on the world.

‘That means having a space that is free from retaliation, and more importantly, from fear. Even fear of fear. It’s too easy to slide into a culture of ‘positivity’ where we rewrite our history to our benefit, hiding the difficult parts and spinning messages to suit our ego.’ 

The report is set to be a source of enormous embarrassment for the Google project, which describes itself as a 'think/do tank' which intends to solve geopolitical issues such as extremism and censorship using technological solutions

The report is set to be a source of enormous embarrassment for the Google project, which describes itself as a ‘think/do tank’ which intends to solve geopolitical issues such as extremism and censorship using technological solutions

However, far from being a real world version of the Eden Jigsaw intends to create online, staff have now unmasked a slew of problems at the workplace so severe that Jigsaw's first-ever engineer, who built the engineering team, felt compelled to quit

However, far from being a real world version of the Eden Jigsaw intends to create online, staff have now unmasked a slew of problems at the workplace so severe that Jigsaw’s first-ever engineer, who built the engineering team, felt compelled to quit

In another goodbye email, an employee took aim at staff who used Jigsaw to ‘justify their pursuit for power at the expense of their peers dignity and self-worth,’ before calling on the company to ‘live up to its promise’.

In 2016, a former employee returned to Jigsaw’s New York office for a meeting where he discussed his work after leaving the company. 

The ex staffer described a trip to the Middle East with Jigsaw’s director of research, Yasmine Green, who he joked had not worn ‘nearly enough clothes’. Another staff member then made a similar joke about Green’s trip to an Iraqi prison. 

An employee present at the meeting described it as ‘deeply misogynistic’ and another said it was ‘just rude.’  

Just weeks later, Motherboard reports that a female staff member posted anonymously on the company’s internal message board where she encouraged women engineers at Google to join the off-shoot.

Cohen pictured on a visit to Pakistan where he met with tribal elders and discussed politics

Cohen pictured on a visit to Pakistan where he met with tribal elders and discussed politics

‘It would be awesome to have more strong women on the team,’ the advert read.

But the thread quickly became a place for Jigsaw employees to warn women to stay away, and to vent about the toxic culture crippling the team.   

‘Proceed with caution,’ said one.

Another warned ‘the politics on this team are overwhelming, culture is poisonous & women are leaving the team because of issues specifically with how women are treated.’ 

‘Terrible environment,’ said another employee, who hit out at the ‘incredibly toxic’ work climate.

A few months later, in the same thread, a woman penned an explosive response where blasted Jigsaw’s problems, namely: Meetings where team leaders make ‘awful comments/jokes’ about trips to developing countries. 

Or ‘overtly inappropriate comments or decisions reportable to HR,’ which will then be shut down, or there would be ‘rampant retribution against the team members that dared speak up.’ 

She claimed that when projects are launched, women who have worked on them won’t be allowed near journalists to discuss their work but ‘a man on the team that was only somewhat related to their product will suddenly get pulled in to present about it.’

The staff member then wrote in capital letters that Jigsaw is a ‘pyramid scheme’ solely designed to get it’s three directors personal PR.

One former employee even revealed there is an underground network of former employees ‘helping women leave the team, given how bad the abuse and discrimination have been.’

They even said that in years gone by, so many women felt mistreated that other colleagues set up a kit in the bathroom with mascara, moisturizing spray and other items to hide the fact that they had been crying. 

Much of the ire directed towards Jigsaw appears to be aimed at the top – Jared Cohen, considered a rising star among young Democrats, he worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016.

One employee described an incident that they said highlighted Cohen’s lack of awareness. 

In the aftermath of a 2017 crisis at Google, where a male employee circulated a report that argued men and women are biologically different and therefore there is some explanation beyond sexism for a gender wage disparity, Cohen took a trip to Papua New Guinea.

There, he spent time with a native tribe whose members paint themselves in skeleton paint. His face was painted white with black circles around his face and nose, and on his head he donned an oversized feather headdress.

He took a selfie and shared it among staff, completely ignoring the widespread anger within the company following the discriminatory report. 

‘I was the first visitor they ever painted,’ Cohen wrote, referring to the Chimbu natives. 

‘You have the team working through a burning crisis of culture in the office. Once again the boss is MIA, and the first communication we get from him is essentially a blackface picture from his vacation? I’m not sure one can get more tone deaf,’ an ex employee said. 

Another said of Cohen: ‘Jared considers himself very worldly. It’s part of his shtick. In the end, he’s as worldly as a lot of tech bros. It’s a condescending worldliness.’

Even people who remain at Jigsaw agree Cohen has done a poor job at Jigsaw’s helm, along with the other two leaders, Scott Carpenter and Yasmin Green.’

The DailyMail.com has approached Google for comment.  

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