. A Mailchimp spokesperson said 17.6% of the company's employees are Black.
— the next day — by telling employees Ellis' claims were"unsubstantiated" and denying any racial or gender pay equity issues existed.reported that Mailchimp employees had complained for years about"sexism, bias, and perceived pay disparities," specifically highlighting extensive issues within the company's customer support department. Other former employees quickly came forward with their own stories, and current employees resurfaced complaints internally.
Advancement opportunities for Mailchimp's support employees have also been limited, particularly for people of color. As it grew, Mailchimp moved its support department to a separate building a 10-minute drive away from its headquarters in the recently renovated Ponce City Market. Current and former employees said the productivity quotas made it impossible to take advantage of the many office perks and networking opportunities only available at Mailchimp's main office. DEI advocate
Unbeknownst to Konikowski at the time, her managers had explicitly conspired to get her to quit, according to Jared Van Aalten, who said they were in the room during the conversation. The managers worried firing Konikowski could be perceived as sexist, and discussed giving her projects outside her skill and comfort zone to make her look bad and avoid suspicion, Van Aalten told Insider.
According to several current and former employees, misconduct complaints filed with Mailchimp's HR department rarely seemed to result in disciplinary action — even after it formed a quasi-independent"employee relations" team within the department to specifically handle complaints. Around 2018, Mailchimp enlisted Boston Consulting Group, where Malkowski was working, for strategic advice. BCG's consultants clashed with Mailchimp employees, bossing them around and taking credit for their work, according to current and former employees. BCG declined to comment on this story.
Malkowski and Foreman collectively played a major role in"managing out" at least five female managers, current and former employees said. Some blamed Mailchimp's seeming unwillingness to deal with conflict for the success of managers like Malkowski and Foreman.