Spacious (NY)

1.0

Apr 15, 2019

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

There were some really awesome people that worked here -- unfortunately most of them left or were let go.

Cons

Spacious felt like a very noninclusive workplace to me. I often felt like "the only one" in a room and not only had to deal with microaggressions, but be asked by the CEO and other coworkers and higher ups to explain why I was uncomfortable because they did not understand why something might be hurtful, racist, or offensive to someone else. In response to my concerns, the CEO got really wrapped up about not wanting to make any offending parties feel uncomfortable about their own ignorance. What about the loads of emotional labor, trauma, and discomfort that other people (usually POC and other folks with less power and privilege) faced all the time? It didn't seem like anyone cared about that. A majority of the decision-makers in the company was made up of higher management (c-suite, VPs, etc.) who would only consult each other to make really biased decisions about company culture, such as evaluate whether something was considered harassment (from a member or from another coworker) or not. It's a small company, so I guess it's easy to have a myopic viewpoint -- when I would suggest that the workplace felt cliquey, folks would defend it as solidarity and "being in it together" in terms of the startup grind. My take is that the folks on the inside couldn't understand what it felt like to be outside of it because of a complete lack of diversity. There just isn't enough representation in the room. I think the higher ups who said they were working on diversity also did not understand intersectionality and believed they were being plenty diverse because there were women in the room. This is the kind of workplace where folks referenced Jordan Peterson unironically, where folks believed in reverse racism, where I was tokenized over and over again, where the HR consultant was the most unsafe person to report anything to -- a lot of all-talk-no-walkers. I hope it changes, but I wanted to write this to share my experience (as a woman of color) with other URMS and POCs.

Spacious (NY) Response

I am truly sorry that you had this experience at Spacious. Hearing this is deeply upsetting to me personally, and I sincerely take these comments to heart. The company is continuously revisiting our best practices to uncover any blind spots, and working to ensure we can achieve our goal of making Spacious a place that is inclusive, and that anyone who has the appetite and aptitude to grow with us can do so. Your message is an important reminder that we still have a lot of work to do in achieving this very important goal, and I am committed to achieving it. As of this writing, our C-suite and VP level upper management is currently comprised of 30% people of color and 50% women. Before the end of this year, our plan is to have a dedicated resource for Diversity and Inclusion training and continuing internal education to help us achieve our goals of making Spacious a great place to work for everyone. We will also be hiring an in-house head of HR who we will be screening partially based on their awareness of these important aspects of growing an early stage company like Spacious. One of the best things that we, or any other company can do to achieve these goals, is to encourage underrepresented minorities and people of color to apply for the jobs that we have available. This particular review is helpful to highlight and bring more attention to this issue as one that is prevalent and certainly needs more attention from more employers. My fear in processing how it has been worded (as of the date of this reply), is that it might actually discourage some people from applying to Spacious in the first place, and may be unintentionally be counterproductive to the values that we share of wanting to do better in achieving more diversity at the company. I would love to turn this into a positive opportunity for change at the company, and would encourage the author to consider any edits to the post that still hit the mark of raising awareness, but perhaps doesn't detract from our shared goal of creating greater diversity within. I am grateful for the review and the awareness that it brings, and the leadership of Spacious remains committed to creating a work environment where everyone feels like they can belong here. I am very sorry that we let you down. I take it to heart, sincerely.

Not a safe place to work for People of Color - Anonymous employee Spacious (NY) Employee Review

Explore other reviews about Spacious (NY)

Want the inside scoop on your own company?

Bowls

Followed companies

Job searches