“On a personal note, I’m frustrated and disappointed to read about some people’s personal experience on the team that fell short of our commitment to provide a positive workplace for everyone,” Cohen continued. “It’s unacceptable for anyone who works at Jigsaw to experience anything other than a positive, equitable, inclusive environment. As CEO, I’m accountable for past failings, and responsible for making sure we honor that commitment going forward.”Do you work or have you worked at Jigsaw, Google, or another tech company? We'd love to hear from you about workplace culture. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, OTR chat at lorenzofb@jabber.ccc.de, or email lorenzofb@vice.com
Today as you’ve likely seen, the Vice story Dan briefed you on a week or so ago was published. The details of the story have hit me hard and I’m deeply disappointed for all of you to see our culture characterized in this way. At Jigsaw, we come in every day trying to use technology to make people in the world safer. But it is not enough to look outward. We have also been working hard to create a better workplace that supports our employees and lets everyone do their best work. We haven’t always gotten everything right, and as CEO, I take this responsibility seriously and I’m committed to ensuring we continue to improve.
As many of you know, in late 2017 we identified a number of areas where we had room for improvement, so we conducted a thorough review, including interviews with every single member of the team, and we implemented nearly all of the recommendations that came out of that process. As we discussed in February, our Googlegeist scores year-over-year show significant improvements over a number of areas that we focused on.
This is not to say our work is done—our journey to build a better Jigsaw is ongoing. But I’m proud of the changes we’ve made these past few years. We’ve created more transparency around decisions by hosting regular all-hands meetings, working together to set quarterly objectives, bolstering our management team with a new product director position, and creating the Operating Committee to help streamline decision-making. We’ve invested in supporting managers on the team by providing educational resources and a weekly forum to share challenges and best practices.
On a personal note, I’m frustrated and disappointed to read about some people’s personal experience on the team that fell short of our commitment to provide a positive workplace for everyone. It’s unacceptable for anyone who works at Jigsaw to experience anything other than a positive, equitable, inclusive environment. As CEO, I’m accountable for past failings, and responsible for making sure we honor that commitment going forward.
I’m still on paternity leave, having welcomed the newest addition to the family six days ago, but Dan will be hosting a team all-hands meeting later today to have an open conversation about the article and any related questions. In the meantime, thank you all for the feedback you’ve shared with us. Even during difficult moments, I’m impressed and inspired by all of your commitment to helping people in the world, and to making Jigsaw a better place to work.
This story has been updated to include a quote from a second former employee.Subscribe to our new cybersecurity podcast, CYBER .Jared.