If you are a person of color make sure you read this review fully to understand the dynamics
you’re dealing with here.
Initially, I was super excited to join my team. From outward appearances and all Intuit’s
promoting around its DEI efforts, it seemed like a great place for minorities and people of color. So, I didn’t give it a second thought when I joined this team.
As time went on, I became increasingly uncomfortable as the only person of color on the
editorial side of this team. I experienced repeated microagressions from certain white team
members, and didn’t feel like I could make any complaints for fear of losing my job. There were
so many cringe-worthy moments I witnessed, like tone-deaf editorial decisions made around
Black History Month without a single black person in the room, along with white colleagues
butchering the ethnic names of our customers on conference calls with them and in our cultural marketing moments.
When I began to speak up about these things, I experienced repeated bullying from this same
group of white team members. They left me out of important meetings and team award
submissions, and seemed to think it was funny to remove me from slack channels and software accounts pertaining to the projects I was working on. When I would push back about some of the racially tone-deaf editorial, they would go to my boss and say I was being uncooperative. Eventually, HR was brought in to address the toxic dynamic on this team, and I asked them to move me off the team, which they did.
Once I moved teams, things were much better (world of difference working on a team with
other minorities). However, my former boss seemed to think I was responsible for the issues on my former team. He blamed me for them in my year-end review along with giving me a DNME, which left me out of getting a bonus or stock award on the projects I worked so hard on all year.
It was a real slap in the face to be denied fair compensation + bonus for my contribution to
these multicultural campaigns, being the only person of color on this team working on them.
And even more disheartening that my boss failed to see the impact of having a minority work
on them at all, while rewarding the bullies for their behavior with bonuses and stock.
I filed an appeal with HR regarding my review and year-end comp, and they still did not correct
this even though I submitted my project trackers and notes showing what was completed prior
to moving teams. My former boss seemed to say I didn’t complete projects – those were
projects that the other team members were managing, yet none them were denied their bonus or received a DNME. I can’t help but notice that even though I submitted substantial
documentation proving otherwise, the words of white male manger were taken at face value
over the factual evidence I sent in. Once you see the level of institutionalized white privilege at
Intuit, you can’t unsee it.
It’s in your best interest to keep diligent records of your projects, progress and meeting notes
with your boss particularly if you’re a minority or person of color. I’d hate to see someone
exploited and denied compensation the way I was. Please take steps to protect yourselves, and if you find yourself the only person of color in an editorial capacity, you might want to
reconsider taking the job at all. Intuit is not a safe place for minorities.
