For this section of my review I’m sharing how my stand for a harassment-free workplace resulted in my departure, my realization that this wasn’t an isolated incident, and how power-dynamics is a culture-wide issue within the Kinetix workplace.
During a company sponsored event in late 2017, the CTO punched me in my pelvic region. When I confronted him saying, “you just punched me in my [pelvic region],” he denied it and continued to physically assault me (while asking me why I’m so beautiful), as I forcibly pulled myself away.
In the three weeks that followed this incident, I fell apart both mentally and physically. I was told by the CEO that a business decision needed to be made in order to retain the the CTO. My CEO even asked me not to involve HR in the matter, stating it would be an indicator that I didn’t trust him to handle the harassment issue at hand. I felt fortunate that I was comfortable enough to reflect that request back to him, and tell him how inappropriate it was.
This left me feeling abandoned and unprotected by my CEO, who was both my friend and mentor. I felt ostracized and alone at a depth I’d never felt before. It took me about 5 months to truly reconcile that I saw all this coming; I saw it happen to other women and men. During my workplace investigation, it was revealed to me that in the same conversation, the CTO would be asked to stop making men at our office uncomfortable - I’d personally witnessed the CTO hitting our male coworkers in their man bits. In addition, there were multiple levels and types of bullying occurring in every-which direction. From the CTO specifically, lots of bullying people into drinking. Early in my tenure, my CEO even asked me to spend time drinking with the CTO, stating that it was a good way to bond with him.
In June/July 2017,, I’d reported physical assault of my CTO kissing me at a company event. When I told the CEO about it, he said, “I’ll talk to [the CTO].” As later confirmed by the CEO, there was no written warning and no addition of a sexual harassment policy (at the time, Kinetix, a 13-year old company, had no sexual harassment policy). They’ve since added a sexual harassment policy, and the CEO claims it’s a “zero tolerance policy,” which I find surprising, because I’m gone, and the CTO still remains at the company. And it’s the CTO who’s repetitively kissing women without consent, and touching other employee’s private parts. But if you ask the CEO, he’ll tell you it’s a “zero tolerance policy.”
There is a serious lack of consistency in how Kinetix treats sexual harassment issues, and it absolutely takes consideration for rank, tenure, value, and general-likability from others. I know this with certainty as there were other men at the office (entry-level) who were written-up or fired for harassment of women (myself being one of those women harassed by one of those entry-level men, who was written up and later fired). With deep regret, I'll also share that one of these young men later committed suicide. I take personal responsibility for the lack of inclusion we showed that man during his tenure at Kinetix. It was a truly exclusive environment with so much bullying.
As many of the other reviews highlight, being on the management team makes you elite and powerful, but even on the management level, we still had our own power-dynamics issues, as I’ve just outlined.
I truly cannot recommend that anyone work here.
