Physician finder and scheduling business ZocDoc was the subject of a blistering story by Business Insider in which former employees ripped the New York health IT company — one described the business as being run like a “frat house” where sexism and drugs were tolerated.
An anonymous post on Kinja, which was subsequently deleted according to the article, led Business Insider to interview more than six other former and current employees about their experience at the company.
The former and current employees described sexism and cocaine use and tied it mainly to the company’s sales department, which they criticized for its long hours and high turnover.
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A company statement said ZocDoc has a long-standing policy against any forms of unlawful harassment or discrimination and never condones illegal drug use and noted that it had worked to improve the sales department:
“Our sales team is an important engine of the company and, like any maturing sales organization, is evolving. Over time, we have strengthened our recruiting and training programs and continue to emphasize and support quality performance.”
Unfortunately, allegations over sexism are not new to young tech companies, or other industries for that matter. I’m not aware of other high profile growth stage or early stage healthcare oriented startups that have been on the receiving end of this criticism. Sales teams tend to have a higher turnover than other departments, generally speaking, so maybe it is just a question of not vetting candidates carefully enough. A zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment with a strong and interested management team would be a good start to addressing the current problems.
The behind the scenes complaints at ZocDoc come just as the largest U.S. online retailer, Amazon, was the subject of a scathing New York Times article punctuated by disenchanted former employees who painted a picture of an aggressive, ruthless work culture.
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The two companies were the subject of a lot of discussion on Twitter over the weekend. Here’s a sample.
Shocked #startups like this exist. Wondering if this is true… http://t.co/5wXOOlzd5w @CyrusMassoumi @oliver_kharraz @nickganju @ZocDoc
— 👋 Arjun Rai, 🤳🏽SelfTact.com Snap, Send, Connect (@arjunraime) August 16, 2015
Articles on Amazon, ZocDoc spotlight how business culture is most important thing when seeking a job, but hard for outsiders to assess
— Graubart (@graubart) August 17, 2015
This weekend's articles about Amazon (NYT) and Zocdoc (BI) make me more motivated than ever to build culture where diversity is valued
— Charlie Kroll (@CharlieKroll) August 16, 2015
