Ask ReproJobs: What's the process for the red flags on your job posts?

Dear ReproJobs,

I saw you all recently reached out to the ReproJobs community for feedback on job postings, and that the community asked for a flagging system for jobs at organizations that you have received complaints about. I appreciate everything you are trying to do to shift the culture in our movement, and I have a few questions. How do you vet the complaints and what is the process for an organization to receive a flag? Do you have a recommendation for how organizations should deal with it? Will this flag appear on an organization’s posting forever? Is there a process for getting removed if organizations are undergoing processes to address the issues?

— Desire to Do Better

Dear Desire to Do Better,

Thank you for this question and the opportunity to offer clarity and transparency on this new process. We receive a lot of emails from individuals about the truly messed up policies and cultures within social justice organizations—some from organizations with long histories of mistreating workers and leaders who fail upwards and others we had no idea about. We also receive a lot of questions about whether folks should even bother applying to some organizations because it feels like they’re just moving from one bad situation to another; until all organizations address these issues, nothing will get better and staff will continue job-hopping every 18 months or so. The reality is, no organization is perfect, people have different perceptions of how supportive a workplace is. Right now we’re all going through a reckoning and hopefully taking serious steps to address the systemic racism within our organizations and in the world at large.

In the past we have gone to the ReproJobs community to ask what would be most helpful—the first time was whether or not to reject job postings that don't list salaries. In that case, people overwhelmingly said they’d like to see the jobs posted with a call out about the lack of salary range listed so candidates could address it in the hiring process, and organizations might be pushed to make change. A few weeks ago, we again asked the community what to do about job postings from organizations we’ve received complaints about—and again, the community asked for a notation of some form so candidates could ask questions during the hiring process and go into the situation knowing things aren’t perfect. Candidates and workers alike should know what they’re getting into, whether it’s an organization with a racist or transphobic culture or one that doesn’t treat pregnant workers with respect.

We followed the request of the community to institute a red flag on posting for organizations that we’ve received more than one detailed complaint about. We decided to keep a threshold of requiring multiple, detailed complaints to try and prevent the system from being abused. Of course, just because only one person may have been harmed doesn’t make it okay, and we want to try to be as fair to all parties as possible while also trusting workers. Our top priority is protecting the confidentiality of the workers who shared complaints with us, so we decided to institute a simple notation, rather than the full allegations. “🚩 [Red flag]: we've received complaints about this workplace.”

We assume the flags won’t last on the postings forever—we hope organizations will take steps to address the issues. And, we hope to hear from staff from those organizations—either on the postings themselves or in our inbox—that the situation is improving. We know that it can be difficult for workers to give feedback to organizations directly and that many boards simply don’t address these concerns, so workers give up. If organizations are interested in soliciting feedback and learning why their job postings received a flag, we are willing to share the overarching issues with them, without disclosing the detailed confided to us. Additionally, organizations are welcome to share more about the processes they’re going through to rectify the issues, like, for example, instituting a salary scan to address pay inequity. Some have already done so. Our inbox at hello@reprojobs.org is always open!

We know this process isn’t perfect, but the way things have been going isn’t either. The reality is that organizations have been aware of the racism, union-busting, sexism, transphobia, low pay, and terrible benefits for years, and unfortunately some will not address it unless flagged publicly. It’s disheartening that organizations fear a red flag more than the fear that their workers aren’t being treated with respect within their organizations. Our goal is and always has been to support workplaces in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements where workers can thrive, not to shame organizations for the hell of it. And, at some point, push comes to shove and even as organizations are making headlines for the way their workers are treated, other organizations are hoping to skate by untouched rather than adjust and do better.

We hope this helps clarify our process, and supports a shift in organization cultures to truly support workers to thrive as we change the world

— ReproJobs