The overall team dynamic changed significantly— and not for the better—after Jeff became CEO and after I was re-organized into another department. Some teams seemed to spend more energy pushing others back rather than focusing on getting things done. Yet, those same teams somehow received most of the attention, support, and resources when it came to hiring decisions and team building.
Over time, I began noticing signs of racial bias. People with lighter skin often received more attention, support, and even higher pay, while people of color were treated differently.
As a person of color with a senior title, I discovered that one of my team members—who held a lower title than me—was being paid more. When I raised this concern with my manager, he dismissed it by saying, 'We have a wide salary range.' Despite the fact that I had a strong reputation among the 40+ business stakeholders I supported alone.
At one point, the CEO even stated during an engineering all-hands meeting that he does not support DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). He also cut sales team salaries by 30%, claiming that they were overpaid.