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Enlarge / The pleasant look of Rivian’s electrical truck is at odds with allegations of a poisonous bro tradition on the startup.Jonathan Gitlin
On Thursday afternoon, former Rivian VP of Gross sales and Advertising and marketing Laura Schwab revealed a blistering account of her expertise at electrical vehicle-maker Rivian. Schwab moved to the startup in November 2020 after a prolonged profession at Jaguar Land Rover after which Aston Martin however says that nearly instantly, she started to expertise a “poisonous bro tradition that marginalizes ladies and contributes to the corporate making errors.”
Rivian has painted a picture of itself as a mix of automaker and tech startup, however Schwab says that the precise tradition on the firm was a “boys membership” surrounding founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. She writes that she was sidelined and excluded from decision-making, regardless of being employed particularly due to her expertise in automotive advertising. Along with the account revealed on Medium, Schwab can also be suing the corporate for gender discrimination.
Schwab says that her boss, Chief Industrial Officer Jiten Behl, advised her “he would solely talk with me by prompt messenger and that might be outdoors workplace hours, ‘late within the night.'” After elevating her issues with one other feminine Rivian govt, Schwab alleges that that lady was additionally excluded from conferences.
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Schwab says that even the feminine HR particular person she introduced her issues to additionally complained about being sidelined and ignored by Behl.
Two days later, Schwab and Behl lastly met in particular person for the primary time in lots of months, at which level she was fired.
In her account, Schwab says that “it’s merely not credible that the corporate would eradicate the chief accountable for gross sales and advertising simply as Rivian was starting to promote automobiles and was on the eve of an IPO. And a vastly rising firm that was hiring over 200 new staff every week doesn’t eradicate excessive performers with out some ulterior motive. I had witnessed much less certified male colleagues be shifted round in an effort to maintain them at Rivian.”
Schwab’s former boss at Aston Martin, Dr. Andy Palmer, defended her, stating that she “is among the {most professional} Gross sales & Advertising and marketing Execs I’ve had the pleasure to work with. I’ve no thought why you’d rent somebody of this high quality after which not take heed to them!”
Rivian declined to touch upon the matter, citing the quiet interval of its upcoming IPO, the place it hopes to boost $8.4 billion.
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