Given the recent coverage of racial injustices across the nation, I think that it is imperative for me to share a story of when I worked in the Zillow office in Denver last year. Zillow Group is a company that heavily promotes its level of diversity and inclusion; however, it is also the first company where I witnessed racism firsthand that was ignored by upper management and also the first company I worked at where several racial incidences were known to have occurred amongst its employees. As a person of color, I was followed from inside of the company office to my friend’s car by a Caucasian employee. As I began to drive away, this employee physically stopped the car and began to question me about who I was and why I was in the office. They wouldn’t let me leave until I answered them claiming that they didn’t recognize me which is hardly surprising given that there are several hundred employees working in the office with tens of new employees starting each week due to turnover. I was extremely shaken by this event and informed HR of the incident. Having spoken to 2 people in HR, both said that they didn’t believe it was racially motivated but was likely triggered by previous security issues. Firstly, I had never heard of this happening to my white counterparts nor should a company allow for its employees to police others and follow them to their vehicles. I did not pursue the issue further as I felt that my concerns were being ignored and that , as a person of color, I was made to feel as though I had just “misinterpreted the events” or at least, that’s what I was told. This is exactly why people of color don’t report these incidences and feel like their concerns aren’t heard. Towards the end of my time there, I had heard numerous stories of racism being rampant among its staff in Denver. I do know specifics; however, these are not my experiences to tell. Overall, I was extremely disappointed with how these issues were addressed and hopefully the Denver Office will make changes to provide a safe environment for its employees where you are not accosted by coworkers, minority or not, and for it to be blamed on “prior security issues”. I mentioned this during my exit interview, but based on my experiences, I have no doubt it was never addressed.
