PLOS Reviews

Publications assistants on PLOS ONE really bust their chops and there is lots of turnover because it is just not sustainable. I just want to make an important note about how the company hires and promotes based primarily on "culture fit." This puts a premium on Western ideals like extraversion, culturally-insensitive ideas of good worker and leadership traits, and the unchecked personal discretion of managers and social cliques within the office. PLOS is a prime example of "culture fit" becoming discriminatory in nature. By now they are well-known for promoting pretty horribly, and you can read past reviews to get an idea of this. In this part of the country, no one is explicitly racist or even intends to be, but if your ability to mesh with predominantly white managers or social groups and exhibit Western-centric leadership traits is what gets you appreciated or promoted, then this kind of working climate, like so many, are simply favorable to those who are predisposed to it, as in highly favorable to white people cut from a certain cloth or background and those that 'hack' it. "Soft" racism if you will. Just read about all the literature that's come up about "culture fit" becoming another subtle form of racism and discrimination. It's a ceiling that exists for so many people of color, as well as those who don't readily fit the traits valued in individualistic, capitalist culture. There are many well-meaning people who, whether they know it or not, reinforce the status quo. PLOS company culture is a really good example of these things at play. I am grateful for the time I had here, even made some nice work buddies, but this point definitely needs to be made. In these times especially, there is no need to mince words when it comes to things like this. We should all be calling it out when we see it.

I still find it difficult to process that the workplace I loved had disappeared. I joined for the mission, but the culture sure ate me up. And to discover that the individuals best positioned to address them - the CEO, other execs and Directors didn’t care was even more crippling. The chief HR executive seemed to be the only one who paid attention to people and brought many tangible initiatives that contributed to what could be a great place to work, but alas, after just a year or so resigned not surprisingly probably because she was alone in the fight to better the workplace. I hope the rest of the HR team both in Cambridge and SF don't leave as they seem to be the only caring team in this place. The workload is horrible, editorial staff have expressed so but nothing is being done. No strategy, no vision to rally staff to. People are leaving and its a really sad place to be. When I work for an effective leader, I do my best work. Why can't senior leaders realize this? It's not about metrics and tangible outcomes all the time, it's also about developing people and creating a workplace that we can do our best work. You have to own that and your responsibility to that. Now, it just feels like we are bogged down by the feeling that leadership is working against us. Humans have emotions. And the CEO down to all her senior leader's response to negative emotions from staff is to simply blame them all without realizing that how you react and respond to the negativity is very telling and most important to the health of the team. I am a talented employee, hardly any effort to retain and engage us?