In 2020, security startup Verkada made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The California-based surveillance service provider faced backlash over allegations that some of its employees were using Verkada’s own technology to harass their colleagues.
If you missed the story, here’s a quick recap: A number of male employees took photos of female employees with the company’s facial recognition cameras and then made sexually explicit jokes about them on a private Slack channel, #RawVerkadawgz. Instead of firing the offending employees, the company merely reduced their stock holdings, a decision that infuriated former and current employees. At least one staff member quit, citing “toxic [company] culture.” Eventually, the company co-founder and CEO Filip Kaliszan terminated the three employees who instigated the incident.
