[coglethorpe]

Big companies have fraud, just look at Enron. The sexism isn't overt for legal reasons, but that doesn't change the end results. One very big, very old company I worked had a manager who loved hiring attractive female interns and another who almost exclusively hired people from his home country and all but openly admired to preferential hiring based on nationality.

When someone at a big company is conveniently let go before their green card is approved or that big bonus is paid out, it isn't a "firing," but a "layoff" as the company "right-sizes." Bad bosses abuse underlings when they think the job market lets them get away with it and will not hesitate to punish those who step out of line.

Come to think of it, I've seen everything you describe at some of the many Fortune 500 companies I've consulted at. Sadly, human nature defies corporate size, and bad behavior can even creep into very big companies.

[tptacek]

That's true, but what's also true is that virtually every bigco has checks and balances to address that problem, whereas the job of HR in a post-A-round startup is mostly to screw you on health insurance.

Whether those checks function well or not, there's usually nothing you can do about an irrational or abusive CEO or VP/Eng at a startup.

[StrawberryFrog]

the job of HR in a post-A-round startup is mostly to screw you on health insurance

That goes only for the USA. Sorry to touch that topic, but it's true.

[jswinghammer]

I've always had good experience with health insurance at the startups I've worked for.

[StrawberryFrog]

IN the UK, it's just not an issue that you think about. Your NHS cover is unaffected by who, if anyone, employs you.

[joe_the_user]

The sexism isn't overt for legal reasons, but that doesn't change the end results.

Hmm, Oddly enough, I think that laws on sexism, racism and reasonable behavior by employers actually influences their behavior. There may still be sexist attitudes, say, at a large company but the norm is to make a serious effort prevent them. Believe it or not but laws actually matter... Laws don't prevent bad behavior but they certainly mitigate it. Also, I suspect that one sees bad behavior most often the very top of the large corporations, since those with the most power are naturally mostly likely see themselves as above anyone's else's laws. But the top of a large company is a small area compared to the vast middle.

[tptacek]

Big companies have infinitely more to lose. Something else I've seen repeatedly in my career: even frivolous claims of harassment are settled with cash, because the cost to fight them is too high.

You can't do that with a tiny startup because there's not enough to sue for.

[jacquesm]

The outcome of such lawsuits and the possibility to settle them for cash varies greatly with location.

In the USA you'd be right, in Europe or Asia much less so.

[cakesy]

Well, they clearly don't have infinitely more to lose, that is ridiculous. Don't throw that word around, it make you look stupid to mathematicians, and you don't want to make a mathematician angry, They understand the language of the universe.

[tptacek]

So they can what? Talk to the universe? I'm so scared.