Blue Origin 'rife with sexism' says post by current, former employees

The report was published by 20 current and former employees of the company

Founded in 2000 by Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin is an aerospace company currently locked in competition to deliver vehicles capable of sub-orbital spaceflight.

If a recent report is to go by, it seems that there are problems they need to solve on the ground first.

A report published by 21 former and current employees of Blue Origin, paints the company in a damning light and says the company has a toxic workplace culture while turning a blind eye towards sexism.

Published by Alexandra Adams, former Head of Employee Communications at Blue Origin, the report says that the workforce is, "mostly male and overwhelmingly white. One-hundred percent of the senior technical and program leaders are men."

Adams also states that, most of the company's leader's are unapproachable and show a, " clear bias against women."

She gives an example of a former NASA astronaut and senior leader, who once told a team of women, “You should ask my opinion because I am a man.”

According to the report, numerous leaders have also been known to be inappropriate with women, often treating them condescendingly with names such as, "Baby girl, baby doll, sweetheart, etc."

Reportedly, one senior executive under CEO Bob Smith, was reported multiple times to HR for sexual harassment but still got made a member of the hiring committee for filing a senior role in the HR department.

There are also environmental concerns in the way Blue Origin conducts business. One of the company's buildings was built on wetlands which were drained during construction but after concerns fell to deaf ears, the surrounding roads had to be elevated because of the flooding that ensued.

The report says, "We did not see sustainability, climate change, or climate justice influencing Blue Origin’s decision-making process or company culture."