Culture at Yelp: What We Read in 2020

At Yelp we believe that humans, like cultures, are continuously developing. To make sure we’re constantly learning, we regularly immerse ourselves in new experiences . Each week, our team reads and discusses an article that provides a different perspective on a known topic or introduces a new concept for us to explore further. The following articles are some of our favorite, thought-provoking pieces that stuck with us this past year. 

1. Getting Uncomfortable On Purpose: Embracing the productive tensions of purpose inspires action to change the current reality, not just justify it. 
2. Transforming The Workplace to be Transgender Inclusive: Real change and truly inclusive organizations take time but can be done by taking serious steps to understand the everyday experiences of all people. 
3. To Understand Whether Your Company is Inclusive, Map How Your Employees Interact: Analyzing your employees’ connections can help provide visibility into how diverse your company really is. 
4. We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever: All crises have opportunities for imagination, which is a necessity for building future success.  
5. The Cost of Code Switching: Organizations should play a pivotal role in creating environments where code-switching is not necessary for success. 
6. What’s Really Holding Women Back?:  What holds women back at work is not a unique challenge of balancing the demands of work and family but rather a general problem of overwork that prevails in contemporary corporate culture.
7. Why the term “BIPOC” is so complicated, explained by linguists:  People should think more critically about what exactly they are trying to say when they use language, and reshaping our narrative and dismantling systems of oppression will require more than just new labels. 
8. On Likability:  It’s just as important to make space for stories of our failures, our ugliness, our unlikability and greet them with love as we do with stories about the good things. 
9. Disability, Work and Coronavirus – What Happens Now?: The pandemic has made work and social life more accessible for many, and people with disabilities are wondering whether virtual accommodations will last

We’ll be sharing our favorite reads next year. Stay tuned for upcoming lists!