Top PC cooling component manufacturer EKWB accused of culture of racism, sexism and overwork

rockpapershotgun.com:

Last week Dan Henderson, a former product manager at PC water-cooling manufacturer EK Water Blocks, made a public post on LinkedIn, in which he described almost four months of no pay, and being “strong armed and bullied into signing a new contract through fear of losing my job and also financial ruin.” He also accused the company - one of the biggest in the space - of “blatant racism...psychological manipulation, plain bare faced lying, [and] severe unprofessionalism.”

Last Tuesday, following a report by PCGN regarding this toxic working environment - “beset by racism and unprofessionalism” - a follow-up by Tom’s Hardware has gathered testimony from multiple former employees, corroborating the original allegations and also accusing the company of withholding overtime pay.

In the initial report, PCGN’s Ben Hardwidge spoke to Henderson, who shared screenshots of internal communications on Microsoft Teams showing staff making racist jokes. To quote the original report:

“One staff member replaces the word ‘black’ in the product title with the N-word, while referencing the EK-Quantum Impulse 120 D-RGB fan. This message, which has three laughing emoji reactions, is followed with the words “don’t screenshot this.” Another member of staff then changes the N-word to ‘PoC’ – referencing people of color – to “get [it] correct” while joking that “we’re good” because there are no “PoC in the chat.”

Henderson also told PCGN he’d experienced one staff member making racist remarks to “one of [his] techs in Texas, who is black.” Elsewhere in the piece, Henderson also told Hardwidge that the company’s recent troubles are “because of greed.” In 2022, EKWB laid off 25% of its workforce, blaming low sales. More recently, as well as the withholding of employee pay Henderson alluded to, the company have allegedly had issues paying suppliers, with “five-figure sums” owed, as outlined in this video report by Gamers Nexus.

Last Wednesday, Avram Piltch of Tom’s Hardware spoke to Henderson and