Max Temkin, one of the original eight co-creators of Cards Against Humanity (and perhaps the most public of them) has resigned his position after numerous former employees came forward with allegations that he was the “harbinger” of a toxic work environment at the company’s Chicago offices.
As reported by Polygon Temkin, who had already had his “managerial duties” reduced following previous “complaints from staff”, has now “stepped down and no longer has any active role at Cards Against Humanity.”
A statement on Cards Against Humanity’s site reads:
Starting on June 6, several of our former employees posted reports on social media about a toxic work environment in our Chicago office. Many of them centered on one of our eight co-founders, Max Temkin, who led that office. We immediately began an internal investigation, and on June 9, we made the following commitments to our staff:
- Max Temkin stepped down and no longer has any active role at Cards Against Humanity, effective that day.
- We’re hiring a specialist firm to review and improve all HR, hiring, and management practices at the company. Our goal is to make these practices more inclusive, transparent, and equitable.
- An outside organization will lead workplace training for all partners and employees of Cards Against Humanity, focusing on communication and unconscious bias at work.
As Cards Against Humanity rapidly grew from a hobby project in our parents’ basements to a company with 18 full-time employees, we made a lot of mistakes. We want to apologize to employees who were unheard or disrespected in our office. We are truly sorry. We also want to state unequivocally that we condemn harassment of anyone who has posted stories about their experiences at Cards Against Humanity.
In the interest of transparency, we are now sharing our complete responses to a series of questions we received via email from a reporter at Polygon regarding our company and the accounts on social media. Some of these accounts are true, others are not, and a few we are continuing to investigate.
We are committed to rebuilding a workplace that the partners and staff can be proud of. It is our responsibility to see this through.
Sincerely,
Josh, Daniel, Eli, Ben, David M., David P.
Active Co-Founders, Cards Against Humanity
The interview responses they mention relate to this excellent feature on Polygon, which you should definitely read before moving onto Cards Against Humanity’s replies.