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Time’s Up Leaders Call A Time’s Out, Plan Reboot

TIME’S UP, the fledgling organization that quickly gained a foothold amid the #MeToo movement to focus on gender equity and workplace sexual harassment and assault, plans to rebuild from the ground up in what its leaders describe as a “reset.”

Interim President and CEO Monifa Bandele will step down by the end of the year and all but three of its 25 staff will be laid off, receiving severance through March 1, 2022. Current programmatic operations will end Jan. 1.

“Almost four years ago, TIME’S UP roared on the stage to disrupt the status quo. For too long, too many of us were forced to tolerate workplace behavior we should not have had to. In that moment and since, TIME’S UP has gained oxygen, shifted culture, and empowered people to speak up,” the organization’s leaders said via a statement. “We’ve also seen some previously at our organization face their own lapses in judgment that are inconsistent with our values.”

The shakeup comes months after it was learned that senior leaders of the organization consulted with former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on his response to allegations of sexual harassment by a former aide.

“We made the difficult decision to reduce our core team” and a “minimal operational footprint” will move to Phase 2. The transition team, along with the board that remains will immediately begin Phase 2 of the process to work on developing the new methods and operational needs for TIME’S UP going forward. That will involve building a more focused, transparent, and inclusive organization.

The full phase 1 report, dated Nov. 16, can be accessed on TIME’S UP’s website here.

TIME’S UP announced this past September that a consultant was hired to facilitate a review of the organization in three phases:

  • Phase 1 will examine the current state of the organization and solicit constructive insights from the TIME’S UP community;
  • Phase 2 will inform the organization’s strategy going forward, establishing priorities and recommending best practices to deliver on a promise to uphold and achieve its organizational mission; and,
  • Phase 3 will deliver a formal activation plan.

“This is the time for us to reconnect to our origin story and support one another, raise each other up, stand by one another, especially in difficult times such as these. Dismantling the patriarchy and the systems that have enabled abuse for far too long are what we are all ultimately striving to do,” Bandele said via a statement.

“This is a needed reset, not a retreat,” Board Chair Gabrielle Sulzberger said via a statement. “TIME’S UP stands for accountability and systematic change in the workplace. It is incumbent on us to learn from these findings, and focus on building an organization that powerfully serves women of all kinds and ends the impunity of sexual harassment and assault in the  workplace.”

TIME’S UP reported $1.7 million in revenue for the fiscal year ending December 2019, the most recent tax form posted on its website.