Facebook's Sandberg Tells Room of Investors to Care About #MeToo

(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who was being interviewed in front of a room full of mostly male investors about the company's business, asked to spend the last minute of the session talking about something else -- the #MeToo movement.

Sandberg, a longtime advocate for women in the workforce, said she was “very worried about what I perceive of as the negative impact or backlash” of #MeToo, which has seen women around the world share stories of sexual harassment or abuse by men in power. She said she was concerned that men would be less likely to mentor women one-on-one, which could deprive them of opportunities to learn and have their work observed.

“Make sure in your firms, access is equal,” she said at a Morgan Stanley investor conference in San Francisco. “If they don't feel comfortable doing work travel with women... then they shouldn't travel with men or they should travel in groups.”

She reminded investors of their power, and the benefit that a strong, diverse workforce could have for business.

“Everyone in this room is interested in return,” Sandberg said. “We know that a diverse workplace gets better returns.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in San Francisco at sfrier1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg

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