‘Ellen DeGeneres Show’ Offers New Perks to Staffers Amid Toxic Workplace Controversy

The Ellen DeGeneres Show is reportedly offering new perks to its staffers, amid the current toxic workplace controversy it is facing. According to Yahoo!, senior Ellen producers Mary Connelly and Andy Lassner revealed to the staff that, going forward, they will all receive five paid days off to use however they want and paid time for doctors appointments and family matters. Additionally, all staffers will get their birthdays off.

The outlet notes that insiders stated the new perks have had a positive impact on morale since being announced, at a time when things have been very low, due to the accusations that surfaced in the past few weeks. Some of the allegations have been against DeGeneres herself, with staffers stating that she does not have the same friendly personality off-screen. Other accusations have been related to sexual misconduct among producers. In response, Connelly, Lassner, and Ed Glavin — three top producers — issued a statement.

“Over the course of nearly two decades, 3,000 episodes, and employing over 1000 staff members, we have strived to create an open, safe, and inclusive work environment,” they said. “We are truly heartbroken and sorry to learn that even one person in our production family has had a negative experience. It’s not who we are and not who we strive to be, and not the mission Ellen has set for us.”

Ultimately, Glavin was fired from the show, along with Kevin Leman and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman. There have also been promotions at the show, as DJ Stephen’ tWitch’ Boss has been elevated to a producer. Ahead of his promotion, Boss spoke out about his experience on the Ellen show and had nothing but kind words. “We can’t speak too much legally about it, but I’ll say this, there’s been love,” Boss told Us Weekly.

“Obviously, there’s some things to address, but from my standpoint and from countless others, there’s been, love. I’ll just leave it at that until there’s a time where we can address more publicly. There’s been love and there will continue to be love.” For her part, DeGeneres has denied the accusations that she is rude and hard to work with, but has apologized for the sexual misconduct, which she states she was not aware of but admits happened under her watch. “As we’ve grown exponentially, I’ve not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I’d want them done,” DeGeneres said. “Clearly some didn’t. That will now change and I’m committed to ensuring this does not happen again.”