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20,000 Google Employees Walk Out Over Google Rewarding Sexual Harassers

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Google logo with male and female symbols. The male symbol is above the female symbol.

Google elevates male sexual harassers at the cost of women.

Last week, The New York Times published an article about Andy Ruben and three other men at Google who survived and even thrived at Google and beyond, despite credible claims of sexual harassment against them. Women have accused Google of being an unwelcome place for women for some time. Like many tech companies, Google is plagued with an overabundance of young, white, men. As such, many have developed a “bro culture,” or, a culture that devalues women’s contributions and embraces a “boys will be boys” atmosphere of doing whatever they feel like. Basically, it’s Trump’s so-called “locker room talk” in the workplace every day.

Google and other companies have publicly announced that they’ve noticed the problem. They’ve stated they intend to make changes to correct the issue, curb harassment, hire more women, and make their workplaces a better place for everyone. Behind closed doors, it’s a different story.

Google Rewards Harassers

What should be done when a person comes forward with a claim of sexual harassment? Depending on its severity or the victim’s wishes, the company should bring it to the attention of the police immediately. If, however, this is not how the victim wants to handle it, they should instead conduct an internal investigation. Call witnesses in, take testimony, and make a decision.

If the company finds the claims credible, they should immediately dismiss the harasser for sexual harassment without severance. When the next company comes knocking asking whether or not your company’s former employee carries your recommendation, a representative of the company should say, “No, they sexually harassed someone.”

That isn’t what happens. In fact, in the case of Google, the company promoted men, gave them lavish severance packages totaling millions of dollars, and gave them positive recommendations. Google doesn’t punish wrongdoers if they’re “important” enough, it gives them a golden parachute.

Andy Rubin

Andy Rubin with the Android logo to his left.

Andy Rubin, the “Father” of Android. Also a sexual harasser.

Andy Rubin, known as the “Father of Android” was the main focus of the NY Times’ piece. When Google discovered multiple credible claims against their goose that laid the golden Android egg, they didn’t act for some time. When they did, they did so by giving him a $90 million severance package and publicly praised him, stating that Andy Rubin was a good employee and was leaving the company on good terms.

In doing so, not only did they set Mr. Rubin up for life, they gave him the good name and funding to continue his career. He went on to found Essential, makers of the less than popular Essential Phone. Without Google’s praise, he would have found such a task next to impossible. Rubin would have been unable to find investors or employees who wanted to work for a man who liked to “own” female employees in a sexual relationship and lend them out to friends.

“You will be happy being taken care of. Being owned is kinda like you are my property, and I can loan you to other people.”

– Andy Rubin in an email to a woman

Years before his departure, Google discovered BDSM porn on Andy Rubin’s work computer. Rather than fire him, Google simply docked Rubin’s bonus that year.

And Others

Richard DeVaul of X in a hardware workshop.

Richard DeVaul. Photo: Jason Henry/The New York Times

There were many others. Like Richard DeVaul, who flirted with an interviewee, invited her to Burning Man, and made a sexual advance on her. Supposedly, he had already decided not to hire her before she turned down his “offer” for a topless back rub. Richard DeVaul worked at Google for years, resigning only after the NY Times reported on his harassment.

There was Amit Singhal, who sexually assaulted a woman at a company event. Google did not fire him. Instead, they accepted his resignation and paid him millions of dollars in his severance package. He later got a job at Uber, but even Uber fired him after finding out about what he did at Google.

Then there was David C. Drummond, who had an extramarital affair with Jennifer Blakely. They began dating a few years later, and even had a child together. When they disclosed their relationship to Google, they forced Jennifer Blakely out of the legal department. They split soon after, and she was awarded custody. Google forced her to sign paperwork saying she left voluntarily. Mr. Drummond has been promoted, and is now the chief legal officer of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

The Walkout

Over 20,000 Google employees from 50 worldwide offices organized a walkout on Friday. Hannah Brenner, a professor at the California Western School of Law, stated that she “can’t recall a walkout like this in the tech industry or any other.” She also said “It seems unprecedented.”

That was over 20,000 Google employees marching, chanting, holding signs, and holding their employer accountable. 20,000 employees fed up with the way Google handles sexual harassment at the company.

The employees have a list of demands. They want to end forced arbitration, the act of keeping all sexual harassment claims in-house, even when the victim would prefer a police investigation. This would also force Google to hold their employees accountable, as they wouldn’t be allowed to brush assaults under the rug, as they have done in the past.

Google employees outside of the Google headquarters

Google’s own employees protesting the company. Photo: James Martin/CNET

The protestors also demanded a sexual harassment transparency report, which they want available not only to Google employees, but the public as well. This would hold Google accountable for their actions (or lack thereof) in the past and future. It would also warn female engineers to avoid Google, although, many are already wary of the company (myself included).

Google’s employees have also discussed removing the senior executives who allowed sexual harassment to occur. By wiping the slate clean, Google could prove its commitment to change.

They also want to make the chief diversity officer a more important role. The person in that position, they argue, should only have to answer to the CEO, to prevent intimidation. The chief diversity officer should also have the right to make recommendations for the board of directors, ensuring Google becomes a more diverse and reasonable workplace.

The protestors also want an easy and anonymous way to report sexual harassment without fear of repercussions. Finally, they want pay an opportunity equality.

Google’s Response

Sundar Pichai at Google IO 2017. He stands in front of a large crowd at the amphitheater.

Sundar Pichai at Google IO 2017. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

Google’s in a tough spot here. Over 20,000 of their own employees are fed up with them. Google literally pays these people for their loyalty, and they’re complaining. This doesn’t look good to the public. Google is already coming off of numerous privacy violations and a hack. Soon, Google’s own customers will abandon them as well.

As a result, Google has not been harsh. In fact, Google CEO Sundar Pichai intends to meet with his leadership team on Monday to discuss the protestors demands. He also made sure that all managers were aware of the walkout, and told them to prepare accordingly. To the protestors, Pichai said in an email, “I understand the anger and disappointment that many of you feel, I feel it as well, and I am fully committed to making progress on an issue that has persisted for far too long in our society…and, yes, here at Google, too.”

Where Do We Go Now?

Upside down power symbol with a cross on the bottom to make the female symbol out of it.

The classic binary power symbol reimagined as the female symbol.

We’ve focused on tech companies, but this is an issue that permeates through all businesses. Tech companies are only exceptionally bad because they have so many young men who feel a sense of freedom. Technical skills are in high demand, and having those skills can cause some people to lose the fear of repercussions. Add in a heaping quantity of money, a safety net for bad behavior, and you’ve got a recipe for a toxic workplace.

The solution is greater oversight. Diversity efforts including education, improved hiring practices, better harassment reporting solutions, equal pay, and swift repercussions for wrongdoers will fix the problem. However, companies have been reluctant to put these measures in place. Google, for example, hasn’t just aided sexual harassers at the company. The U.S. government has also accused the company of pay discrimination, an accusation Google has struggled to defend itself against.

Harassment is the tip of the iceberg. Tech companies have been toxic workplaces for women, racial minorities, immigrants, and LGBTQ people for decades. They’re improving, more rapidly than other sectors, but that’s what technology is supposed to do. It’s supposed to be the beacon that guides humanity through the dark. If we don’t hold tech companies to a higher standard, none of the others will follow suit.

Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and others have a long way to go before they’ve undone the damage of the past. That change will only come when they realize it’s necessary. When 20,000 employees—more employees than many companies have in total—stage a walkout, they force the company to make changes. With them, the entire industry, and, perhaps the entire world, will change. Every first step is small.

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