Google’s own employees protesting the company’s stance on sexual harassment. Photo: James Martin/CNET
Last week, over 20,000 Google employees walked out in the middle of the work day to protest Google’s handling of sexual harassment cases. A NY Times piece revealed that Google had, on multiple occasions, ignored sexual harassment claims against high ranking people. They also allowed people to leave Google amicably, and sent them off with multi-million dollar severance packages.
Andy Rubin, the “father of Android” and founder of Essential, for example, had been caught numerous times in incriminating situations. When Google finally asked for his resignation, the CEO of the company at the time sent him off with well wishes and 90 million dollars in severance. The man sexually harassed multiple women at the company, and was rewarded $90 million for it. He was able to start a new company thanks to Google.
Naturally, Google’s employees weren’t happy. An unprecedented 20,000 Google employees walked out of their jobs, demanding a more comprehensive sexual harassment policy. They wanted to make it easier for victims to report sexual harassment, and know that it won’t damage their careers. They wanted Google to fire those who rewarded sexual harassment in the past. Google caved and gave them a few items, but didn’t do anything that would create the change at the company that protesters wanted. They did nothing to improve Google’s culture of sexual harassment.
However, Google took a few good first steps, and that may improve things for women in the tech community as a whole.
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Google’s New Policies
Google still elevates men at the cost of women.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent an email to all employees, which he also published on Google’s blog. Within it, he detailed the steps Google will take to make Google a safer place for all employees, especially women, who are, by far, the most frequent targets of harassment and assault. He hopes the new policies will enable Googlers to come forward, have their claims heard, and move on within the company. The goal is to create a safe space before and after an incident.
- Internal arbitration at Google will be optional.
- Google will provide more information on sexual harassment investigations and the outcomes of those investigations as a subsection in their existing Investigations Report.
- Google will unify their reporting channels to make them easier to use.
- Live support and a support person will help the employee making a sexual harassment report.
- Google will offer extended counseling and career support for victims.
- The company will update and expand mandatory sexual harassment training, punishing those who do not complete their training. Though they didn’t state how this training would be improved, or if it would just be a click-through presentation that many companies use and employees ignore.
- Google will “recommit” to diversity, though, beyond saying that the Chief Diversity Officer will prepare a monthly report, the company is otherwise vague about how they’ll do this.
New Policy vs Requested Changes
The 20,000 protesters had a number of demands last week. Many would involve huge changes at the company. How does Google’s new policy measure up to their demands?
- An end to forced arbitration: Yes, mostly.
- Release a sexual harassment transparency report: Somewhat.
- Clean house. Remove the executives who allowed this to happen: No.
- Chief Diversity Officer answers only to the CEO: No.
- Anonymous method for reporting sexual harassment: Not anonymous, but improved methods.
- Equal pay and equal opportunity: No.
Has Google Changed Enough to Handle Sexual Harassment?
Google did a few things on the list of requests, but far from everything. In fact, every item they brought forward either didn’t completely address a complaint or was unrelated to the demands of the women’s walkout. As a result, the walkout organizers see Google’s actions as the right idea, but don’t credit the implementation of those ideas. Google’s not doing nearly enough to combat their toxic culture of harassment.
What Google (Almost) Did Right
First, Google did end forced arbitration for individual cases. However, in doing so, they’re still forcing arbitration for larger cases that may involve multiple people. This stops groups from coming forward. Forced arbitration will keep these complaints confidential and in-house, preventing victims from speaking to the press or other people in the company.
Protesters wanted a full sexual harassment report, including the results of previous investigations and the outcomes. They will not get this from Google. Instead, an existing report will carry a section on sexual harassment investigations. It’s unsure how much these reports will contain, however, they likely won’t include past incidents. Google’s protecting itself from its shady past.
Finally, Google’s new portal will make reporting harassment easier. However, this isn’t the anonymous method people wanted. Victims of harassment may still fear repercussions for coming forward. Unless they can initiate a report anonymously, they likely won’t come forward. Many companies allow anonymous reporting. The fact that Google didn’t make this a priority is shameful.
The rest of their demands were not met.
What Google Did Wrong
The people who gave abusers large severance packages or allowed them to work at Google. They will not be punished for enabling and rewarding abusers. The women who suffered abuse have long since left the company. The men who allowed it have been permitted to stay.
The Chief Diversity Officer has to prepare a monthly report for the CEO, but they will continue to answer to the board, leaving room for oversight from potential abusers.
With the “old guard” in place, the executives who rewarded sexual harassers, there’s little hope for cultural change at the company. Google wouldn’t even put an employee on any oversight board. Google won’t change.
Often, victims leave the company over rumors, retaliation, and discomfort with the fact that the company hasn’t done enough to help her. Google says they’ll change this, but it’s something ingrained into the company, and they’re not making moves to change that.
Furthermore, Google has not announced any programs to create more opportunities for women and minorities at the company. Google’s upper management is made up of of mostly white men. Google employees have to request a promotion. As men are more likely to do so than women, due to societal pressure on women to be agreeable and hardworking, and men to be assertive and overconfident, men are more likely to get promotions. Unless Google allows managers to identify individuals who have performed well enough for promotions, they won’t fix their diversity problem in higher management levels.
Finally, Google’s town hall meeting excluded contractors, temporary employees, and vendors. Contractors are a key part of Google’s workforce, and but may not receive all the protections that full-time employees get. In fact, contractors say the process for reporting harassment is as complex and confusing as ever.
Response from Protestors
“Sexual harassment is the symptom, not the cause. If we want to end sexual harassment in the workplace, we must fix these structural imbalances of power.”
-From the Google Walkout Organizers’ Response
Google’s employees were happy that Google responded quickly. They liked that Google put an end to forced arbitration for individuals. The organizers were also happy that Google would allow additional transparency in sexual harassment investigations, even allowing a victim to bring a friend or representative to talks with HR.
However, most of their demands were ignored, especially those that related to systematic problems at Google and representation. This was a 20,000+ person walkout, one of the biggest in history, at least in the tech industry. It was a massive step towards a better future in tech for women and minorities. However, in response to organizers’ requests for a huge leap forward, Google shrugged and took a very small baby step forward. One might even confuse it for a stumble that looked like a step.
Setting the Tone
Google is a trendsetter in tech. This doesn’t just include the products they make, but how they make them. When software and hardware engineers consider jobs, they’ll prefer companies where they feel safe. They’ll go where the money, benefits, and security are. As a result, companies compete with each other to get the best talent. If Google is putting an end to forced arbitration, others will follow. If Google has monthly diversity meetings and more strict sexual harassment training, other companies will do the same.
We can only hope.
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