Google Workers Stage Sit-In to Protest Retaliation

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Late last year, over 20,000 Google employees all over the world walked out of their offices to protest Google’s sexist workplaces and rewarding sex offenders. Google created an unwelcome environment for women, and rewarded sexual abusers at the company. In the worst case, they gave a $90 million payout to Andy Rubin as he left Google over substantiated claims of sexual harassment from multiple women.

Just last week, some of the women who organized that protest reported facing retaliation. One woman was threatened with demotion until she got her lawyer involved. Google admitted it wasn’t a fair demotion and reversed it, but only after threatened with legal action. Google told another woman she’d have to abandon her work with an outside AI Ethics group, and find a new job within Google that wasn’t related to AI. Two other anonymous employees reported that they, too, have faced retaliation. One person said Google threatened her immigration status when she reported sexual harassment. Another received “attitude coaching” after reporting harassment.

Google really doesn’t want women to report sexual harassment.

Employees hosted a town hall, and drew up battle plans. Earlier this week, they put those plans into motion. On May 1st, at 11am on the east coast, the organizers had a sit-in. The organizers are asking for Google to meet the original demands of the walkout. Google still has not made improvements or committed to improving the company for women and reducing sexual harassment. The goal was to also bring attention to the retaliation Google employees have faced.

They succeeded. Now what will Google do with the eyes of the world on their discriminatory practices?

Why More Protesting is Needed

Google took action after the walkout in November of last year. Though they didn’t do it right away, they did eventually put an end to forced arbitration. This was the practice that forced accusers to settle their cases within Google, instead of pressing charges. It always lead to softer sentences for sexual assaulters and harassers, who frequently wouldn’t even lose their jobs.

However, Google employees still retaliated against those who organized the walk. Furthermore, they didn’t meet all the demands of the original walkout. While the sit-in wasn’t as large scale, it will still have an impact on the company, fearful of bad press ahead of Google I/O next week.

Retaliation

From being told to go on sick leave when you're not sick, to having your reports taken away, we're sick of retaliation.
Six months ago, we walked out. This time, we're sitting in. 11am tomorrow. #NotOkGoogle #GoogleWalkout pic.twitter.com/GCq0x1O8cZ

— Google Walkout For Real Change (@GoogleWalkout) April 30, 2019

Google threatened the women who spoke up with their jobs. Google tried to demote one woman. They pushed another woman off of one of her personal projects, done outside of Google, and changed her role dramatically within the company, obviously to influence her to quit. Google has subjected at least two other employees to this treatment. One had their immigration status threatened. Google tried to deport someone because they were upset about sexual assault. Another employee’s manager started trying to replace them after they complained to another manager that he was mocking one of their direct reports for being a mother.

Google is mocking mothers and trying to fire anyone who complains.

It’s so ridiculously evil that Disney villains are asking Google managers for advice.

“Stay quiet and do your job. Speaking out will just make things worse.”

– Advice one employee got after complaining about bias, lower wages, and low ratings

None of this is okay in a professional environment. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine a more evil corporate culture. These people were protesting millions of dollars in payouts to sexual abusers. They have every right to be upset. In fact, shareholders are suing Google over their incredulous protection and payouts for sexual abusers. These are extreme cases and demand extreme action.

Failure to Meet Previous Demands

The walkout had a few simple demands. The largest of which was the end to forced arbitration. It took Google two tries, but they eventually ended forced arbitration at Google. Now employees can sue their harassers and groups can band together with supporting evidence to bring charges against serial abusers. This one move made Google a much safer place for women and minorities who may face harassment or racism.

Remove the Old Guard

But it wasn’t enough. The “old guard” is still in place. The people who saw no problem with Google’s culture of harassment are still in power. The managers and board members who believed Andy Rubin—despite evidence of his misdeeds—deserved Google’s praise and $90 million to set him up for life.

A Powerful Chief Diversity Officer

The protesters also wanted to elevate the chief diversity officer (CDO) so they’d only answer to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google. This was to allow the CDO to fire anyone they needed to, and allow them to restructure Google’s predominately white and male board as they saw fit. Bring in new blood with diverse ideas. However, the CDO remains as powerless to make sweeping changes today as they were then.

Transparency

That goes along with no change to Google’s policy on sexual harassment. For the cases decided by a court or internal arbitrators, protestors wanted the outcomes posted to public record. They wanted to name and shame abusers, forcing them to seek forgiveness and change their behavior. They also wanted to warn people who may work with these abusers to be wary of them. Finally, such a report would also offer transparency. Even if Google did not agree to name and shame, which, could be understandable, they should still explain how they arrive to outcomes. The major details of the case and the outcome or punishment for wrongdoings should be publicized, organizers argue. This is the only way to ensure Google continues to do the right thing with these cases.

Improve Recruitment

Finally, the walkout protestors wanted Google to dedicate itself to hiring more women and minorities, who are extremely underrepresented at the company. The tech industry seems to have more unemployed female and people of color engineers than Google’s hiring. That shows bias in Google’s hiring practices. They can change that, allowing them to recruit more engineers passively by removing bias. Add in outreach programs, and they can upset their awful balance.

What Google Should Do

Perhaps I’m biased. I’m a woman in tech. An Android developer, at that. I’ve seen bias in the workplace. Hell, I’ve experienced it. I’ve been uncomfortable around certain men because of what they’ve said or did to me. I have friends who have faced worse. I know what women go through in the workplace, especially one that’s male dominated.

But that’s not what makes me biased. What makes me biased is that, deep down, past my sarcasm, frustration with politics, and all the walls I put up, I am a decent person. No, really. It’s that decency that makes me biased.

It’s simple: no decent person could look at what is happening at Google and not demand change. With great decency comes great responsibility. No, wait, that’s not it.

That’s why so many employees walked out. Over 20,000 people at Google took place in one of the largest company protests ever. Now they’ve engaged in a sit-in. There are many decent people at Google. The problem comes from the top.

The Path Forward

Google needs to fire the old guard that allowed harassment to happen. They need to fire those who retaliated against men and women who spoke up about unfair and sexist policies. Google needs to fire anyone who decided Andy Rubin should get $90 million and a pat on the back on his way out, despite multiple accounts of harassment and heaps of evidence against him. They need to elevate the position of chief diversity officer to return Google to what it once was, a place of equality.

“Don’t be evil” was once an actual mantra at Google. It’s not their motto anymore, for obvious reasons. They need to increase their commitment to making the workplace a safe place. That’s the only way anyone can do their best work. That alone will attract women and minorities. Google can also reach out to women’s groups, historically black colleges, and schools often passed over by recruiters to not only attract more diverse people, but to further innovation at their company.

Google has a simple path ahead of it, one any decent person would willingly take. Unfortunately, Google has a dearth of decent people.

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Sources:

• Christine Fisher, Engadget
• Ben Gilbert, Business Insider
• Caroline Haskins, Vice