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"Show me what Googley looks like!", Exclaimed Cathay Bi, Google Product Manager.
"That's what Googley looks like!" Responded hundreds of his colleagues, chanting a word used internally to describe the company's culture.
Like employees at other company offices around the world, Google employees in San Francisco participated in walkouts Thursday morning. Around 11 am local time, they invaded a square outside the city's iconic Ferry Building to protest sexual harassment in the famous tech company, as well as what employees termed unequal "women and minority groups. Attendees held placards with slogans such as "Free Food Safe Space" and "Do not Be Evil", turning Google's unofficial motto for a long time into an implicit allegation.
Several women also carried placards hinting at a report in The New York Time Google has agreed to give former CEO Andy Rubin, nicknamed the "father" of Google's Android mobile operating system, a $ 90 million exit package after filing a misconduct complaint sexual against him. "Happy to leave for 90 million dollars," reads the sign. "No sexual harassment required."
Sending to TIME as employees from various Google offices in the city entered the square, Bi described the Rubin report as a "spark" among many others. "We are hosting this event in support of all the people around us who have been victims of sexual harassment and unequal rights at Google," said Bi.
When asked why she had assumed a leadership role during the walkout in San Francisco, Bi said that it was because she was one of those people. "I was sexually harassed by Google, and I never reported it, and I always blamed myself for not reporting it," Bi said. "But you know what, the fact that I do not feel safe enough to report it is what motivates me right now. I hope we can come together to make Google a safer place for everyone. (A Google spokesperson told TIME that the company did not comment on the cases of current or former employees.)
Thursday's protests, which took place Tuesday within 48 hours, took place in offices ranging from Singapore to Ireland, and then to Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California. Along with the walkouts, Google employees have issued a list of leadership requests the end of forced arbitration in cases of sexual harassment; a promise of equal pay and better representation for women of color; public disclosure of a report on sexual harassment in the company; and an improved process for reporting sexual misconduct.
In response to a question about whether the company would meet these requirements, a Google spokesperson provided TIME with a statement from CEO Sundar Pichai. "Employees have raised constructive ideas about how we can improve our policies and processes," he said. "We take into account all their comments in order to realize these ideas."
At about the same time employees were chanting "Time goes to Google!" In San Francisco, Pichai was on the scene at a conference for business leaders organized by the Time At New York. "At Google, we set the bar very high and we clearly did not meet our expectations," Pichai said of the walkouts in a live interview, adding that management supported employees who chose to manifest. He also stated that the company made mistakes "years ago" and has "evolved" since then. "It's very important for me, and it makes sense for me, to draw a hard line on inappropriate behavior, and we've been doing it for a few years," he said.
"Sexual harassment is a societal problem," Pichai said to the question of whether there was a systemic problem of misconduct within Google. "We are really doing our best."
At the San Francisco event, executives read aloud a number of anonymous first-person accounts of wrongdoing in the company, but did not specify when various incidents would have occurred. One of these accounts described a "boys club culture" at Google. Between the two stories, employees began to sing calls and answers.
What do we want? Equal salary.
When do we want it? Now.
If we do not get it? Close it.
The event lasted only half an hour, although Bi promised that it was "the first step of many" in the pursuit of change since Google. In the end, an employee named Jennifer Brown cried when another employee kissed her. Brown was holding a sign saying, "I have reported and he has been promoted".
One may have the impression that sexual harassment would not be an omnipresent problem in technology companies known for their progressive culture. But "it happens everywhere," said Brown, "because everyone allows it and no one speaks for itself. This is the first step, informing people that this is happening. Brown continued to work at Google despite his disappointment with the company and described the walkout as "a huge step forward."
"I hope it will be better. There is momentum. There is a movement, "said Brown about the fight against sexual harassment" People are fed up. "
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