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Google announces new policies on sexual harassment and diversity, following a protest by an employee around the world organized last week. The new rules reflect protesters' demands, which met with Google leaders earlier this week. "We recognize that not everything has gone well in the past and we are sincerely sorry. It is clear that we need to make changes, "CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an e-mail to employees and published publicly today. The walkout organizers said, however, that Google "ignored many of the main claims" they had made.
Pichai wrote that Google "will provide more transparency on how we handle our concerns. We will bring better support and better care to the people who raise them. And we will double our commitment to being a representative, fair and respectful workplace. He included a summary of the new policies; Google has also released a file containing more details about the rules, which meet some initial requirements, but not all.
One of the main changes made by Google is to make arbitration optional for complaints of sexual harassment and sexual assault, so that employees can bring the fault complaints to the court instead of settling them in private. Pichai also promises to provide "more details" in Google's internal harassment reports, providing details on the number of substantiated cases, as well as "trends," disciplinary actions, and types of behavior "that we do and do. will not fire employees for. Google will update and expand its mandatory training on sexual harassment and begin to correct performance evaluation scores for employees who do not complete the training.
Pichai also promised to improve the reporting system of sexual harassment and assault. It will create a dedicated reporting site with live support, offer advice to those reporting assault or harassment, and allow Google employees to bring another person to help them when they meet to discuss their complaints. . These changes will be implemented by the first quarter of 2019.
Some of these changes, such as optional arbitration and a support person at meetings, appear to be specific responses to organizers' requests. Others do not respond directly to the requirements, but try to achieve the same general objectives. "Granularity", for example, could potentially respond to publicly disclosed transparency report requests – although this appears to be a much smaller commitment.
Google only made reference to some of the other requests. The organizers, for example, have asked Google to reinforce the role of its diversity officer and to publish internal reports on pay gaps or success between races, ethnicities and genders. Pichai has more broadly promised to "re-engage" in favor of diversity, equality and inclusion practices focused on "improving representation – through Hiring, advancement and retention – and creating a more inclusive culture for all. " more important request, such as putting an employee representative on the board of directors.
Although this was not one of the demands, Google says that "to go forward, all company leaders … will need to create teams, events, external sites and environments in which excessive consumption of alcohol is strongly discouraged, "he said. that in about 20% of sexual harassment complaints, the author had been drinking alcohol.
In a statement, the walkout organizers said Google had "made progress" to meet their demands. However, they noted that Pichai had not said anything about an employee representative and that Google was not raising the rank of the diversity officer. In addition, it has "disturbingly obliterated" the claims of racism, discrimination and the "modern Jim Crow class system" that separates full-fledged employees from the vast pool of less privileged and protected contract workers.
"If we want to put an end to sexual harassment in the workplace, we have to correct these structural imbalances of power," the organizers said in their statement. "We are pleased to see progress on sexual harassment, but we will not abandon the most pressing demands for women of color: representing employees on the board, electing the diversity officer, greater transparency and an end. inequalities of opportunity. at Google and beyond. "
The walkouts were caused by an explosive New York Times According to reported information, Google would have turned a blind eye to the sexual assault and harassment between executives and reportedly offered a $ 90 million termination indemnity to Android Ruby's co-founder, Andy Rubin, following his resignation as a result of Credible allegations of sexual assault.
Update 12:45 ET: Adding additional details in Google's strategy document.
Updated 5:30 pm ET: Added response from Google Walkout organizers.
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