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Employees at Google offices around the world held a series of walkouts on Thursday to protest the company's treatment of sexual harassment.
The walkouts, which began in Asia and spread across continents, were planned around 11:00 am in their time zones. Demonstrations were expected all day at Google offices in the United States.
The reaction was sparked by an article in the New York Times last week, which revealed that Google had poured millions of dollars into exit packages to executives accused of harassment, while remaining silent about transgressions.
While the late morning arrived Thursday in different time zones, Google employees have left their offices in Singapore. Hyderabad, India; Berlin; Zurich; Dublin; and London.
The photos were shared on social media, but it was not known how long the protests lasted, as many of those who stopped working remained inside the buildings.
Brenda Salinas, a Google employee in London, did not come to work Thursday due to an injury, but she expressed support for the walkout.
"I have been at Google for more than a year," she said. "Last week was one of the toughest weeks of my tenure at Google, but today is the best day. I have the feeling of having thousands of colleagues around the world who, like me, are determined to create a culture in which everyone is treated with dignity. "
Ms. Salinas also noted that contract workers were included in the requests of the organizers of the event. "We do not talk enough about it in technology," she said.
A press release issued by the organizers indicated that "the power structure that inherently diminishes" agents, sellers or subcontractors, was "anchored in the same foundation of inequality".
Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google, said Wednesday that the company's management knew about the upcoming walkouts and that employees would "get the support they need if they want to participate."
"Employees have raised constructive ideas about how we can improve our policies and processes," he added. "We take into account all their comments in order to realize these ideas."
The employees who organized the walkout called on Google to end its use of private arbitration in alleged cases of sexual assault and harassment. They also required the publication of a transparency report on cases of sexual harassment, the disclosure of salaries and wages, an employee representative on the company's board of directors and a diversity officer who could speak directly to the council.
Google's management team has taken steps to ease concerns over the past week. Mr. Pichai and Google co-founder Larry Page and general manager of his parent company, Alphabet, have both apologized. Mr. Pichai later stated that his initial statement "was not enough" and apologized again.
Google has said it has fired 48 people for sexual harassment charges over the past two years and that none of them had received an exit package. One of the leaders that Alphabet continued to use after being accused of harassment resigned on Tuesday and did not get an exit package, but that did little to quell the unrest.
The tensions have been mild as Silicon Valley workers increasingly oppose the decisions of their leaders who, in their opinion, do more harm than good. Mr. Pichai was reprimanded for developing a search engine for China censoring the results. Google employees have also reacted against the company's artificial intelligence work with the Pentagon.
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