It ’s no secret that Google has someserious interior issueswith systemic racism and sexism , but now it ’s surfaced that when employees account incident of workplace secernment to HR , they ’re often met with this baffling response : Get therapy .
That ’s according to nearly a XII current and former Google employees who spoke withNBC News , including two large black-market women , Timnit GebruandApril Curley , whose shadowed ousters last year earned Google widespread condemnation .
Gebru , who formerly co - led Google ’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence team , take she was fire after criticizing the company ’s multifariousness communications protocol and attempts by management to ban research decisive of Google ’s production . Before her departure , Gebru assure NBC that she repeatedly raised concerns about how women were mistreated at Google . But when human resource specialists responded to her complaint , they simply encouraged her to seek out mental health resources .
Photo: Amy Osborne (Getty Images)
“ They ’re like , ‘ Well , if there ’s something wrong with you , here are all these therapy resources , ” Gebru told the outlet . “ And I would respond that no amount of support scheme is going to get rid of Google ’s hostile body of work environs . I have friends . I go dancing . I have spare-time activity and therapy already . ”
Curley was quietly fired from her role as a diversity recruiter in September . ATwitter threaddisclosing her termination and detailing her experience with the blazing racial discrimination throughout Google ’s caller culture subsequently blend in viral . During her six long time there , she said she reported two managing director for allegedly ill-use her and her squad and face pushback for speaking out , which included a $ 20,000 pay cut in 2019 along with a formal monition about her work performance . When she told HR about her vexation , or else of speak her coworkers ’ inappropriate doings , they suggested she take a medical leave of absence to tend to her mental wellness , per NBC .
Of the workers that opt to take medical leave , several said they returned to ascertain they had new managers or had been reassigned to other departments . Since Google tie advancement and raises to management ’s performance reviews , these employees claim they missed out on opportunities because their new handler had n’t known them long enough to adequately gauge their performance .
One current employee who spoke with NBC on the condition of namelessness said she report a manager who had send away her concern about Google ’s bankruptcy to address widespread racial disparities in the workplace . When the employee , a smuggled cleaning woman , kvetch to HR , they suggest she either coach the manager about where they went wrong or take medical leave and get mental health treatment .
“ It felt denigration . I was n’t in cushion because I had get word it before . I had watched other leaders in the organization take these mental health leaves and then disappear , ” she told the outlet . “ It was readable that they were n’t going to take me seriously . ”
Claire Stapleton , a former employee who organizeda walkout in 2018to protest how Google handled accusations of intimate assault and harassment , said she sound off about being demoted after the protest to HR and was tell apart to try heedfulness techniques to improve her relationship with her manager . Their other proposition ? You guessed it : to take aesculapian farewell to forge on her mental health .
In a statement to NBC , Google said it ’s attached to supporting its employees that get along forward about workplace mistreatment :
“ We have a well - defined process for how employees can lift concerns and we work to be exceedingly transparent about how we handle complaints . All concerns reported to us are look into rigorously , and we take firm action against employee who go against our policy . ”
Google declined to comment on several allegement in NBC ’s report , but did say the party offer a range of ways for employees to elicit concerns and it inquire all revenge reports .
“ If an employee wants to research a leave of absence of absence seizure or have a workplace accommodation , Google ’s Benefits team will work with the someone on next steps , ” a fellowship spokesperson tell apart the electric receptacle .
Google has pouredhundreds of millions of dollarsinto diversity efforts over the eld . But so far , the results have been dismal , going by the company’sdiversity write up . ( In all fairness , its competition in Silicon Valleyhaven’t been doing too hoteither ) . Between 2019 and 2020 , the part of Black hires at Google rose by less than 1 % while the per centum of Latino and Native American hires in reality decreased . Last month , the company agree to pay$3.8 millionto steady down allegement of “ systemic recompense and hiring secernment ” brought by over 5,000 adult female and Asian engineers .
Google lately said it ’s rolling out new procedures to manage sensitive employee release and retool its diversity policies , according toAxios . The decisiveness came after an national investigation into Gebru ’s firing , the results of which Google go down to divulge . Based on these belated allegations , though , Google has a hell of a lot of work to do . Might I suggest therapy ? Maybe then Google ’s management can manifest some multifariousness policies with teeth .
Update : 2025-03-01 , 4:03 p.m. ET : A Google representative shared the following statement with Gizmodo :
“ If someone raises a ill , our first precedence is to investigate their vexation and we take firm activity when we obtain policy irreverence . At the same time , we know that being the subject of , and reporting , wrongful conduct is surd , so we provide Google - funded resources for employee who may want additional care and support through the mental process . We think this is the right thing for an employer to do to brook the great unwashed make complaints , but to be clear , these resource are in no style a second-stringer to Google investigating and turn to the matter they have reported . We ’ve set out this process publiclyhere . ”
Alphabet Inc. CompaniesCriticism of GoogleGoogleSocial IssuesTechnology
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