Google’s employee-run email list tracks allegations of unwelcome behaviour
AT MOST companies, if you think you’ve witnessed sexual harassment, sexism, bigotry or racism, you go to human resources. At Google, there’s another way to air your grievance: submitting your complaint to an employee-run message board that’s curated into a weekly email.
The list, called “Yes, at Google,” is a grassroots effort to collect anonymous submissions at Google and parent Alphabet Inc. and communicate them across the company, according to five current employees who receive the emails. “Yes, at Google” tracks allegations of unwelcome behaviour at work in an attempt to make the company more inclusive, said the employees, who did not want to be named because they were not authorised to speak about internal company matters. Since starting in October, more than 15,000 employees – 20 per cent of the company’s workforce – have subscribed, according to two of those people.
Google management is aware of the list. “We work really hard to promote and preserve a culture of respect and inclusion,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “Our employees have numerous ways to raise issues – both negative and positive – with us, including through grassroots transparency efforts like this one. We take concerns seriously and take appropriate measures to address them.”
The list is run by a group of workers across different product areas, according to a person familiar with the list, though it’s not clear who runs the list and how or whether the submissions are vetted before being distributed.
Usually, the people in the complaints are not named, though one submission described an instance when, during a large company meeting in late April, Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt allegedly interrupted Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat when she had a question addressed to her, which the post categorised as a “gender-related” complaint. A person who attended the meeting said Schmidt answered the question to make a joke. Messages sometimes include job titles and other details.
Google, along with other tech companies, is facing growing pressure from diversity advocates and the media to change the gender and racial makeup of its workforce, which is largely white and Asian men. But inside company walls, employees are also speaking up about what they see as unfair treatment. The weekly email - - whose title is meant to suggest that yes, these things happen at Google, even if you don’t see them –is one way employees are pushing for awareness and change.
Google management doesn’t control or influence the content, though the list’s organisers sometimes ask teams or particular employees to respond to an item before publication, according to a person familiar with the list who was not authorised to speak about it. Executives have touted the list internally as a way that Google is trying to make its workplace welcome to all kinds of employees. In February, former Uber engineer Susan Fowler wrote a widely read blog post detailing alleged sexual harassment and other mistreatment at Uber
After her post, a group of Google vice presidents sent staff an email that listed resources that might help prevent similar things happening at Google. “Yes, at Google” was included as a resource. A dispatch from early May viewed by Bloomberg listed dozens of alleged incidents. One person reported a manager to HR for allegedly “joking about raping one of his direct reports,” the email said. “He was promoted.” Another allegation: “A colleague started a meeting off by making a joke that called a woman in the adjacent meeting room ‘some random bitch.’”
In another, a writer alleges that a “Noogler” – new Googler – was invited by an engineer to get drinks with a group of colleagues off campus. It was her second week of work. “Upon arriving, discovered there was no group,” the email said. “Subsequently informed by the engineer that she was expected to ‘sleep with everyone’ because that’s the culture here.” The message was accompanied by this note from the newsletter operators: “Per the Employee Relations Team, this is an example of the kind of issue that we need and want to look into as this behaviour is unacceptable and contrary to our Code of Conduct and Policy Against Harassment.” The email urged anyone who knows of the identity of the people involved or the time and place it occurred to share it with the company, “so we can look into this matter and address it appropriately.” — WPBloomberg