Google’s controversy over memo raises issues about diversity training
Former Google employee James Damore was supposed to come away enlightened by his diversity training, armed with a newfound sense of empathy for colleagues who did not look like him, a white male.
Instead, the software engineer was so enraged by the experience he decided to write a nowinfamous 3,000-word memo on a flight to China railing against Google’s “ideological echo chamber” and arguing that women land fewer tech jobs because of biological differences.
“I went to a diversity program at Google and… I heard things that I definitely disagreed with,” Damore, 28, told Stefan Molyneux, a libertarian podcaster and author. Damore said he had some conversations at the program, but “there was a lot of, just, shaming — ‘No, you can’t say that, that’s sexist’; ‘You can’t do this.’ There’s just so much hypocrisy in a lot of the things that they’ re saying .”
Damore’s words were disavowed by Google and rejected by those who believe women possess the same qualities as men to succeed in the tech world — an industry that has sparked no shortage of controversy over its treatment of women and inclusion of minorities.
But Damore’s bitter reaction raises questions about the effectivenessof diversity and bias training, a tool companies and other organizations have adopted to prevent hostility in the workplace, and in Google’s case, to promote the hiring and retention of more women and minorities.
Researchers remain divided on its usefulness, but organizations may have no better option to attemptto shift company culture, establish behavioral guidelines and address the legal risk of a hostile work environment.
Google introduced training in 2013 to make employees aware of hidden biases, such as hiring a man over a more qualified woman because of an unconscious assumption the woman will be distracted by child care. The tech giant has funneled three-quarters of its more than 70,000 workers through the program.
One employee said the training covered topics such as considering female employees’ opinions equal to those of male counterparts. The sessions, which were mandatory, included smaller group discussions.
“Most people who go to the trainings really want to be better, but of course that’s not true of everyone who comes to the classes we offer ,” said the employee, Sarah Adams, a software engineer. On the defensive
Experts say one of the fundamental challenges of diversity and bias training is this: People don’t like to be told what to do and think. That’s why experts say an instructor’s words can quickly backfire if they put the audience on the defensive.
“It’s a lot of what not to do: ‘Don’t say this, don’t do that,’ ” said Joel le Emerson, CEO of Paradigm, a diversity and inclusion consulting firm whose clients include Airbnb, Lyft, Twitter and Spotify. “Turns out, most people don’t engage super well on that type of training on anything. People are more motivated around strategies that focus on what they can do rather than what they can not do .”
That could mean simply providing structure to an interview so that all job candidates are asked the same questions, reducing the chances of unforeseen prejudices influencing an outcome.
Experts say such guidelines are necessary because it’s difficult to change people’ s minds, particularly when it comes to bias es. Often, a more realistic goal is to simply try to manage biases so that they don’t poison an atmosphere on the job. ‘You can’t eliminate bias’
“If you’re offered training that tries to make you less biased, that’ s probably bad training because you can’t eliminate bias,” Emerson said. “We train employees and managers on the types of behavior that are designed to reduce the negative consequences of bias .”
Frederick Lynch, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and the author of “The Diversity Machine: The Drive to Change the‘ White Male Workplace,’” is deeply skeptical of many bias training courses because they inherently strike fear in white audiences who think they’ll have to answer for society’ s inequalities.
“The problem with political correctness and the diversity training environment is that it can undermine trust; everyone gets so sensitive they feel like they’re walking on egg shells ,” Lynch said.
Moreover, Lynch believes the primary goal of such training is often not to change attitudes but to reduce any legal liabilities from workplace incidents.
“Most organizations are interested in covering their rear ends,” he said.