Googlers miffed about pay, inclusion speak out at meeting

Alphabet Inc.’s annual meeting was turned on its head Wednesday when an employee of Google, the company’s internet division, took the stage to criticize her bosses’ pay.

Irene Knapp, a software engineer for the web-search giant, presented a proposal at Wednesday’s annual shareholder meeting in Mountain View, Calif., on behalf of Zevin Asset Management, which submitted the measure. They requested Alphabet consider certain metrics in incentive plans, with a focus on diversity and inclusion in the workforce. Though the proposal was voted down, it is highly unusual for staff to even comment at annual meetings, let alone to chide their leaders.

Sentiment has been growing internally that executives aren’t doing enough to address workplace harassment, said Liz Fong-Jones, a longtime employee who’s backed a petition to create better policies and procedures, including cracking down on “malicious leaks that have intimidated individuals.”

In a lawsuit last year, the company was accused of paying women less than their male peers.

“Executives can be motivated by money,” FongJones said before the meeting. “There needs to be a clear signal from the shareholders that they value inclusion.”

At the event, Alphabet Chairman John Hennessy said the board will consider diverse director candidates. Eileen Naughton, Google’s HR chief, said the company aims to increase black, Latino and female workers at the company to more representative levels by 2020.

Google promotes lively internal communication, letting staff complain about anything from the quality of the snacks in the micro-kitchens to workplace sexual harassment, sexism, bigotry or racism. However, it has been rare for employees to speak out publicly against the company.

This is changing as Google has grown and become entwined in increasingly controversial matters. More than 4,000 employees recently demanded that the company’s artificial intelligence technology not be used for military purposes. Several staff resigned, Google said it would let a Pentagon AI contract expire next year, and Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai is preparing an ethical charter for Google’s AI this week, in part, to appease staff concerns.