More Than 20,000 Google Employees Participate In Protest
The past week has been a bit troublesome for Google & CEO Sundar Pichai. Recently, more than 20,000 Google employee’s participated in a mass protest. The protest was against the unequal treatment of sex offenders based on their post within the company. The issue has its origins leading to Andy Rubin, the founder of Android. He left Google in the year 2014 after sexual assault charges from a female colleague; which was proven true later. But, he was given a severance of $ 90 Million before his exit. The amount which he would receive in the form of $ 2 million monthly instalments for the upcoming four years.
Cause Of Protest
The New York Times recently published an article about sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse of power in big companies including Google. This article spread like wildfire and a number of victims started coming ahead who reportedly have faced some sort of misconduct in the past.
One such example is an ex-youtube employee who unfolded her personal story. She recounted a team outing where a male colleague asked her to switch drinks. She recalls that as her last memory of that night. Her team leader later told that he saw her being led away from the festivities when she was unconscious, and he had intervened to take her to a safe place. She escalated the agonizing experience to her HR, who instructed her to stay silent on the issue.
The protesters want Google to review a plan that would address their five key demands. The demands include:
- An end to Forced Arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination.
- A commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity.
- A publicly disclosed sexual harassment transparency report.
- A clear, uniform, globally inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously.
- A commitment to elevate the Chief Diversity Officer to answer directly to the CEO and make recommendations directly to the Board of Directors. And, to appoint an Employee Representative to the Board.
The protesters were later notified that the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai will soon meet them and review a plan to address their demands.
