It’s no secret that Google has a few serious internal problems with systemic racism and sexism, but now it has come to light that when employees report incidents of workplace discrimination to HR, they often get the following baffling response: take therapy.
That’s according to nearly a dozen current and former Google employees who spoke with NBC News, including two prominent black women, Timnit Gebru and April Curley, whose shady suspects garnered Google widespread conviction last year.
Gebru, who previously co-led Google’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, claims she was fired after criticizing the company’s diversity protocols and management’s attempts to censor critical scrutiny of Google’s products. Before her departure, Gebru told NBC that she repeatedly expressed concern about the way women were mistreated at Google. But when HR specialists responded to her complaints, they simply encouraged her to seek out mental health resources.
“They say, ‘Well, if there’s something wrong with you, here are all these therapy tools,’ Gebru said to the outlet. ‘And I would answer that no support system will remove Google’s hostile work environment. I have friends. I’m going to dance. I already have hobbies and therapy. ”
Curley was quietly fired from her role as a diversity recruiter in September. A Twitter thread Revealing her termination and describing her experience of the blatant racism in Google’s corporate culture later went viral. During her six years there, she said she had reported two managers for allegedly assaulting her and her team and facing pushbacks for speaking out, including a $ 20,000 pay cut in 2019 along with a formal warning about her job performance. When she told HR about her concerns, they suggested instead of addressing the inappropriate behavior of her colleagues she is taking medical leave to take care of her mental health, according to NBC.
G / O Media can receive a commission
Nine other current and former Google employees the outlet spoke to said they had similar experiences after reporting sexual harassment and racist comments to HR. They were also given the same suggestion – to take medical leave to address their mental health – when raising concerns about alleged retaliation or advocating for equal pay between white and black Google employees. Another 12 current and former Google employees have confirmed to NBC that this is common in Google’s human resources department.
Of the employees who chose to take sick leave, several said they came back and found they had new managers or had been transferred to other departments. Since Google links promotions and raises to management performance ratings, these employees claimed they missed opportunities because their new managers did not know them long enough to adequately measure their performance.
A current employee who spoke with NBC on condition of anonymity said she had reported a manager who dismissed her concerns about Google’s failure to address widespread racial inequalities in the workplace. When the employee, a black woman, complained to HR, they suggested coaching the manager on where they were going wrong or taking medical leave and getting mental health treatment.
‘It felt like belittling. I was not in shock because I had heard it before. I had watched other leaders in the organization take these mental health papers and then disappear, ”she told the outlet. “It was clear they weren’t going to take me seriously.”
Claire Stapleton, a former employee who organized a strike in 2018 To protest Google’s handling of allegations of sexual assault and harassment, she said she complained about demotion after the HR protest and was told to try mindfulness techniques to improve her relationship with her manager. Their other suggestion? You guessed it: to take medical leave to work on her mental health.
Google did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment. In a statement to NBC, the company said it is committed to supporting its employees who come forward about workplace abuse:
“We have a well-defined process for how employees can raise concerns and we are working to be extremely transparent about how we handle complaints. All concerns reported to us are rigorously investigated and we take strong action against employees who violate our policies. “
Google declined to comment on several allegations in NBC’s report, but said the company offers a variety of ways for employees to raise concerns and that it is investigating all reports of retaliation.
“If an employee wants to investigate time off or have a workplace, the Google Benefits team works with the person on the next steps,” a company spokesperson told the outlet.
Google has poured hundreds of millions of dollars towards diversity efforts over the years. But so far, the results have been bleak, according to the company diversity reports(Frankly, its competitors are in Silicon Valley didn’t get too hot one of both). Between 2019 and 2020, the percentage of Black employees at Google has increased by less than 1%, while the percentage of Latino and Native American employees has decreased. Last month, the company agreed to pay $ 3.8 million allegations of “systematic compensation and discrimination in hiring” by settling more than 5,000 women and Asian engineers.
Google recently said it is rolling out new procedures for dealing with sensitive employee exits and is reviewing diversity policies, it said AxiosThe decision came after an internal investigation into Gebru’s resignation, the results of which Google declined to disclose. However, based on these latest allegations, Google has an awful lot of work to do. May I propose therapy? Maybe Google management can manifest some diversity policy with teeth.