It’s no secret that Google has it serious internal problems with systemic racism and sexism, but it is now becoming clear that when employees report discriminatory human resources in the workplace, they often come across this baffling answer: get therapy.
That’s according to nearly a dozen current and former Google employees who spoke NBC News, including two prominent black women, Timnit Gebru i April Curley, whose shoulder-to-shoulder expulsions received a widespread conviction last year at Google.
Gebru, who previously co-led Google’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, says she was fired after criticizing the company’s diversity protocols and management’s attempts to censor critical research into Google’s products. Google. Prior to her departure, Gebru told NBC that she repeatedly cared about how women were abused on Google. But when HR specialists responded to her complaints, they simply encouraged her to seek mental health resources.
“They’re like, ‘Well, if something happens to you, here you have all these therapy resources,'” Gebru said at the exit. Google. 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 disclosing its completion and detailing its experience with the blatant racism of the entire Google company culture later went viral. During his six years there, said she sued two managers for allegedly mistreating her and her team and had to step back to speak, which included a $ 20,000 pay cut in 2019 along with a formal warning about her job performance. When he explained HR about his concerns, instead of addressing the inappropriate behavior of his co-workers, they suggested takes a medical leave to take care of your mental health, for NBC.
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Nine other current and former Google employees he spoke to reported having similar experiences after reporting sexual harassment and racist comments to HR. They also received the same suggestion — from taking medical leave to treat their mental health — when they raised concerns about alleged retaliation or advocating for equal pay for black and white Google employees. Twelve other current and current Google employees confirmed to NBC that this is a common practice in Google’s human resources department.
Among the workers who opted for medical leave, several said they found again that they had new managers or had been reassigned to other departments. Because Google links promotions and increases management performance reviews, these employees claimed they missed opportunities because their new managers didn’t know them well enough to properly evaluate their performance.
A current employee who spoke to NBC on condition of anonymity said she reported a manager who had dismissed her concerns that Google was not concerned with addressing widespread racial disparities in the workplace. When the employee, a black woman, complained to RR.H., she was suggested to train the manager about where they went wrong or to take medical leave and receive mental health treatment.
“She is OK. I wasn’t surprised because I had heard it before. I had seen other leaders of the organization take these mental health sheets and disappear, ”he told the dam. “It was clear they wouldn’t take me seriously.”
Claire Stapleton, a former employee who organized a walk in 2018 to protest how Google handled allegations of sexual assault and harassment, said it complained of being degraded after the HR protest and was told to provide mindfulness techniques to improve its relationship with its manager . Your other suggestion? You guessed it: atyou also need a medical leave to work on your mental health.
Google did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment. In a statement to NBC, the company stated that it is committed to supporting its employees who come forward about workplace abuse:
“We have a well-defined process on how employees can raise concerns and we work to be extremely transparent about how we handle complaints. All concerns reported to us are rigorously investigated and we take firm action against employees who violate our policies. ”.
Google declined to comment on various allegations in the NBC report, but said the company offers a number of ways for employees to raise concerns and investigate all retaliation reports.
“If an employee wants to explore a leave of absence or have accommodation in the workplace, the Google Benefits team will work with the person in the next steps,” a company spokesman told the network.
Google has poured hundreds of millions of dollars in diversity efforts over the years. But so far, the results have been sad as they have gone through the company diversity reports. (To be fair, its competitors in Silicon Valley i haven’t been getting too hot or). Between 2019 and 2020, the percentage of black recruitments at Google increased by less than 1%, while the percentage of Latin American and Native American recruitments decreased. Last month, the company agreed to pay $ 3.8 million to resolve allegations of “systemic compensation and contractual discrimination” filed by more than 5,000 Asian women and engineers.
Google recently said it will implement new procedures to manage sensitive employee exits and review its diversity policies, according to Axios. The decision came after an internal investigation into Gebru’s dismissals, the results of which Google declined to disclose. Based on these latest allegations, however, Google has a lot of work to do. Could you suggest therapy? Maybe Google management can do that manifest some diversity policies with teeth.