Google Cuts Diversity Programs Over Fears Of Seeming Anti-Conservative, According To Report

TOPLINE

Over the past two years, Google has significantly cut back internal programs designed to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace, NBC News reported Wednesday, with current and former employees claiming the cuts were made as part of a company effort to not appear anti-conservative—an accusation Google denies.

KEY FACTS

CRITICAL QUOTE

“Any suggestion that we have scaled back or cut our diversity efforts is false. Diversity, equity, and inclusion remains a company wide commitment and our programs have scaled up to match the pace of Google’s growth,” a Google spokesperson told Forbes.

KEY BACKGROUND

Google was one of the earliest companies in tech to appear sensitive to issues of race and inclusion, first releasing its annual company diversity report in 2014. In 2017, a 10-page memo created by then-software engineer James Damore titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber” became public, and it claimed in part that women were biologically unsuited for engineering work. It led to Damore’s being fired. In January 2018, Damore filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination against Google, with similar claims coming from others in filings against the company. Those suits, combined with a 2018 Breitbart article claiming Google violated its own policies — by having a speaker talk about how white people can navigate racism in the workplace — are what led to the eventual downfall of its diversity efforts, the former employees told NBC News. Three current employees that were interviewed also criticized the new, outsourced program Google plans to use, saying it’s lacking compared to what the company had in place.

“The new programs that are offered are instead about how black people can navigate racism in the workplace,” an employee told NBC News.

TANGENT

Facebook also releases an annual diversity report, with its most recent release showing just single digit percentages of its workforce that are either black or Latino. According to the latest report, in 2019, 9% of Facebook’s workforce falls into that demographic — up from 8.4% in 2018.

FURTHER READING

Current and ex-employees allege Google drastically rolled back diversity and inclusion programs (NBC News)

Google Diversity Report Shows Little Progress For Women And People Of Color (Forbes)

James Damore Is Suing Google Over Its Treatment Of Conservative White Men (Forbes)