Many called for the author’s firing, arguing that his opinions created a hostile work environment, while others raised concerns about sacking an employee for expressing unpopular views. The internal document sparked a heated debate within Google and the tech industry at large, with many Google employees expressing anger and dismay about its contents on Twitter. “At this point the department has received compelling evidence of very significant discrimination against women in the most common positions at Google headquarters,” the attorney said. A DOL lawyer told the Guardian in April that its analysis of wage data showed “that discrimination against women in Google is quite extreme, even in this industry”. Google is also engaged in a legal battle with the US Department of Labor, which is investigating the company for wage discrimination. Women make up just 20% of the technical workforce, and African Americans just 1%, according to Google’s most recent diversity report.
Like most of Silicon Valley’s top tech companies, Google is overwhelmingly male, white and Asian. The author also made questionable claims about supposedly innate differences between men and women to account for the extreme gender disparity in Google’s workforce. “When it comes to diversity and inclusion, Google’s left bias has created a politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence,” the author wrote. The document, entitled Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber, takes aim at Google’s “diversity and inclusion” initiatives, such as implicit bias training and programs to promote women and under-represented minorities, and argues that the company is intolerant of conservative political views. The 10-page “manifesto” was initially published internally, but was leaked to the press on Saturday after prompting a firestorm within the company. Google declined to comment on an individual employee’s case, but tweeted a link to further comments by Pichai: “Our co-workers shouldn’t have to worry that each time they open their mouths to speak in a meeting, they have to prove they are not like the memo states, being ‘agreeable’ rather than ‘assertive’, showing ‘lower stress tolerance’ or being ‘neurotic’.” The firing of the memo’s author, who identified himself as James Damore in an email to the Guardian, was first reported by Bloomberg. “It is contrary to our basic values and our code of conduct.” “To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to work is offensive and not OK,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo to employees.
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