
Google CEO: we need to “take a much harder line on inappropriate behavior” - Analemma_
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/10/google-ceo-we-need-to-take-a-much-harder-line-on-inappropriate-behavior/
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londons_explore
Googlers internally are like children with a lot of petty squabbles. There are
some with quite 'far out' views, and rather than accept differences of
opinion, they like to squabble about it, pick sides, get offended, and, more
often than not, fire a bunch of people.

Googles CEO has the very hard task of trying to calm the crying ones, punish
the ones stirring the pot, all while not making others stomp off because they
think the whole thing is unfair.

~~~
izacus
Uh, the topic is sexual harassment. How is that a "pretty squabble"?!

~~~
writepub
As evident from oodles of press, it can be anything. From a damore memo, to
search in China. From a deal with the Pentagon, to Trump's election. Anything
and everything is outrage worthy for the average Googler, if you believe the
press.

And the CEO keeps reacting. At some point, he needs to ask those who aren't
aligned with business deliverables, and wallow in externalities to walk away -
they aren't just unproductive themselves, but drag the whole company into the
mud in the press

~~~
apacheCamel
I do not believe that standing up to sexual harassment or other morally
objectionable things as "dragging the company into the mud in the press". They
are calling Google out on a multitude of shady business practices like any
good employee would do. Keeping sexual harassment under wraps will just cause
it to ferment inside the inner workings of the company and eventually it will
boil over in an even larger scandal. It should be taken care of as soon as it
comes up.

~~~
prepend
I don’t think, I hope, that anyone thinks sexual harassment is petty. But
there are different lines depending on lots of factors.

For other issues, it’s realky variable as to what needs to “be taken care of
as soon as it comes up.”

The tough part is that so many people have so many topics they could focus on
rather than build mission stuff.

Are you ok with a decent chunk of the workforce forcing abortion restriction
be taken care of because they are pro-life? Or anarchists demanding that no
government be supported?

Recent press has shown Google all over the place on topics of various
importance. As an outsider, I’m not sure what is a priority for Google or what
its values are that allow for firing sexual harassers, but not reporting
privacy breaches.

It seems to me that the CEO makes statements once the outrage gets loud
enough.

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bradknowles
Okay, insofar as those words go, I can agree with that statement.

But what is he actually going to do?

Because otherwise they’re just empty words.

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finnthehuman
It goes without saying, but still worth pointing out that the official line
from google is now:

Inappropriate = Grossly unprofessional behavior where "even one person
experiences Google the way the New York Times article described."

Appropriate = Collaborating with a communist country to manipulate their
populace with censorship and surveillance.

~~~
BLKNSLVR
Inappropriate = sexual harassment

Appropriate = operating within a country according to that country's laws.

The US* trades with China. How many other US* companies have manufacturing in
China that exploit cheap labour and have done for decades?

You're at the entrance of a deep, winding rabbit hole that very few
individuals come out of smelling like anything but a hypocrite of epic
proportions.

* Replace with almost any other country and it remains true.

~~~
thedudeabides5
well, maybe that's the point.

I mean Google can do what it wants, but asking someone for a topless back
massage at Burning Man is kinda like asking someone for a cup of coffee when
you enter starbucks.

Yes, guys shouldn't sketch on their interviewees, but this seems like firing a
guy for a level 2 offense to make up for the fact that the $90m horse just
left the stable.

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writepub
At some point the CEO needs to put his foot down and call bluff on those
threatening to quit. There are plenty of talented, ambitious individuals who'd
love to code and get rich, without all the externalities of holding the
company hostage over __insert__trendy__issue__here.

~~~
nil_pointer
Until those disgruntled ex-employees run to the blog outlets of the web and
make a viral story about Google being mean.

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navane
> DeVaul’s accuser, Star Simpson, did not know that X had already decided not
> to hire her before the two met at Burning Man in 2013, where according to
> the Times, "he asked her to remove her shirt and offered a back rub. She
> said she refused. When he insisted, she said she relented to a neck rub."

Say no and walk away from that man?

I sit in a cubicle for 10 years getting the life sucked out of me by some
tedious job. I'd love to give some guy a back rub to get a higher up position.

~~~
mtgx
But she wasn't going to get the position anyway.

~~~
apacheCamel
It shouldn't matter if she was going to get the position or not. This
interaction between an interviewer and (recently) interviewee is just wrong.
It is an abuse of power. If she HAD received the job offer, who knows if the
advances would have ever stopped?

