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At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints (bloomberg.com)
A group of Google employees have begun a message board for employees to submit worker complaints that's then emailed weekly as a digest, according to a report on Bloomberg. The email list -- called "Yes, at Google" -- has been around since October and allows employees to talk openly about work situations in which they felt uncomfortable; most submissions are anonymized. From the article: Google management is aware of the list. "We work really hard to promote and preserve a culture of respect and inclusion," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "Our employees have numerous ways to raise issues -- both negative and positive -- with us, including through grassroots transparency efforts like this one. We take concerns seriously and take appropriate measures to address them." The list is run by a group of workers across different product areas, according to a person familiar with the list, though it's not clear who runs the list and how or whether the submissions are vetted before being distributed. Usually, the people in the complaints are not named, though one submission described an instance when, during a large company meeting in late April, Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt allegedly interrupted Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat when she had a question addressed to her, which the post categorized as a "gender-related" complaint. A person who attended the meeting said Schmidt answered the question to make a joke. Messages sometimes include job titles and other details.
I would guess that MOST of the complaints are of the "Seriously?" type as listed in the article:
I mean really....there *are* real instances of harassment out there, but you have so many people seeing and reporting crap that just isn't worth it and not a real problem and it muddies the water for seeing the few *real* incidents that happen out there, are serious and need to be addressed.
Is this the snowflakes entering the real world, finding out everyone doesn't get a trophy, doesn't have to give a shit about their 'self esteem', only expecting you to get your job done and do what your told and on time.....and seeing and reporting crap that no one in past generations saw as a problem but just the way life is....?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
If being interrupted by the opposite sex is a "gender-related" thing by now then I should top the charts of oppression and my wife has a lot of 'splainin to do.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
I hope every one of them is caught and hung at the nearest lamp post. Gimme the rope.
Be careful what you wish for. Harsh punishments for rape are correlated with very high acquittal rates and a cultural of impunity. Society's "ideal" of rape is a pure innocent blonde virgin minding her own business when some total stranger grabs her and drags her into the bushes. Very few real rapes are anything like that, but the more the actual situation diverges from the "ideal", the less likely the women is to be believed or even take seriously. Very few juries are likely to put a seemingly nice guy in prison for 20 years because of a "he-said-she-said" accusation of date rape.
You need to learn more. This isn't a marginal case, which is a very specific concept, it is an example of what is possible and one which is readily observed in every context imaginable. To think otherwise means you are young or stupid, and probably both.
If being interrupted by the opposite sex is a "gender-related" thing by now then I should top the charts of oppression and my wife has a lot of 'splainin to do.
The problem wasn't the interruption so much as the context. Porat was asked a question that was about a gender-related complaint and Schmidt apparently stopped the complaint from being discussed and turned it into a joke. Depending on the nature of the complaint, that could be really hurtful to the person who'd screwed up their courage enough to ask such a question in front of the whole company (I'm assuming the "large company meeeting" was the weekly whole-company TGIF).
Note that although I work for Google, and occasionally read "Yes, at Google", I haven't read anything about the described scenario other than what's in the summary here. I don't know the context, or even if it really happened. I'm just commenting on the hypothetical.
I'll add that I think the mailing list is awesome. Its purpose isn't to chastise anyone, or tell management about problems... those are HR functions and shouldn't be handled through an open mailing list. Its purpose is simply to raise awareness of the fact that sometimes really bad things happen at Google. Google is an open, friendly, egalitarian place and it's tempting for people to think that sexual harrasment, racial discrimination, etc., couldn't happen at Google. The mailing list shows otherwise and serves to help people learn to notice it. It also serves to raise awareness of the small ways in which people make their co-workers uncomfortable, often without even realizing it. It exposes people to different viewpoints and broadens their outlook.
The mailing list is a good thing. You should start one at your workplace.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.