5 approaches to end Google gender discrimination problem

• Dragonfly project:

  This is the project that was supposed to get implemented in China, as an effort by Google, to re-enter the Chinese market. The project gathered a lot of criticism from inside and outside the sphere of Google because of its nature of being censored. It was also a search application with surveillance enabling function that was built especially for the Chinese market. The project also went against the laws of human rights and therefore was condemned by the people of Google. The agreement of Google with the terms and conditions of the Chinese government signaled that it did not have any problem in the censorship of the content and it even extended support to the already expanded surveillance state of the Chinese Government.

  To voice against the change, Google employees raised many complaints and even thousands of the employees protested against the move by signing an open letter in August. The letter was named Amnesty International. As a part of this, many Googlers even protested outside Google's offices across the world.

  Though the project has been terminated in July 2019, still there are some doubts about its application in the Chinese market. There are still some speculations around it, which has created a stiff in the attitude of employees towards the company.

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• Forced arbitration

  This has been believed to be a major issue among the employees of Google as the employees were forced to sign an arbitration to settle down the issues privately at the office level only. These clauses were a part of the employee-employer agreement, wherein it was mandatory for the employees to follow the rules of arbitration. In forced arbitration, the employee is forced to sign a mutual agreement between the accused and the victim, and the victim is not allowed to take the matter to the court.

  Forced arbitration was considered to be one of the great flaws in the management of Google and had been condemned by many of its employees from the very beginning. However, after the march of 20,000 people outside the global offices of Google protesting against several issues, including the forced arbitration, this particular act was taken down from all employee disputes. Though this change has individually been made on the cases of sexual harassment or assault, there are many other pending areas, where forced arbitration needs to be removed.

• The sexual harassment issues

  There have been issues at Google, where women have raised their voices of being sexually assaulted by men at the workspace. Moreover, the employees claimed that the company protected the image of the accused and even provided them huge payments in the lieu of the resignation they were asked for. Out of the many cases claimed by the women at Google, one of the most talked about cases was in 2014, of Andy Rubin, the father of Android. Instead of firing Mr Rubin with almost nothing in financial terms, Google paid a grand farewell amount of $90 million to him. This huge amount was paid in monthly installments of $2 million till four years. Even, the main reason of the farewell was not disclosed and the then Chief Executive Officer of Google, Larry Page, extended his well wishes to Mr Rubin in a public statement.

  This truly reflected the ignorance of the company towards the sensitive issue of sexual harassment. Moreover, this issue got highlighted only after 20,000 employees marched out of their Google offices to condemn against the sexual assaults of women at the company. The march was not only a shock, but also an eye opener for the world. It proved that even the biggest of the giants of employment industry can have flaws in its system and not every organization is a perfect embodiment of management.

  In fact, some women employees claimed that they faced retaliation mails for the protest they showcased outside the offices of Google

• Google Gender Discrimination against women for pay scale

  Google, though enjoys a huge name in the tech world but is known to practice biased behavior in terms of salary difference of male and female employees. According to the female employees of Google, they have been subjected to low promotional scale or were hired at a lower level of employment in comparison to their male counterparts. On the other hand, the Google annual survey 2018 conducted at the company, produced contradictory results which claimed that some of the male employees of the company are paid less than the female ones.

  Also, about 60 women employees of Google reported gender discrimination issues at Google, which questioned the equality policies of the company.

• A place with too many perfectionists

  Along with other critical matters, many employees at Google believe that the competition at the company is very high. The company is known to hire the best minds of the industry, which results in creating a lot of clash between the deeply creative and eminently intelligent humans at the workplace.

  With Google hiring talent from the best universities of the world with the highest pay packages, it is sure to create a competitive zone inside its office spaces only. This culture, according to employees is resulting in scarcity of growth opportunities for the already existing employees. The people working at the Google say that they have been working at the same position or level of work for 4-5 years. Now, this is mainly because of a very thin line difference in the working capabilities and thinking abilities of the employees at Google.

• Not every manager is a leader

  Google has been known to follow a working culture of promoting employees basis on their achievement, specially making them managers when they crack a big deal. However, this has created a gap between the talent heads and their ability to lead a team. The explanation of this gap can be perfectly explained with the fact that not every manager can be a leader. The person might be capable of getting promoted to a managerial level because of his accomplishments but may not have the caliber to drive a team to a defined result. Also, many people lack the ability to understand and perceive the viewpoints of their team members, which is the biggest flaw of a manager.

  Moreover, this practice can result in creating problems like power issues and communication gap between the managers and the team members. Even, the employees whose manager is not focused towards the collective growth of the team, do not like to work under his guidance.

• Lack of transparency

  

  Google has been in news for many reasons in the recent years, most importantly because it is attracting criticism from its users and employees around the world. One of the major problems that people of all facets are facing is, the lack of transparency at Google. The employees of the company claim of being subjected to harassment and unequal pay issues. This was also one of the concerns which was staged with a walk out of 20,000 Google employees across the Globe. The people of the company felt being less or not informed about the latest developments at Google.

  Also, there are cases which prove that Google has breached privacy concerns without the knowledge of its users. In one of the cases, Google was fined $170 million by FTC to “knowingly and unwillingly" gather the personal information of children and using the same to target ads to them. Additionally, this is a cause of concern because children were unaware of their details being collected and targeted at.

#5 definitive techniques to end Google Chaos

Now, the question comes, how can these problems be dealt with? How can Google rise above all the mess and again achieve the position of being the ideal and unquestionably right organization. This article makes an attempt to devise some possible solutions and help Google regain its perfectionist tag.

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  The fag flash- exclusively to end google gender discrimination against women

  In a world, where women are outgrowing the power of men and have time and again proven that they are no way less than their male colleagues, they are ought to be respected and appreciated at every stage. In fact, a company like Google should set examples for the rest of the world rather than depreciating the value of women intelligence. It should analyze the true worth of women power and inspire other companies to hire women for the top most positions at work. It is only when companies like Google will entrust in the caliber of women, then the dream of 100% female empowerment can be achieved.

  Moreover, the sexual assaults claimed by the women of the company should be carefully looked at and dealt with great care. Along with giving women the power to express, there should be introduction of flag system arranged in Google offices, wherein a woman can put a green or a red flag at the table of a male employee. The green flag would mean, he is safe to work with and the red flag would raise a question on his character and signify that he mistreats women around. This practice can also be followed for male employees who do not treat women equally and do not give equal opportunities for work. This system will raise awareness among the people and a sense of responsibility will arise in employees at all spheres of work.

• Dynasty of impartiality (Continuation to the above mission)

  It's high time that Google should stop disparities between the men and women working at its office spaces around the Globe. This refers to their pay equality, growth opportunities, and even hiring women at the same level as their male counterparts. To make an employee give his best output at work, it is mandatory for a company to make him feel equal in comparison to his colleagues. Also, as discussed in our blog- 13 ways to improve employee engagement in the workplace, it is very important for an employee to have a fairly well pay scale to make him feel secure and valued.

  As mentioned in the first point, Google gender discrimination should be ended at every stage, whether it is to provide equal opportunities or equal pay scales to women in the growth of their careers. It can be supported by the fact that women invest the same amount of time in office and are expected to produce the same results as the male employees then why should there be any difference in the salary packages offered to them. Therefore, Google should implement the rule of equal pay and opportunities for women.

• Manage the google chaos rightly

  The recent events at Google have created a lot of discomfort in its people, which is why people have started to experience a shift in their perceptions about the company's work culture. In fact, different from the experimental Google chaos, this is another mismanagement that has cropped up in the attitude of people. So, the first and the most important step, Google needs to take is to manage its chaos by regaining the trust of its employees. It is very important for an employer to endure and bolster the confidence of its employees to make them believe that the company's goal is lined up with their personal growth.

  By considering restructuring its policies as per the interest of the employees, the company can produce an integrated work environment. This would also allow the employees to regain trust in the working style of the company.

  It can also be done by forming a committee in priority, to work on the persisting problems at the ground levels of the company. This committee should be open to addressing the problems of the employees at all levels and should not hold bias between any gender, race or community. The employees from over the Globe should be able to approach their problems and issues like sexual harassment, gender equality should be addressed first by the group formed.

• Club them positively

  Though Google has a highly positive culture in terms of providing the best policies for employee engagement and motivation but the excess of competition has given birth to negative vibes in its working environment. To correct this, the organization must make sure that employees start working as a team and they aim to benefit from each other rather than competing with each other. The company needs to keep in mind that a team that works with the same aim is directed towards improvement than the team which works the other way round.

  As rightly quoted by Amy Edmondson, “To truly innovate, we need to work together -- across boundaries created by expertise, distance, and status." Even, she highlighted the importance of a team working together on the same goal rather than individuals working on their respective aims of achieving success.

  For building this environment, the company has to inculcate positive spirit in its employees and see that they are working with the team spirit. Google also needs to ensure that there is no ego clash between the employees as it can result in creating differences between the team mates and will take them away from their motive of group work.

• Let transparency illuminate excellence

  It has been a major issue at Google, therefore company needs to assure transparency at each level of its commencement. There should be no blockage in terms of transmitting the information from the junior to the senior most level of management. Also, the employees at the lower step of the ladder should not be made to feel that their voice is being misheard or stopped to reach the top management.

  The company should restructure its code of conduct and design lucrative channels of communication for the employees to stay connected with the latest advancements of the organization. Moreover, employees should be allowed to have a free say, when they get hurt or affected by the changes within or outside the organization. Not only the employees need to be allowed to speak to give their feedback on the respective issues but the response from the Google’s top management should also be instant.

  Though, there are some critical issues in a company which are not supposed to be disclosed to all employees but the developments, which are directed to make effect on the employee’s presence should be revealed to them. Also, Google should not carry out projects like Dragonfly which is in favor of censorship and which works against the interest of its user. This has surely been a big mistake at the part of Google, as the greed of entering the Chinese market has spoiled the image of Google in Global market.

  Moreover, the transparency issues at the user end should also be resolved and Google should not track the data of its users without their prior knowledge and permission.

Authored by:

Dev Garg

Co-Authored by:

Jessica Robinson

A creative believer and a dedicated reader, Jessica Robinson is one of the active contributors of Speaking Polymath. She works actively towards writing research blogs for the domain, in which she achieves finesse due to her gripping journey of 10 years in the field of content, which is further promisingly supported by her management degree from Melbourne University.

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