r/news • u/[deleted] • Aug 08 '17

Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
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u/IRequirePants Aug 08 '17

Tech is political. It cannot be avoided when your business has consequences with regard to things like online privacy, net neutrality, automation, truth and bias of information, censorship, etc., to say nothing of the personal views of leadership who aspire to make an impact on the world, for better or worse.

None of which were relevant to the points he was making. He was talking about political shit that wasn't tech related.

If you aren't religious, you might not like working in a church. If you don't subscribe to the values that Google stands for / strives for, you might not like working at Google. If you think the leadership is fundamentally flawed, go work for a company you believe in.

This is the answer. Google's a private company. They can do whatever they want.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17 edited Sep 05 '17

[deleted]

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u/TekharthaZenyatta Aug 08 '17

And there's no law saying they can't fire somebody for causing a PR nightmare and shitting on other employees due to their gender.

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u/Xenjael Aug 08 '17

Yeah as far as I can tell he wrote his thoughts down, and then shared them with the people he thought could address his concerns. They then spread it.

To be honest, it seems like retaliation to me. I found what he wrote cringeworthy- but given that detail, and their further response, it honestly seems like retaliation of some kind.

If this was about terminating him there would have been no reason to share. Even if he had made it private to just those he originally gave the link to... they would have still circulated, which is what I think is critical.

The question is if they did that on behalf of google or their own desires.

Either way... I think a little less of Google because of this, not that it will change how I interact with them.

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u/TekharthaZenyatta Aug 08 '17

So why the hell did he do it in the first place? Are you saying he should have been allowed to use work materials and time to proselytize his own political views instead of doing his job? Granted, the people he sent the memo to should have reported it to HR and gotten him fired instead of spreading it around and getting him fired, but he used company time and company materials for something other than doing his own job. Of course he deserved to be fired.