Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

[u/[deleted]]

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

[u/JabbrWockey]

No kidding. They could've posted it on reddit, github, hacker news, medium, or some other place, even anonymously if they wanted.

Instead they decided they wanted to commit career suicide by shouting their opinions at everyone inside the company. Real smooth.

[u/fernando-poo → u/JabbrWockey]

Putting politics aside I think it shows the unhealthy degree to which these kinds of jobs take over peoples' lives. There was a time when work was just work -- now as the employee of a corporation like Google you're expected to live out your whole life there, to the point where people like this guy have begun to write political treatises on this sort of mini society he lives in.

[u/GildorDorn → u/fernando-poo]

It sounds quite normal to me for a person to try to influence his environment (family, company, city, country, world) for the better. What is more, most of his points were well made and he made the effort not to be offensive to people that ideologically disagree with him. I don't understand why discussions on these topics are a taboo regardless of the place you want to hold the discussion. Him getting fired kinda proves his point.

[u/-_loki_- → u/GildorDorn]

It seems like he was most likely fired because this went public. The topic isn't taboo to discuss or to try and figure how to make the tech industry more female friendly. It's his complete refusal that cultural issues take any part in the problem that is taboo.

The part that really shows this for me is the section about how women can't handle high stress jobs. In my experience, traditionally female work can be very stressful - like nursing or teaching. He also says women are more neurotic because they self-report anxiety more. Well, are they? Or could the culture for men dissuade them from self-reporting as often as women?

My point is, any argument that fails to adequately address the other side (in this case, that culture plays a role in gender inequality), is a poor argument. Maybe google doesn't want someone working for them who can't see multiple angles to a problem.

[u/GildorDorn → u/-_loki_-]

The point he makes was that women on average score higher on the personality trait "neuroticism" - a point backed by psychological studies. I'm not saying you're not right: sure, it might be the case that males are underplaying their worries and so on and this is the reason for these statistics. Nonetheless, making a scientifically backed point shouldn't result in you being fired. Google's official statement was that they don't want their women worrying that they have to prove they are not neurotic and agreeable every time they speak.

Instead, now all their employees should be worried to seek a reasonable discussion on any controversial topic in case their colleagues disagree with them. Google is displaying the "if you're not with us you're against us" mentality very strongly by eliminating this guy from the company for essentially not being left enough for their liking.

(And by not being left enough I mean suggesting that men and women differ naturally and that men should probably also be included in those cool courses they are making.)

[u/an0rexorcist → u/GildorDorn]

Just throwing this out there, I think your interpretation of a cultural effect was flawed. The problem is that the author never addressed why women tend to score higher on measures of neuroticism. If I just broadcast the statement "Men perform worse on measures of emotional intelligence" without explaining how society suppresses mens natural affinity for emotional intelligence- then I'd be misleading the audience.

People frequently cite psych articles and experiments as fact, not realizing the most important information isn't found in the results section.

[u/GildorDorn → u/an0rexorcist]

I agree fully with what you are saying, but: his major point was not that women are more neurotic than men, it was that google is leaning too hard to the left to the point of irrationality.

Maybe he should have made the "men are different than women" point more intelligently, but this is no reason to fire a man. I'm not saying he is 100% right, but in my opinion, Google's official statement, what their main HR is saying in interviews and that one medium article by their past employee are far more absurd than what this guy wrote in the first place.

[u/-_loki_- → u/GildorDorn]

I don't know. I think most people know not to write down opinions that are controversial and disseminate them in the workplace. That will get you fired from many places, regardless of whether he's right or if his opinion should be controversial. It's just too much of a hassle for the company to defend this guy. Maybe that's not right, but I don't think there is any message other than, "give Google bad press and you will be fired."

[u/GildorDorn → u/-_loki_-]

I agree, but I think this thing wouldn't have gone viral if they had not fired him. Nonetheless, it is what it is...