After global walkout, Google apologises for past handling of harassment, promises change

After a global walkout by over 20,000 employees last week, Google has apologised for the past handling of sexual harassment cases while promising to bring changes to make the company a safer workplace.

“We recognise that we have not always gotten everything right in the past and we are sincerely sorry for that,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a note to employees on Thursday, November 8.

The walkout by Google employees was in protest against sexual harassment at the company and its improper handling of sexual misbehaviour allegations against top executives.

“Over the past few weeks Google's leaders and I have heard your feedback and have been moved by the stories you've shared...It’s clear we need to make some changes,” Pichai said.

Promising more transparency on how it handles harassment allegations, Pichai said Google will double down on its commitment to be a “representative, equitable, and respectful workplace”.

Among the key changes announced by the Google CEO includes making arbitration optional for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims.

Google is overhauling its reporting channels by bringing them together on one dedicated site and including live support, he informed.

"We will enhance the processes we use to handle concerns, including the ability for Googlers to be accompanied by a support person," Pichai said.

Google will offer its employees extra care and resources during and after the process, he said. "This includes extended counselling and career support," Pichai said, adding that the company would also update and expand the mandatory sexual harassment training.

The new policy changes announced by Google have virtually met most of the demands by Google protesters, except the one that demanded a place for an employee representative on the company's board.

Google Walkout For Real Change, the organizers of the employee walkout said that they were encouraged by certain changes, the company still did not address other issues of racism and discrimination of other kinds according to a report in The New York Times.

Organisers of last week's massive protests called for more transparency in handling sexual harassment, employee empowerment, and inequality over pay and work opportunities

“These forms of marginalization function together to police access to power and resources, Sexual harassment is the symptom, not the cause. If we want to end sexual harassment in the workplace, we must fix these structural imbalances of power,” said the group in a statement.

The global walkout spread to many countries in Europe, North America and Asia, including Britain, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and Google's headquarters in Mountain View in northern California.

At a companywide meeting on Thursday, November 8, Eileen Naughton, Google’s vice president of people operations, and Danielle Brown, its chief diversity officer, announced the changes that were to come into effect according to sources of The New York Times.

(with inputs from The New York Times)