Virtually everyone in America knows about Google. However, the office politics involved in running the successful company are less well-known. New York residents might like to know about what has been reported as a difficult environment in the company for those who are not white or male.
In the wake of the release of a company diversity memo that made the news for criticizing affirmative action and calling women less biologically qualified for tech jobs, former Google employees are talking about their experiences while on the job. Three women spoke about the gender and racial discrimination they saw while working for Google.
All the women said they were largely surrounded by white men while at work. One of the women, who is of Asian descent, was told in a joking manner by a coworker that she was hired because their managers assumed she was good at math. She worked as a technical analyst and felt disposable and excluded at times.
Another woman felt more supported by the company but thought there was a ‘boys club” mentality that led to men promoting other men. She received a promotion from specialist to technical solutions engineer but had no female mentors or managers and was often the only woman in the room.
A specialist who also worked on the hiring committee spoke about being the only black woman on her team. She was frequently asked to show her identification while on the company campus, which was a problem because non-black coworkers were not asked to do this.
Managers who make decisions based on race and skin color violate employee laws. Those who suspect that they are being treated unfairly because of race may wish to document all instances of discrimination and report problems to the appropriate parties at a workplace. If race discrimination persists, one may wish to contact an attorney.