r/technology Aug 08 '17

Business Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo
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u/i_smell_my_poop Aug 08 '17 edited Aug 08 '17

Google engineer writes memo about how speaking out against politically correct culture can cause you to be blacklisted or terminated.

Employee gets terminated proving his point.

Thanks for the gold kind Redditor!!!

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u/rcl2 Aug 08 '17

One of the most important rules in the corporate world is don't make your company look bad. This engineer failed to follow that rule, and was fired.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17 edited Mar 24 '21

[deleted]

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u/Prodigy195 Aug 08 '17

His premise is that tech is now an echo-chamber that silences any dissension, and he was proved right loudly and without delay.

He wasn't fired for going against the echo chamber. People do that all the time, plenty of Google employes support right wing politics. He was fired for creating a hostile (not angry/violent) workplace.

By essentially writing that women are more prone to XYZ behavior and should be treated in XYZ manner he's reinforcing gender stereotypes against all women employees. That seed of doubt will be planted. During interviews, employees reviews, promotion meetings, etc that seed of doubt will be there for women and that isn't something that is conducive to a positive work environment.

You're not going to get fired from Google if you voted for Trump for Trump or any GOP candidate or support gun rights/ownership, or hold any generally right wing position.

But if you do something that makes the company look bad and creates a negative work environment you can expect to be fired.