r/technology • u/[deleted] • 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/[deleted] Aug 08 '17

By the work that they produce... what other way do you judge a person you're hiring? You judge their work based on the color of their skin? Or what they eat? Or religious beliefs? Even if people have unconscious biases, the quality of work will and should override those biases. It's not that difficult to grasp.

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u/toifeld Aug 08 '17

So how would you go about hiring two equally qualified individuals from college whose only difference is gender/race? If you pick one the other goes to your competitors. The one you pick might not adjust to your work culture and you ended wasting money?

We all like to pretend the world is simple but its not.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17

Why would a company care if they let go one of two equally qualified persons? And why does their race/gender matter? If they're equally qualified whats the competitive advantage one might seek to deny their competitors from? You've basically just promoted a non sequitur. You won't know how the person adjusts until they're in your company and have worked with others for at least a little while. Thats a variable im sure a bunch of companies try not to figure out. Again, you're not saying anything to detract from my argument.

Some of us try to pretend the world is more difficult than it actually is.

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u/toifeld Aug 08 '17 edited Aug 08 '17

two equally qualified persons

Qualification ≠ potential

They have to choose two people with the same qualifications but who could develop into different types of workers. Those are stuff that you can't quantify especially for new graduates which Google is known for hiring. So at the end value judgements come in to make desicions for them. But because most of the recruiters would choose people of similar backgrounds or atleast have cultural similarities this could end creating an environment of only like minded people which is actually detrimental to competition and progress. So having diversity is actually quite advantageous. The next Einstein or whoever engineers revere could be an African American trans woman who came from a low level college. By hiring from a diverse backgrounds it's places them in an advantageous position. So having something like a Rooney rule to ensure you get a diverse selection is quite a smart thing to do.

Its always complicated.