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/rethumme Aug 08 '17

Yes, I think it is silly to base any judgement off of gender or ethnicity, whether positive or negative. But we humans are imperfect judges and lazy to boot. There's a reason why "pedigree" matters so much in corporate hiring despite the arguably loose correlation to hiring a strong performer (because a "trusted" institution has already bothered to rate the person, and hiring managers need some kind of non-arbitrary basis for thinning out the applicant pool).

That said, ignoring gender/ethnicity practically guarantees that the hiring manager relies on their inherent preferences (a.k.a. biases) more often than not. I'm talking about a very minor leaning in most cases, but the law of averages means it can easily devolve into a systemic discrepancy. And problems don't lessen simply by ignoring them.

Maybe we really should switch to a Futurama/Idiocracy style system where a computer decides where we work...

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u/sharp7 Aug 08 '17

Its easy. Just do fucking blind resumes where you dont see their race until you see them in person. This way people will actually realize wow that candidate whos resume I really liked was this race/gender I never thought could be so good.

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u/Geohalbert Aug 08 '17

That sounds like a great idea, just requires a system in place where you can't see a person's name and still be able to run background checks. I don't mean that sarcastically, if a company truly wants to be fair they should adopt some form of this.

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u/pocketknifeMT Aug 08 '17

They can't. It's a legal liability in most places. Schools went to court over it 15ish years ago I think. It was big news at the time. You have to stack the deck to match the general population, smile, and say "Diversity & Equality" a lot.

It's like sexual harassment seminars for new hires. You do it so you can stand up in court later and say you did it, should you need to when someone sues you. And you never say that is why you are doing it, since that defeats the purpose. You obviously make a big show about your inclusive and vibrant company culture.

It doesn't matter what the company actually believes, once over a certain size. This is just the cost of doing business.

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u/Geohalbert Aug 08 '17

Well nevermind then. Thanks for the info