Google Responds to Protests with New Sexual Harassment Policy

Google employees worldwide -- some 20,000 of them -- staged a walkout this past Thursday over what they saw as a lack of fairness and transparency in dealing with issues of sexual harassment, and now Google has responded. Google CEO Sundar Pichai CEO Sundar Pichai today sent a memo to employees at all locations, acknowledging that "we have not always gotten everything right in the past and we are sincerely sorry for that," adding:

Going forward, we will provide more transparency on how we handle concerns. We'll give better support and care to the people who raise them. And we will double down on our commitment to be a representative, equitable, and respectful workplace.

The "comprehensive action plan" he then announced includes provisions for making "arbitration optional for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims" (arbitration was previously mandatory); for providing "more granularity around sexual harassment investigations;" for "revamping the way we handle and look into your concerns;" and for updating and expanding "our mandatory sexual harassment training."