Technology
Google Establishes Limits On Internal Debate Roughly A Year After Firing Of James Damore
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Google reportedly established a set of new rules last week aimed at abating debates between employees.
The changes, which were reported Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal, come roughly a year after engineer James Damore was fired for internally publishing a memo outlining, among other topics, his views of gender differences and how they are affecting females in the tech industry.
The piece of communication also described his feelings that there is a lack of freedom to express one’s opinions — especially if they aren’t supportive of the general ideals of the left end of the political spectrum — making the situation seem at least fairly ironic. After all, immediately following the termination, which appeared to send the company in a frenetic state by sparking further heated discussions, Google CEO Sundair Pichai said immediately following the high-profile termination that “people must be free to express dissent.” Damore told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive interview that, even despite his education and experience, he’s struggling to find a job anywhere else because all other companies in the larger industry are scared of piquing Google’s ire.
The guidelines were sent to employees last week, reports TheWSJ. They clarified that the company will exercise its ability to discipline employees discriminating against fellow workers, or engage in discussions deemed “disruptive to productive work environment” — a fairly broad stipulation that could be interpreted in many different ways.
A previous, extensive WSJ report details how there appears to be “nonstop political arguments” that “rule its workplace.” So much so, that Google has employees volunteer to oversee intranet forums, which will help human-resource officers in reviewing complaints submitted to them. The latest rules reportedly grant these moderators with more oversight power.
Google, overall, seems to be entangled by an underlying discord within at least portions of its massive staff. It recently agreed to end a drone technology contract with the U.S. Department of Defense because leadership decided it was best course of action after employees protested the partnership.
Google did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for confirmation and comment in time of publication.
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