Google follows other giants in abandoning diversity policy
6 February 12:08
Alphabet (Google’s parent company) is abandoning its goals of hiring employees from underrepresented groups and revising some of its diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Simply put, the company is abandoning its diversity policy, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports with reference to Reuters.
Fiona Cicconi, Alphabet’s chief human resources officer, sent an email to employees, stating:
“In 2020, we set ambitious hiring goals… to improve representation… But going forward, we will no longer have such goals.”
Google has been one of the most active companies in promoting diversity policies over the years following the protests against the police killings of George Floyd and other black Americans in 2020.
In 2020, the company’s CEO Sundar Pichai set a goal to increase the number of executives from “underrepresented groups” by 30% by 2025. At that time, about 96% of Google’s executives in the United States were white or Asian, and 73% of executives worldwide were men.
In 2021, the company began evaluating executives on diversity and inclusion after a prominent artificial intelligence research leader claimed that the company abruptly fired her after criticizing diversity efforts. In an interview with BBC 2024, Google’s Chief Diversity Officer Melony Parker said that the company had reached 60% of its five-year goals.
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On Wednesday, an Alphabet spokesperson said the company had no update on Pichai’s goals.
In Alphabet’s annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a line was removed stating that the company is “committed to embedding diversity, equality and inclusion in everything we do and developing a workforce that represents the users we serve.” This statement appeared in the annual reports from 2021 to 2024.
As a federal contractor, Google also announced that it is reviewing policy changes introduced by President Donald Trump aimed at limiting DEI within the government and among federal contractors.
At the same time, the company will retain internal employee groups such as Trans at Google, Black Googler Network, and Disability Alliance, which influence product and policy decisions.
Earlier, other tech giants announced cuts to similar programs. Meta (Facebook’s parent company) announced in January that it would end its DEI programs, including hiring, training, and sourcing programs. Amazon also announced the “phasing out of legacy programs and materials” related to representation and inclusion. McDonald’s announced a similar decision.
Earlier, Trump banned the hiring of airline employees based on diversity.
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