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Alphabet introduced Google this week to rules for inviting guest speakers to its offices, days after it canceled a talk by an Indian historian who disparaged marginalized groups and their concerns, according to company emails seen by Reuters.
Policy issued Thursday is The Google The latest efforts to maintain an open culture while addressing the divisions that have arisen as its workforce has grown.
Workers at Google and other big tech companies have clashed in recent years, protesting politics and equality between races and genders. also, the alphabetAnd the appleAnd the Amazon All drives are facing unionization whose demands include that companies adopt progressive policies.
Google’s speaker rules, seen by Reuters, note brand risks from certain conversations and ask workers to “consider whether there is a business reason to host the speaker and whether the event directly supports our company’s goals.”
It advocates avoiding topics that could “sabotage or undermine Google’s culture of belonging” and reiterates that speakers are prohibited from defending political candidates and polling procedures.
“We’ve always been proud to host external speakers at Google because they provide amazing learning and networking opportunities for our employees,” Google spokesman Ryan Lamont told Reuters. The updated process will “ensure that these events are beneficial and contribute to a productive work environment”.
An email introducing the policy to managers said it consolidates and clarifies a patchwork of guidelines.
More scrutiny threatens the free flow of university-like culture that Google has enjoyed since its inception. But a workplace perceived as more attractive could attract a more diverse workforce that could help Google develop products with broader appeal.
In recent years, internal conflicts that have spilled over into the public eye have led Google to increase moderation of content on workplace message boards and reduce the frequency of companywide meetings.
rivals like meta It also has policies for inviting speakers.
At Google, speakers included then-US presidential candidate Barack Obama, celebrity chef Ayesha Curry and former basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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Controversies have raged over Google’s speakers since at least April, when it said an internal grudge led it to scrap a talk about India’s religious caste system by author Thenmozhi Soundararajan, which advocates for disenfranchised people from caste bias.
Members of an internal Hindu congregation have complained about Soundararajan, calling her rhetoric inflammatory, a charge she describes as bigoted.
At least one critic has suggested Rajeev Malhotra’s call for balance, according to an internal letter. Malhotra, a tech entrepreneur turned heteroauthor, has called activists like Soundararajan “snakes” and criticized affirmative action policies promoting lower caste groups.
The Hindu group at Google finally selected Malhotra to speak about India’s positive global impact, according to an invite. But organizers canceled Nov. 10, the day before the planned talk at Google’s offices in Silicon Valley, according to a follow-up announcement.
Some workers have complained to upper management about Malhotra, according to the letter of solicitation of complaints. A linked document organized by the Alphabet Workers Union, a labor organization petitioning Google to label caste in its non-discrimination policies, Malhotra made references to characterizing homosexuality as a medical condition and Islam as a destructive force.
Malhotra told Reuters he supports marginalized communities but opposes “the politicization of prejudice in ways that divide communities and make them vulnerable to foreign colonialism”.
Allowing his rhetoric after the cancellation of Soundararajan would have reached an ambivalent level, according to messages between staff members.
The new speaker’s policy states that workers must “submit a proposal and be approved” by a “cross-functional” review team. Applications are due at least 12 weeks prior to the event.
“Wait for a response before contacting the speaker and/or his representative,” the letter read. Failure to follow this process is a violation of Google policies.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
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