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At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

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41–50 of 234 posts

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#41

- A female employee was allegedly called a “princess” for favoring salad over burgers. I imagine the guy that delivered that comment would be hard pushed to figure out what he did wrong. I suppose we all have to really careful what we say.

Can you explain specifically whats wrong with the comment. This could be making fun of a friend. How is this harassment?

"Making fun of" someone at work is harassment.

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#42
post #23
post #8

> One employee said that during a one-on-one performance review with a manager, he was told that his rating dropped from "Exceeds" to "Meets" because he didn't get as much done while on paternity leave. If true, that is quite obviously legally actionable.

Is it? As long as the performance review was done based on the employee's performance over the entire year, it's fair game no? I'm not sure I agree with the logic that someone who takes time off during the year is given credit for the good work they would have done had they not taken time off.

The logic is that you aren't expected to work in your off time so it shouldn't factor in at all. If his work exceeded during the time he was working whether or not he took leave shouldn't effect that.

Reviews should be about the quality of the work, not whether you take 0 vacations days or work until 10pm everyday because you're 22 and don't have a family.

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#43
post #8

> One employee said that during a one-on-one performance review with a manager, he was told that his rating dropped from "Exceeds" to "Meets" because he didn't get as much done while on paternity leave. If true, that is quite obviously legally actionable.

I'd agree that someone who is on leave, and doesn't work, indeed"meets" expectations. It would be a problem only if everybody is expected to exceed expectations, but then all the evaluation process becomes, almost by definition, nonsensical.

I mean, I think the problem is evaluating performance at all for time not spent at work. If someone was on leave for part of a review period, that time shouldn't be evaluated. If they were on leave for most/all of it, that review should probably be skipped as null. Doing otherwise creates a misleading conflation between "meeting the expectation of leave" and "meeting the expectations of the job".

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#44
post #32
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... or it was simply misunderstood/taken the "wrong" way by someone particularly touchy. I can understand most of the listed complains, but both the "princess" reference and the one about the hairdressers sending supposedly racists code messages sound more like if some problems are also somehow with the people that complained.

> by someone particularly touchy. No. It's okay to say this to someone you know well and who you know won't mind. But the default position is "don't say this", and so the people who have a strong negative response to it are not "particularly touchy", they're normal.

No, people who get offended are "particularly touchy" because they lack the well-adjusted skills of an adult and act like children.

No one is arguing at your right to be offended, what people hate is that not only can this person clearly not talk this out with someone - they need to go to a public shaming list. IMO it's a form of virtue signaling. I doubt this person is actually offended, but the local SJW group told them they need to be to be seen as progressive.

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#45

I feel this might be problematic. The Soviet block countries had something called a culture of criticism and self-criticism. As part of this culture, factories would orchestrate meetings in which people who ran afoul of party management were publicly humiliated by their colleagues and ostracized. What's wrong with simply firing people who are implicated in harassment and possibly reporting them to law enforcement?

> What's wrong with simply firing people who are implicated in harassment

You'd get sued for wrongful termination if you go around firing people based on mere implication.

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#47
post #8

> One employee said that during a one-on-one performance review with a manager, he was told that his rating dropped from "Exceeds" to "Meets" because he didn't get as much done while on paternity leave. If true, that is quite obviously legally actionable.

I'd agree that someone who is on leave, and doesn't work, indeed"meets" expectations. It would be a problem only if everybody is expected to exceed expectations, but then all the evaluation process becomes, almost by definition, nonsensical.

That's ridiculous. Leave is leave; it's an employee's right that's offered in law or in their contract, and they should not be punished in any way for taking advantage of it.

If the employee would otherwise exceed expectations and took paternity leave, then they still exceed expectations. If they were hired in March and worked for 40 weeks, they would not be penalized for failing to work in January or February. Leave should be handled the same way.

If the employee was not professional about taking leave (didn't give any notice, did not work with colleagues to organize coverage of his tasks, etc.) then things are different. Similarly, if they promised to do something while on leave and didn't, then that would be an issue.

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#48
post #8

> One employee said that during a one-on-one performance review with a manager, he was told that his rating dropped from "Exceeds" to "Meets" because he didn't get as much done while on paternity leave. If true, that is quite obviously legally actionable.

I'd agree that someone who is on leave, and doesn't work, indeed"meets" expectations. It would be a problem only if everybody is expected to exceed expectations, but then all the evaluation process becomes, almost by definition, nonsensical.

Isn't exceeds like getting a bonus? You still want bonus while on paternity? I thought only legal requirement is base rate and expected payments - which a bonus is not?

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#49

Why is confidential material for public consumption? All this is stuff that ought to go to the Ombudsman, HR or the police to be dealt with properly. What good does it do to hear "my supervisor is habitually oversharing and told me she smokes hashish and is worried about an upcoming drug test"?

HR is not really intended to be the employee's friend or advocate. They work for the interests of the shareholders and management. It can be like reporting police corruption to the police -- not always a very effective course of action.

Re: At Google, an Employee-Run Email List Tracks Harassment and Bias Complaints

#50
post #8

> One employee said that during a one-on-one performance review with a manager, he was told that his rating dropped from "Exceeds" to "Meets" because he didn't get as much done while on paternity leave. If true, that is quite obviously legally actionable.

review should be done only for the time that employee was not on leave. makes sense.
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