Google Protest Leader Leaves • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#41

Post by icxa » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:38 PM UTC

ulfw wrote: post #30

cobookman wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Realize Meredith and her crew are a minority of employees. We are talking Majority of googlers wanted maven. They wanted search in China. Biggest change to culture is people getting tired of SJW outrage. And a focus back on our users and business

The majority wanted Project Maven and search in China?

Rephrased slightly differently: The majority want opportunities that will advance their careers, increase their stock values, and keep the company doing well (which usually means bigger bonuses)

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#42

Post by cobookman » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:38 PM UTC

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #13

I thought this story had already been reported a month ago. But no, I was wrong, that was the other organizer of the Google Protests, Claire Stapleton: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jun/07/google-wa... So to clarify, both of the female Google employees who lead/organized the protests have now left because they say they faced retaliation. That looks very bad for Google.

How does this look bad for Google? Honest question.

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#43

Post by spamizbad » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:38 PM UTC

wastedhours wrote: post #11

whatshisface wrote: post #5

Google works like crazy to hire all of the smartest and the best people, but do they really need them? Billions and billions in shareholder value could be extracted by hiring a bunch of mid-tier Java programmers and having them farm Ad Words for the next decade, until the first competition shows up.

> until the first competition shows up Their worry is that competition will be started by the people they've not hired and kept on the bench. I'd imagine a large amount of their top-level hiring is driven by taking minds off of the market, more than optimising their output.

Microsoft used this strategy successfully for a while.

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#44

Post by duxup » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:38 PM UTC

It's always hard to gauge this stuff.

The early moment seemed to have support but it seemed to sort of fizzle later on... but the media attention remained making it really hard to get a feel for the real scope of these issues / how many google folks shared their views.

I've worked long enough to encounter management who would retaliate, and employees that once they find a cause are willing / do everything they can to die on it. I don't know if ANY of what happened at google is one or the other or both or none.

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#45

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:39 PM UTC

>Whittaker also publicly denounced some Google decisions, including the appointment of Kay Coles James, a conservative think tank leader, to an AI ethics board. Google soon nixed the board.

I wonder how much that contributed. No matter the personal political leanings of the employees, most companies try to stay on the good side of both sides of the political aisle. When the president of Heritage Foundation (which is about as close to establishment conservatism as possible) was opposed so vehemently, it really created a rift with conservatives and now there are Republican Senators who now are calling for Google to get reigned in. The business leadership can’t be too happy about that.

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#46

Post by CydeWeys » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:39 PM UTC

cobookman wrote: post #42

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #13

I thought this story had already been reported a month ago. But no, I was wrong, that was the other organizer of the Google Protests, Claire Stapleton: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jun/07/google-wa... So to clarify, both of the female Google employees who lead/organized the protests have now left because they say they faced retaliation. That looks very bad for Google.

How does this look bad for Google? Honest question.

It's bad to retaliate against workers who organize against sexual harassment and gender compensation disparity in the workplace. It looks bad because it is bad.

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#47

Post by charliesharding » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:40 PM UTC

I don't really understand why it's surprising to anyone that they would face "internal retaliation" after exposing their employer as evil and boycott worthy to the entire world. By publicizing it to the degree that they did and attaching their name to it, they were putting their interests over the company. If my company started doing business practices that I didn't approve of, I would try my hardest to change the direction from the inside out or I would leave and then criticize. I don't understand the desire to stay with a company and accept paychecks while simultaneously publicly denouncing and leading protests against them.

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#48

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:40 PM UTC

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #24

dmix wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What retaliation have they faced from Google exactly?

https://www.wired.com/story/google-walkout-organizers-say-th... >In a message posted to many internal Google mailing lists Monday, Meredith Whittaker, who leads Google’s Open Research, said that after the company disbanded its external AI ethics council on April 4, she was told that her role would be “changed dramatically.” Whittaker said she was told that, in order to stay at the company, she would have to “abandon”…

[deleted]

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#49

Post by knd775 » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:40 PM UTC

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #17

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #13

I thought this story had already been reported a month ago. But no, I was wrong, that was the other organizer of the Google Protests, Claire Stapleton: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jun/07/google-wa... So to clarify, both of the female Google employees who lead/organized the protests have now left because they say they faced retaliation. That looks very bad for Google.

Whittaker did not (as far as this article describes) say why she left.

https://www.wired.com/story/google-walkout-organizers-say-th... >In a message posted to many internal Google mailing lists Monday, Meredith Whittaker, who leads Google’s Open Research, said that after the company disbanded its external AI ethics council on April 4, she was told that her role would be “changed dramatically.” Whittaker said she was told that, in order to stay at the company, she would have to “abandon” her work on AI ethics and her role at AI Now Institute, a research center she cofounded at New York University.

Re: Google Protest Leader Leaves

#50

Post by cobookman » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:42 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #46

cobookman wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this look bad for Google? Honest question.

It's bad to retaliate against workers who organize against sexual harassment and gender compensation disparity in the workplace. It looks bad because it is bad.

Proof of retaliation? I've yet to see anything concrete here.

If anything it sounded like they disagreed with the company's business direction. Leaders listened, made some changes.

They still disagreed...this time with leadership not feeling a change was necessary.

they then quit as they disagreed with the company's direction.