UPDATE 2017-08-09: the memo is available via diversitymemo.com as well.
A Google employee wrote an internal document (not so internal now…) criticizing how the company treats their employees and people who apply for a job there.
This person has since been reported as being fired, though Google won’t confirm this, saying they “can’t comment on individual employee cases”. So while the timing is not in favor of Google in my view, it’s possible he was fired for some unrelated reason. I’m not speculating too much on this either way.
That aside, let’s focus on the memo linked to above, and it’s quite a read.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai responds in a memo of his own:
First, let me say that we strongly support the right of Googlers to express themselves, and much of what was in that memo is fair to debate, regardless of whether a vast majority of Googlers disagree with it. However, portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.
He does not go on to say what “portions” or “harmful gender stereotypes” he is referring to.
I find the way that Google and the media is treating this employee is lacking, to say the least. I’ve seen this being caricatured, strawmanned (is that a word?) and worse. By all means, go ahead and criticize the memo if you will, but get the facts straight, and if you’re going to make claims about the document, have the decency to actually present it in the first place!
Gizmodo at least reproduces the memo, “in full” they say, and then go on to say in passing that “two charts and several hyperlinks are also omitted”.
Yes, I suppose 32 links to sources are technically several. (That’s without counting the half dozen internal links on top of that.)
SHA-256 checksum of the PDF:
ef5f91368d61e7076e61ef7493e88f2ae45cf5f7cb7b03d66c167fd2346bbc7b
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