Social Google gets rid of its diversity programs

[Deleted member 159002]

I want ZERO diversity programs for the sake of having diversity programs at companies I invest my money in. They should hire the best, the brightest and the most capable and innovative people for the job regardless of ethnicity.

I think what drives people (that is, aside from those who stand to profit from "diversity") to value diversity as an end itself is narcissism. Imagine going to work or a club thinking, "I have enough white friends. If some white person asks me to start hanging out with him/her, I'll decline. I want to add blacks and Asians to my circle of friends with whom I regularly hang out." It's such a contrived, empty way of living. Other people become a means to the end of you feeling righteous based on their physical characteristics.

 

[vapor&dust]

Which is standard litigation behavior. Right or wrong, it's cheaper to settle and put people under NDAs - that way you control what they can or cannot say in the future. It's a mistake to assume that settlements mean wrongdoing or innocence because that's not why most companies settle.

If you pay a settlement that's de facto acknowledgement there's a good chance you'll lose and pay out more, as you said. So yes it is acknowledgement they had a good chance of being found in the wrong and no doubt played a factor in discontinuing their diversity program. Lol at you still trying to spin this.

 

[panamaican]

If you pay a settlement that's de facto acknowledgement there's a good chance you'll lose and pay out more, as you said. So yes it is acknowledgement they had a good chance of being found in the wrong and no doubt played a factor in discontinuing their diversity program. Lol at you still trying to spin this.

No, that's not what I said.

I said that it's cheaper to settle. Not because you might lose but because the cost of litigation is both money and time. Companies settle when they are 100% right just as often as when they are 100% wrong. Why? Because a trial is going to take years and cost a ton. If you're right, you take the money you would have spent on lawyers proving you're right to pay a settlement and save the time. If you're wrong, you spend the money you would have spent on lawyers defending you to settle and move on. It has very little to do with right vs. wrong. Spend $5+ million on litigation and lose 5 years of time or spend 5 million on a settlement and have it done in 1-2 years. Cost-benefit says you settle almost every time.

Your average Fortune 200 corporation is spending $100+ million on litigation costs annually. Legal fees and discovery costs are significant and you pay them whether you win or lose. There's no reason to incur millions in legal fees when you can just pay the other guy to go away.

 

[GutterSniper]

The person that I work in support of (person who is assigned ownership of our lab) is a lesbian. She has a wife. And a kid. And a Master's degree. And her jump wings from her time in the Army. And medals and ribbons from time spent in a theater of operation. She's not a diversity hire, she's a qualified person in a role that up until now, was held by hetero males. Water seeks its own level. We have top tier professionals at work and she is one of them. Those who aren't of that level get weeded out regardless of age, sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

Does your company have quotas or diversity hiring policies? (You may not be in a position to know)

 

[Ichibanner]

Does your company have quotas or diversity hiring policies? (You may not be in a position to know)

Honestly, I don't know. It's "above my paygrade". We seem to celebrate something non-hetero white male every month with guest speakers involved (Pacific Islander month, Black history, LGBT, women, etc etc) so I'm numb to it if there is one. We have fired or gently nudged out the door those who aren't productive and there have been minority personnel involved so it's not like diversity is the most important aspect of employment.

 

[vapor&dust]

DOJ and states AG looking at anti-trust suit against Google

 

[lfd0311]

Google has drastically cut its diversity programs, and entirely eliminating "Sojurn," a comprehensive racial justice program and is being accused of doing so to appease being accused of being anti conservative. Google denies the claim and says the diversity thing does not resonate with Communist China, only in the US



https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1206181

FIXED

 

[Shoemaker]

The best way to combat a lack of diversity in certain fields is to start with eduction and exposure, which are the foundations everything else is built on. If you want more diversity in your company, dedicate time and resources to outreach at education and job fairs where you can connect with the people you want to attract. It will only help your company if you are able to get a wider range of people interested in your field. A larger field means more talent. But if you are waiting until hiring time to make an attempt to diversify, you've sort of missed the boat.

I'm a hiring manager for the engineering department at a small tech company. I would likely fail at that part of my job if there were imposed diversity quotas. Even if I wanted to hire American workers only it would put a significant strain on my ability to recruit to right team members.

 

[Deleted member 159002]

Honestly, I don't know. It's "above my paygrade". We seem to celebrate something non-hetero white male every month with guest speakers involved (Pacific Islander month, Black history, LGBT, women, etc etc) so I'm numb to it if there is one. We have fired or gently nudged out the door those who aren't productive and there have been minority personnel involved so it's not like diversity is the most important aspect of employment.

When I worked for the government I attended a workshop during black history month that featured poetry reading and hip hop dance. On the clock! The room was packed full of other government employees.

 

[Hollywood Jack]

Google has drastically cut its diversity programs, and entirely eliminating "Sojurn," a comprehensive racial justice program and is being accused of doing so to appease being accused of being anti conservative. Google denies the claim and says the diversity thing does not resonate with the rest of the world, only in the US



https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1206181

 

[WhiteMousse]

Um it's because forced diversity will tank your margins and piss off smart investors/shareholders.

You need to have a "program" to make people think that you actually give a shit about minorities, just like you need programs to make it look like you give a shit about safety, proper health care and all kinds of things that you don't actually care about. Underneath all that you want all the smartest people who will do the most amount of work for the least amount of money.

That's it.

 

[Finding Deebo]

Pretty much. If aliens visited earth they would consider Asians to be the "default" human variety. White people are the weird, uncommon variety; like pistachio to the vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

I'm putting "Pistachio" as my race on the Census.

 

[spamburger]

You were one of the diversity managers who got fired, aren't you?

yes

 

[Pseudo Sane]

I wish more people understood this. Companies will settle even if they're 100% in the right. They'll settle if they're 100% in the wrong. The point isn't right vs. wrong, it's about shutting down litigation.

The Harvard case being an example of why they do it. Harvard won that case but in the course of the trial, they ended up revealing their entire admissions process. I've seen college prep tutors devoting significant time into strategies meant to exploit this new knowledge. So Harvard won the case but lost something of value in doing so. Settling the case before it gets to trial prevents that from happening. I'm sure Google has plenty of proprietary information that is unrelated to this issue but will come up as the lawyers look for ways to win. It's far cheaper to pay the plaintiff to go away than risk putting proprietary information into the public space of court records.

Another example is the UFC. People used to speculate about what PPV contracts looked llike but no one knew. This gave the UFC a negotiating advantage with new fighters because only the UFC knew what the contracts included. Once Randy's contract went public, thanks to litigation, everyone could use it in their contract negotiations. The UFC lost something of value that far exceeded the amount in dispute with Couture.

Companies settle, regardless of if they're right, it's just smarter.

Yeah, this is an excellent point. The other angle that people forget is that an NDA can cover up a huge amount of embarrassing, but nevertheless legal, behavior, behavior that companies may have good reason to want to conceal from the view of the public. A large organization may be confident that their legal argument will prevail, and still settle because of the potential bad publicity of having their dirty laundry aired for all to see.

 

[Lowiqredneck]

I was going to say 'a candle in the wind' but that works.

Saw who you were replying to and realized this was a criminally underrated post!

 

[original doom]

Most of google's head honchos are indians. No guilt there, just plain racism.

bingo, there we have it. indians do not roll like priviledged liberal whites. as we speak sanjeev is firing every non indian too be replaced by his relatives.

 

[original doom]

So they scrapped local programs so they could figure out how to make global scalability a thing. Doesn't seem shocking to me, if anything it makes sense. Americans tend to think strictly about themselves but Google could, hypothetically, improve their diversity by focusing on hiring in Africa for example. The result is the same, it's just less America-centric. So, as I said, I think it makes sense.

see my previous post.

 

[original doom]

googled named its diversity program sojourn....

sojourn meaning, a temporary stay.

 

[TheLinguist]

All media pander to the latest social issue, is it that difficult to see through these companies?

Soon it’ll be “stop blaming China for covid19” because it‘s racist, google Facebook and twitter will all be pro China (again) in a matter of time.

 

[TheLinguist]

So they scrapped local programs so they could figure out how to make global scalability a thing. Doesn't seem shocking to me, if anything it makes sense. Americans tend to think strictly about themselves but Google could, hypothetically, improve their diversity by focusing on hiring in Africa for example. The result is the same, it's just less America-centric. So, as I said, I think it makes sense.

Pretty much this.