By 2025, Google aims to acquire 30% more leads from under-represented organizations: Sundar Pichai (File)
Google Alphabet Inc will evaluate the performance of its vice presidents and above all on team diversity and inclusion starting this year, the company said Friday in one of several responses to concerns about its handling e to a Black scientist.
Timnit Gebru, co-director of Google’s ethical fake intelligence research team, said in December that Google suddenly fired at her after she criticized her diversity efforts and threatened to resign.
Alphabet CEO and Google, Sundar Pichai, ordered a review of the situation. Although Google declined to share specific findings, the company announced Friday that it will be engaging with human resources experts at the time of employee awareness exit.
Mr. Pichai said in June, by 2025, Google aims for an additional 30% of its leads to come from underrepresented organizations, with a focus on Black, Latinx and Native American leaders in the United States and technical leaders females across the globe. About 96% of U.S. Google leaders at the time were white or Asian, and 73% worldwide were male.
As a result of the investigation, the company also expanded a commitment announced in June to spend more resources on retaining and motivating existing employees, including by expanding a team that is dealing with disputes among employees and their managers.
The diversity component of action performance reviews was not previously announced, and the company did not immediately provide information on what would be measured and how payment would be affected.
The alphabet for years had rejected suggestions from shareholders and employees to set diversity goals and link action pay to them.
Irene Knapp, a former Google employee who was bidding for one such proposal at the 2018 shareholders meeting, said on Friday, “I am pleased that they met our request from 2018, which was minimum level which should be easy to do immediately. “
Evaluating managers on diversity goals is becoming more common. McDonald’s Corp on Thursday linked action bonuses to diversity.