WASHINGTON: Google To Evaluate Executive Performance On Diversity, Inclusion

WASHINGTON: Alphabet
Inc’s Google will evaluate the performance of its vice presidents and above on
team diversity and inclusion starting this year, the company said on Friday in
one of several responses to concerns about its treatment of a Black scientist.

Timnit
Gebru, co-leader of Google’s ethical artificial intelligence research team,
said in December that Google abruptly fired her after she criticized its
diversity efforts and threatened to resign.

Alphabet
and Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai ordered a review of the situation.
While Google declined to share specific findings, the company announced on Friday
it will engage human resources specialists during sensitive employee
departures.

Mr Pichai
in June said that by 2025, Google aims to have 30% more of its leaders come
from underrepresented groups, with a focus on Black, Latinx and Native American
leaders in the United States and female technical leaders globally. About 96%
of Google’s U.S. leaders at the time were white or Asian, and 73% globally were
men.

As a
result of the investigation, the company also expanded a commitment announced
in June to devote more resources to retaining and promoting existing employees,
including by expanding a team addressing disputes among workers and their
managers.

The
diversity component of executive performance reviews was not previously
announced, and the company did not immediately share details about what would
be measured and how pay would be affected.

Alphabet
for years had rejected proposals from shareholders and employees to set
diversity goals and tie executive pay to them.

Irene
Knapp, a former Google employee who advocated for one such proposal at a 2018
shareholder meeting, said on Friday, “I am pleased that they met our demand
from 2018, which was a bare minimum that should have been easy to do
immediately.”

Evaluating
managers on diversity goals is becoming more commonplace. McDonald’s Corp on
Thursday tied executive bonuses to diversity.