Google's Racist Hiring Practices

[Ana the Ist]

Looks like tech giant Google is under fire again...

Ex-recruiter accuses Google of hiring discrimination against white, Asian men

So the long and short of this is a white recruiter for YouTube (owned by Google) was fired for questioning Google's racist hiring practices. He's suing Google, and this case is interesting because his job was to recruit talent for YouTube...he was directly involved in the hiring process. He's claiming that Google specifically denied applicants who were white and asian men.

Wilberg, who recruited candidates for engineering and technology positions for YouTube and parent company Google, also alleges in the suit that for several quarters Google would not make employment offers for technical positions to applicants “who were not ‘diverse,’" which the lawsuit alleges Google defined as women, black and Latino.

Discriminating against applicants based upon race is, of course, illegal. It's understandable that anyone would be uncomfortable being forced to break the law for a racist employer. He claims that this discrimination was rather blatant...

He claims an internal memo circulated specifically asked recruiters like himself to purge all applications for technical positions with less than 5 years experience unless the applicant was female, black, or Latino. He also claims to have been treated differently and terminated because he's white.

Of course, any racism is wrong...but this is far from a teacher making a disgusting statement or someone saying something racist during a crime. It's denying people opportunities for their careers, and pushing them out of a vital part of the economy simply because they're white or asian and male.

What do you think? No big deal? Or should Google's increasingly anti-male/white/asian working environment be punished?

 

[Bio-Luminescent Billy]

'Member when their motto was, "Don't Be Evil"?

Well once Google's done, you won't.

 

[essentialsaltes]

If there's a basis for this, the EEOC should have a look-see. Probably not gonna help Mr. Fired, though.

 

[Ana the Ist]

If there's a basis for this, the EEOC should have a look-see. Probably not gonna help Mr. Fired, though.

Given the other headlines involving Google's work environment in recent memory, it's getting difficult to imagine this is a fabrication or isolated incident.

 

[Doug Melven]

This is the result of affirmative action. (which is racist)
It could also be tied to "white privilege". Which is nonexistent.

 

[MoonlessNight]

Google delenda est.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Bump

 

[DaisyDay]

Given the other headlines involving Google's work environment in recent memory, it's getting difficult to imagine this is a fabrication or isolated incident.

Not for some of us.

 

[MoonlessNight]

Not for some of us.

I don't know if you think that's something to be proud of.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Not for some of us.

Oh? Which do you think it is?

 

[bhsmte]

All kinds of prejudice and racism exists in the US and in corporations. Of course, it isn't as popular to discuss the types that aren't as in vogue.

 

[dgiharris]

Discriminating against applicants based upon race is, of course, illegal. It's understandable that anyone would be uncomfortable being forced to break the law for a racist employer. He claims that this discrimination was rather blatant...

What do you think? No big deal? Or should Google's increasingly anti-male/white/asian working environment be punished?

I wonder what exactly constitutes racism in regards to hiring practices and when we go from gray areas to black...

I do a fair amount of hiring and I've been responsible for hiring over 20 people in the last year for my company. There is one division of my company that is 40% black males. I'm a black male and we had 2 positions open up. I wanted to hire someone who was not black to fill these two positions to add to our diversity.

I interviewed and found 5 people that could all do the job and were near equivalent in skill. 3 black males, 2 white males, 1 hispanic female.

I hired a white male and hispanic female so we would be diverse.

Was this racism on my part?
Do I get a pass on this not being racist because I'm black?
Would this be considered racist if I was white?

Diversity does help our business better interact with our diverse clientele. I can't quantify the impact but I do know it is helpful to have our Asian salesperson deal with our Asian clients...

But what if I just wanted diversity for the sake of diversity and there is no business case to be made? Would that make my hiring decisions racist? Does wanting to have a mix of races mean that hiring practices to get said mix are racist? Seems almost paradoxical.

No snark intended, I'd like to have an honest and frank discussion about it.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I wonder what exactly constitutes racism in regards to hiring practices and when we go from gray areas to black...

Well...I'm not sure where the gray area is, but when a company says "don't hire anyone of this race or that gender"....you've pretty much exactly hit the requirement for racial/gender discrimination.

I do a fair amount of hiring and I've been responsible for hiring over 20 people in the last year for my company. There is one division of my company that is 40% black males. I'm a black male and we had 2 positions open up. I wanted to hire someone who was not black to fill these two positions to add to our diversity.

I interviewed and found 5 people that could all do the job and were near equivalent in skill. 3 black males, 2 white males, 1 hispanic female.

I hired a white male and hispanic female so we would be diverse.

Was this racism on my part?

It sounds like it. You hired people based upon race/gender.

Do I get a pass on this not being racist because I'm black?

You shouldn't, but I wouldn't sweat it dgi...this whole diversity in hiring climate is tricky to navigate.

Would this be considered racist if I was white?

Most definitely...also if you were to ignore race, you'd probably be labeled racist.

Diversity does help our business better interact with our diverse clientele. I can't quantify the impact but I do know it is helpful to have our Asian salesperson deal with our Asian clients...

Why? Does he do something the other employees cannot?

But what if I just wanted diversity for the sake of diversity and there is no business case to be made? Would that make my hiring decisions racist? Does wanting to have a mix of races mean that hiring practices to get said mix are racist? Seems almost paradoxical.

Again...it's tricky to navigate.

No snark intended, I'd like to have an honest and frank discussion about it.

That's appreciated...honest discussion on this topic is lacking.

 

[bhsmte]

I wonder what exactly constitutes racism in regards to hiring practices and when we go from gray areas to black...

I do a fair amount of hiring and I've been responsible for hiring over 20 people in the last year for my company. There is one division of my company that is 40% black males. I'm a black male and we had 2 positions open up. I wanted to hire someone who was not black to fill these two positions to add to our diversity.

I interviewed and found 5 people that could all do the job and were near equivalent in skill. 3 black males, 2 white males, 1 hispanic female.

I hired a white male and hispanic female so we would be diverse.

Was this racism on my part?
Do I get a pass on this not being racist because I'm black?
Would this be considered racist if I was white?

Diversity does help our business better interact with our diverse clientele. I can't quantify the impact but I do know it is helpful to have our Asian salesperson deal with our Asian clients...

But what if I just wanted diversity for the sake of diversity and there is no business case to be made? Would that make my hiring decisions racist? Does wanting to have a mix of races mean that hiring practices to get said mix are racist? Seems almost paradoxical.

No snark intended, I'd like to have an honest and frank discussion about it.

Racist hiring practices are pretty straight forward. If a company steers away from hiring people predominantly because of race, they are practicing racist hiring.

 

[revanneosl]

 

[MoonlessNight]

Justice means that everyone gets what they deserve.

Not everyone deserves to have the same things as everyone else.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Actually, the picture on the right is Marxism...not "justice". It's a redistribution of resources so everyone gets the same outcome...regardless of who they are.

It looks like a poster of marxist propaganda.

 

[Kentonio]

Actually, the picture on the right is Marxism...not "justice". It's a redistribution of resources so everyone gets the same outcome...regardless of who they are.

It looks like a poster of marxist propaganda.

Cool, I must be Marxist then. The picture on the right seems like a much fairer way to run a society. You might notice that in the picture the shorter kid isn't lazier, dumber or more irresponsible, he was just born shorter. I'd rather like to live in a society where being born a certain way doesn't mean you get to spend the rest of your life staring at a blank wall.

 

[Rion]

Cool, I must be Marxist then. The picture on the right seems like a much fairer way to run a society. You might notice that in the picture the shorter kid isn't lazier, dumber or more irresponsible, he was just born shorter. I'd rather like to live in a society where being born a certain way doesn't mean you get to spend the rest of your life staring at a blank wall.

...except that's a strawman of what Ana was saying. He's arguing for equality of opportunity, not an equality of outcome. Besides, according to the Guardian you must be a right-winger.

 

[Rion]

To expand upon my comment earlier...