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Google is changing how employees can report harassment and discrimination

Google is changing how employees can report harassment and discrimination

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Changes follow last year’s walkout of workers

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A Google logo sits at the center of ominous concentric circles
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

After pledging to make cultural changes following a mass walkout of employees last year, Google said today that it will change how employees can report harassment and discrimination allegations.

Google has faced a year of backlash from employees, culminating in 20,000 workers walking off the job in November. The workers demanded changes, and Google executives met some of those demands. CEO Sundar Pichai announced that month that the company would make arbitration option for sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations, and it would change how employees can report harassment and discrimination.

Publicly releasing workplace policies

In a blog post released today, the company gave an update. Employees can now report concerns on a dedicated website, and the company has released its annual internal misconduct report, this year with expanded information on sexual harassment investigations.

Google is also publicly releasing its policy on harassment and other workplace issues. The 13-page document details what qualifies as harassment and discrimination and how Google investigates those issues.

The announcement follows new criticism inside at the company. Earlier this week, two prominent employees who helped organize the walkout said they have faced retaliation from the company. Google has disputed that changes in work assignments were acts of retaliation.

“A big part of my job is to listen to ideas that Googlers have and take feedback on ways we can improve our workplace,” chief diversity officer Melonie Parker said in the blog post today. “We won’t implement every idea that our employees (or the outside world) raise, but we always listen, and we consider constructive feedback.”