More Than 1,500 Alphabet Employees Want Harassment Policy Changes

SILICON VALLEY, CA — More than 1,500 Alphabet employees have signed onto an open letter addressed to CEO Sundar Pichai, asking the company to change its harassment policies after a former Google employee published an op-ed in the New York Times last week detailing a troubling experience she had at the company involving a harassment complaint.

The employees' letter, published Friday on Medium, called on the Mountain View-based Alphabet — the parent company of Google — to keep harassers from management or leadership positions that have direct reports and for those who have verified harassment claims against them to change teams.

“Alphabet workers deserve the right to work in an environment free from their abusers,” the letter begins. “Alphabet does not provide a safe environment for those who face harassment in the workplace. Even when HR confirms harassment, no action is taken to make the reporter safe.”

Last week, Emi Nietfield, a software engineer who worked at Google from 2015 to 2018, wrote about filing a harassment complaint to the human resources department and having it verified, yet the harasser still sat next to her at work.

“My manager told me H.R. wouldn’t even make him change his desk, let alone work from home or go on leave,” Nietfield wrote in the Times. “He also told me that my harasser received a consequence that was severe and that I would feel better if I could know what it was, but it sure seemed like nothing happened.”

The letter mentions that workers have “raised these issues before,” dating back to a walkout in 2018 when 20,000 Alphabet employees left work to protest sexual harassment following complaints against Andy Rubin, who created Android’s mobile software. Rubin had been asked to resign after a sexual misconduct accusation against him by an employee was found credible, but he was also given a $90 million exit package, according to the Times.

“The person who reports harassment is forced to bear the burden, usually leaving Alphabet while their harasser stays or is rewarded for their behavior,” the letter states.

According to CNET, a Google spokesperson said the company had "made significant improvements to our overall process, including the way we handle and investigate employee concerns, and introducing new care programs for employees who report concerns,” but didn’t address the specific demands stated in the letter.