An open letter from the disappointed employees of Alphabet, with over 1,300 signatures, has been sent to Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google, seeking protection against harassment at work. The letter requests Pichai to roll out policies that will offer full protection to those who have been harassed at work and strict action against the accused.
According to the letter, despite 20,000 Alphabet employees staging a walkout to raise their voices against sexual harassment and protection of harassers, conditions have not improved in any way at Alphabet. Harassers continue to occupy managerial positions and face no change in their responsibilities or routines.
The letter mentions the case of a former Google engineer who had complained of harassment and was made to confront the co-worker she had accused in the office, instead of ensuring that she was distanced from him. The harasser in this case was not punished and no action was taken against him at all. The employees have listed names of several harassers within the Company. The letter brought to light the practice of forcing into arbitration the contractual workers, vendors, temporary workers and various employees from Alphabet companies, other than Google.
The staff are demanding that policies be altered to ensure that those accused of sexual harassment be prevented from taking on managerial or team lead roles. They want Pichai to ensure that harassers not be allowed to manage contractors, temporary workers or vendors either, be it in an indirect or direct manner. They seek stricter action against harassers so that the victims do not have to face them following the lodging of complaint and while investigations are underway.
The employees call for prioritisation of staff safety at Alphabet.
