Human Resource Management at Google: Dealing with Sexual Harassment Complaints

This report provides an overview of the issues related to human resource at Google, including the handling of sexual harassment complaints and the company's pledge to overhaul its policies. It discusses the challenges faced by HR in implementing sexual harassment laws and provides recommendations.

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Human Resource Management
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The aim of the report is to provide an overview of the issues related to human resource at Google
that saw a major employee walkout after claimed of trying to cover the sexual misconduct of the
senior executives. The report commences with the role of the human resource in dealing with the
complaints of the sexual harassment. It also provides an insight into the pledge of Google in
overhauling the policies of sexual harassment after the massive walkout of the employees. There
is also discussion on the challenges faced by HR in implementing the laws of the sexual
harassment followed by recommendations.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Role of Human Resource in Sexual Harassment Complaints.........................................................3
Google’s pledge in Overhauling Sexual Harassment Policies after the Employee Walkout..........6
HR Challenges in the Implementation of Sexual Harassment Laws...............................................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................8
References:......................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
The report aims at providing an insight into human resource management issues at
Google in context of suppressing the allegations of sexual misconduct against its senior
executives and employee walkouts. Amongst the people accused was Google’s Android creator
Andy Rubin who also received a severance package amounting to close to $ US90 million.
However, the company denied the fact by making an announcement about firing of the
employees regarding the inappropriate behavior in relation to sexual harassment. The figures
revealed termination of close to 48 employees in a matter of two years. The CEO in an open
letter to the staffs also mentioned that it was serious about maintaining an inclusive and safe
workplace.
Role of Human Resource in Sexual Harassment Complaints
According to Sarpotdar (2013) there are times when the human resources (HR) remains
challenged between efficiently and efficiently handling the claims of sexual harassment. Most of
the organization has zero tolerance policy for the harassment faced at the workplace. And
Google being a reputed organization has been no different. It however becomes difficult for the
HR in properly managing the complaints when they such problems are not reported. In most of
the cases the fear of firing, retaliation and embarrassment stops the victim from reporting such
complaints. Employees who come forward to with the complaints irrespective of the
consequences should be encouraged and appreciate. The HR manager should also take a step
forward in empathizing with the situations of the employees (Mainiero & Jones, 2013).

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It is believed that the human resources experts act as the protectors of not only the
company culture but also the purveyors of corporate consciousness irrespective of the companies
they work for. The life cycle of each of the employee begin and end with tdepartmeny (Ulrich &
Dulebohn, 2015). If the HR professionals do a good job in overseeing the consciousness and
culture of organization then the employees should not file a complaint during the tenure of the
employment within company. In case there is a problem then it is the duty of the HR department
to consider each complaint seriously irrespective of source. These cases are often out of the
immediate areas of responsibility of HR department and are encountered in one or two cases in
the entire career of the HR professional. These rare situations should therefore be seriously dealt
by the HR department by redirecting employee to appropriate department or helping them in
strategizing the reasonable solution. It is very necessary to provide the employees with a
comfortable ambience along with the creation of the field that they are heard. If the HR
professionals are able to ensure successful management then most of the complaints are resolved
in a much quicker manner.
The first thing that the HR professional needs to do is to increase the diversity in the
positions of the power and the influence of all the industries (McDonald, Charleswort & Graham,
2015). The HR professionals are now experiencing a paradigm shift with the removal of the
several leaders followed by more in the future. These professionals now remain in a position of
leading the conversations around inclusion, diversity and all kinds of workplace harassment. The
efforts necessities in moving beyond and above the standard of annual training Open and honest
dialogue mediated by the HR professionals between the male and the female employees should
take place immediately without the concerns of any classification.
The action steps of the HR professionals are as follows (Jekiel, 2016):

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 Letting the women workers know that the HR department will provide them with
complete support provided they face any kind of workplace harassment. The HR
professionals should try and understand how such experience has influenced their self
esteem, performance or career path. They should also ask for recommendations on how
they can perform better within the workplace.
 The HR professionals should also guide the women workers for speaking up whenever
the male counterpart makes disparaging, disrespectful or insensitive comments. It is
necessary not to laugh nor nodding the head or remaining silent. Employees should be
explained how silences equals to agreement. Besides, the female worker should retaliate
and tell the other colleague that his comment is inappropriate and it is necessary to
reconsider his viewpoint regarding the women at the workplace.
 The HR professional also mentioned that they should have the knowledge of the unfair
treatment of the female employee in relation to the parity in the compensation, and
opportunities of the promotions, participation in the team meeting. Besides, they also
mentioned that the women should use of their power and voice for influencing wherever
possible.
 The HR professionals should make the women employees aware that they should not
operate out of any fear. They should stand together and express against any unfair means
at the workplace. Women should rise up to the role of the diverse leaders to fight against
any adversity.
Google’s pledge in Overhauling Sexual Harassment Policies after the Employee Walkout
After the workers of Google walked off the job for protesting against the lenient
treatment of the executives who were accused of the sexual misconduct, the company promised

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to bring about promising change (abc.net.au, 2018). The company vowed in being increasingly
forceful and opens regarding the handling of the sexual misconduct cases. The company
mentioned that it would no longer need the mandatory arbitration of the allegations of the sexual
harassment and will necessitate and provide intricate details about the cases in the internal
reports.
Close to over 20,000 workers of Google discarded the cubicles as a protest against the
past cases of the sexual misconduct where the company not only protected but provided bigger
layouts to the male executives accused of the misconduct (Genner, 2018). The reforms have been
the result of the broader backlash against the exploitation of the men against the female
subordinates. The movement gave rise to the ‘me too’ hashtag as the sign of the unity and call
for the change.
The organizers of the protest claimed that though Google championed inclusion and
diversity but do not do much in putting the words into the action (Syed, 2018). Therefore, in the
unsigned statement received from the organizers, protestors demanded for the end of the forced
arbitration in the discrimination and the harassment cases, a practice which called for the
employees in giving up the right for suing thereby including the confidentiality agreements.
Besides, Google was also expected to not only put an end to the pay equity along with issuance
of a report in the sexual harassment taking place within the organization but also adopting a clear
process for the reporting of complaints.
Google as a walkout for the real change included various policy changes at the tech firm
that included the transparency report of the public disclosure of the sexual harassment and the

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commitment towards ending the payment and the opportunity inequity. The company also
thought of having an employee representative at the Google board.
HR Challenges in the Implementation of Sexual Harassment Laws
Although many HR managers works hard in making the workplace safe for the women
there are many who fails in doing so. The reason behind the failure is that they are neither
provided a budget nor provided training or resource around the sexual harassment (Ineson, Yap
& Whiting, 2013). In most cases the HR professionals are made to implement something that
they do not even understand. Therefore, the hands of the HR managers remains tied due to the
apathy of the management, lack of the tools or the improper allocation of the budget. There exist
no redressal that could compensate the feelings of the victim and hence workplaces like Google
even remain unsafe with massive effect and risk to business. Some of the threats include:
Disruption of the Work Culture: A complaint of sexual harassment when not addressed
in a proper manner leads to the complete disruption of the workplace culture that the HR
manager is trying hard to improve (Bratton & Gold, 2017).
Reduced Loyalty and Goodwill Amongst Employees: Lack of accurate mechanism of
redressal fail to generate employee goodwill
Media Lynching and Distortion of the Public Image: With the presence of social
media it is extremely difficult in controlling the news that makes things a lot uglier thereby
leading to a reduced brand value of the organization (Barak, 2013).
Difficulty in Acquisition of the Talent: Failed redressal on part of the HR manager
makes acquisition of talent difficult in future.

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HR Dilemma in Replacing Senior Management Personnel: When an individual from
the senior management remains accused of sexual misconduct then he becomes a major liability
for the organization (Nkomo & Hoobler, 2014). Besides on suddenly undertaking a replacement
of a higher performing manager or the key employee on the grounds of sexual misconduct would
mean that the company has major problems and the firings can result in major losses and even
the collapse of the verticals.
Recommendations
1. It is recommended to create a policy tailored for the workplace: This HR manager
should not only speak to the experts but also undertake survey and read about law that allows in
getting a practical overview of a particular case.
Take into Account the Seriousness of the Complaint: It is vital for investigating all
accusations even when they seem minor.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be said that immediate HR measures should be taken against
sexual misconduct at the workplace otherwise it would lead to major employee fallout like
Google. The report also portrays that an organization should not under any circumstances try to
cover up any sexual misconduct by the senior management. The report also portrays how HR
should be proactive in dealing with the issues.

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References:
abc.net.au. (2018). Google CEO Sundar Pichai says tech giant has fired dozens of staff for sexual
harassment over past two years. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-
26/google-has-fired-dozens-of-employees-over-sexual-harassment/10432294
Barak, G. (2013). Media, process, and the social construction of crime: Studies in newsmaking
criminology. Routledge.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Genner, M. (2018). Google employees stage mass walkouts. Retrieved from
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/world-news-with-madeleine-
genner/10458568
Ineson, E. M., Yap, M. H., & Whiting, G. (2013). Sexual discrimination and harassment in the
hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 1-9.
Jekiel, C. M. (2016). Lean human resources: redesigning HR processes for a culture of
continuous improvement. Productivity Press.
Mainiero, L. A., & Jones, K. J. (2013). Workplace romance 2.0: Developing a communication
ethics model to address potential sexual harassment from inappropriate social media
contacts between coworkers. Journal of business ethics, 114(2), 367-379.
McDonald, P., Charlesworth, S., & Graham, T. (2015). Developing a framework of effective
prevention and response strategies in workplace sexual harassment. Asia Pacific Journal
of Human Resources, 53(1), 41-58.

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Nkomo, S., & Hoobler, J. M. (2014). A historical perspective on diversity ideologies in the
United States: Reflections on human resource management research and practice. Human
Resource Management Review, 24(3), 245-257.
Sarpotdar, A. (2013). Sexual Harassment of Women: Reflections on the Private
Sector. Economic and Political Weekly, 18-23.
Syed, N. ( 2018). Google's new HR policy to improve toxic culture. Retrieved from
https://www.hrmonline.ca/hr-general-news/googles-new-hr-policy-to-improve-toxic-
culture-244852.aspx
Ulrich, D., & Dulebohn, J. H. (2015). Are we there yet? What's next for HR?. Human Resource
Management Review, 25(2), 188-204.