Google dumps diversity hiring targets
The tech giant joins a growing list of US companies to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, citing it wanted to create more ‘equal opportunities’.
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Google will scrap its diversity and inclusion programs, which sought to employ workers from under-represented communities.
The $US2.35 trillion ($3.74 trillion) company is the latest American tech titan to abandon diversity, equity and inclusion programs in a move to better align itself with the Trump administration.
Donald Trump has launched a crackdown on diversity programs in a whirlwind start to his second term, even blaming the deadliest US air disaster in almost a quarter of a century on DEI.
Google, led by Sundar Pichai, was one of the first tech leaders to congratulate Mr Trump on his victory last year and attended his inauguration last month.
Mr Pichai told staff in an email overnight (Wednesday Australian time) that it had cut its hiring targets surrounding workforce representation.
“We’ll continue to invest in states across the US — and in many countries globally — but in the future we will no longer have aspirational goals,” read the email, obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
“Google has always been committed to creating a workplace where we hire the best people wherever we operate, create an environment where everyone can thrive, and treat everyone fairly.”
The Australian has contacted Google’s local arm, asking how the move will affect its Australian operations. Google Australia continues to boast that it has grown to a “diverse team of over 2000” after starting with one employee in 2002.
“Almost half of the Googlers in Australia support our work in engineering, building and testing products that have scaled to the world, including Google Maps which started in Sydney,” Google says on its website.
“We’re committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we’ve been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there. We’ve updated our 10-k language to reflect this, and as a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic,” a Google spokesperson said on Thursday.
In a statement to Axios, Google said scrapping some of its DEI targets would provide more “equal opportunities”.
“We’re committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we’ve been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there,” it read.
Mr Pichai joined tech heavyweights, including Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and one of Mr Trump’s closest advisers Elon Musk at the US President’s inauguration last month.
The gathering underscored how the pendulum has swung back towards big tech as it emerges as among the biggest winners of Mr Trump’s return to the White House.
Under the Biden administration, Google also faced a pair of Justice Department cases which could break up the company — a move which Mr Trump has expressed reluctance to, saying it was “dangerous” as China seeks to overtake the US in global tech dominance.
The DOJ also has lawsuits against Apple, while the Federal Trade Commission is suing Facebook owner Meta and Amazon — which Mr Trump has all said were “great companies”.
Google’s abandoning of its diversity programs, follows Amazon announcing in December that its DEI efforts were “outdated” and that they would be wound down.
“As part of this evolution, we’ve been winding down outdated programs and materials, and we’re aiming to complete that by the end of 2024,” Amazon vice president of inclusive experience Candi Castleberry said at the time.
Facebook’s owner Meta has taken some of the most dramatic cuts, axing the team responsible for overseeing the company’s diversity efforts.
When Meta announced the changes, the company said “the legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing”.
The move is one of several made by Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg over the past several months, including ending fact-checking, which critics have speculated are part of a bid to appeal to conservatives and get the Trump administration on side.
That was the view of the company’s former Australian and New Zealand chief executive Stephen Scheeler, who described the cuts to face checking as a “political move”.
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