Ex-recruiter accuses google of hiring discrimination

[amberlyrose]

Against White and Asian Men:

The lawsuit alleges that for several quarters Google would not make employment offers for technical positions to applicants “who were not ‘diverse.’"


"A former recruiter for Google is suing the tech company alleging it used discriminatory hiring practices that put whites and Asians at a disadvantage to other groups — and that it fired him after he complained about it.



Arne Wilberg, who filed the lawsuit in late January in California Superior Court in San Mateo County, claims that Google carried out policies for the past several years “reflected in multiple bulletins, memorandum, charts and other documents” that favored Hispanic, African-American and female job applicants and were against white and Asian men, according to his lawsuit."

www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/ex-recruiter-accuses-google-hiring-discrimination-against-white-asian-men-n853601



I work in diversity recruiting, so this has been a topic of conversation in my circles. 

[iammalcolmx]

Whoa

[rjamz]

I mean...if two applicants are equally qualified and able to do the job and they had a policy of offering to the non white man? Ok.

[rjamz]

I guess if his allegation that they immediately didn’t even consider white male applicants is true, then that’s probably an issue. I guess. I just can’t bring myself to feel bad about that.

This sounds like the spoiled rich kids in my high school who whined about affirmative action, even after they got their legacy spots at Ivy League schools.

[aurora]

I read the article and am still a bit confused about what they did. If they actually purged all white men from their potential hire list without further consideration that sounds like it could be discriminatory. (I am not a lawyer and don't work in HR.)

[WOT?*]

If he was told to not even consider/purge white and Asian male applicants then maybe he has a case. But Google has a 31% female staff (and that would likely include roles like the daycare, cafeteria, housekeeping, etc.) and 24% managerial (per an NPR article) and they are trying to equalize an imbalance in tech (a la University of Michigan/Grutter v Bollinger/Affirmative Action/quotas.) I've got to give Google that - they're trying something. But they should at least *consider* white and Asian males to make it look legit, if nothing else. Doesn't mean they have to hire any.

I found a copy of the complaint. He's also alleging retaliation and hostile work environment.

www.scribd.com/document/372802863/18-CIV-00442-ARNE-WILBERG-vs-GOOGLE-INC-et-al

My heart doesn't break all that much for good old Arne.

[cookiemdough]

fortune.com/2017/06/29/google-2017-diversity-report/

[lahoagie]

Mar 13, 2018 17:12:54 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

fortune.com/2017/06/29/google-2017-diversity-report/

Based on this alone the case should be thrown out. 91% white or Asian and there is a discrimination problem against them? Shut up.

[aurora]

I want to be very clear that I am strongly in favor of using affirmative action in hiring; in my post above, I was merely trying to understand the specific mechanism he was complaining about and whether that would be legal.

[goldengirlz]

Mar 13, 2018 17:06:35 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

If he was told to not even consider/purge white and Asian male applicants then maybe he has a case. But Google has a 31% female staff (and that would likely include roles like the daycare, cafeteria, housekeeping, etc.) and 24% managerial (per an NPR article) and they are trying to equalize an imbalance in tech (a la University of Michigan/Grutter v Bollinger/Affirmative Action/quotas.) I've got to give Google that - they're trying something. But they should at least *consider* white and Asian males to make it look legit, if nothing else. Doesn't mean they have to hire any.

I found a copy of the complaint. He's also alleging retaliation and hostile work environment.

www.scribd.com/document/372802863/18-CIV-00442-ARNE-WILBERG-vs-GOOGLE-INC-et-al

My heart doesn't break all that much for good old Arne.

I don’t think “staff” would include those types of support roles (those are either vendors or contractors and they even have separate ID badges) but it would include PR, marketing, HR, executive assistants, etc.

Anyway, I posted about this in the white flight thread, but there’s been a lot of grumbling about Silicon Valley’s heyday coming to end because it’s not embracing “controversial” thoughts or diversity of ideas. And it’s such bullshit. It’s the sniveling of entitled white dudes. I’m not a lawyer so I have no idea how this will play out (and the current SCOTUS doesn’t give me much hope) but I hope this case lands in Google’s favor.

[glw]

I've always felt uncomfortable with the resume-sorting instructions I was given at my former job at a private college (I did not work in HR). I was told to put any "diverse looking" resumes into a yes pile, and then all the others would be reviewed by HR. And what constituted a "diverse looking"candidate? An HBCU graduate, a "foreign-sounding name", all kinds of really arbitrary stuff... Often we'd get a white female candidate whose married name was Asian, and then I'd get scolded for wasting the President's time interviewing her. Of course I wanted to support making our administration less white & male, but there must be better ways to do that.

[msmerymac]

Wait, Google doesn't have ENOUGH white and Asian men on staff? 

[downtoearth]

I am all for diversity hiring and especially in tech where you then inadvertently program bias into the technology we use, but I also wonder if you're not getting enough technical/programming applicants of diverse backgrounds and different races that you don't then just ignore good candidates.

And this complaint from the article strikes me as odd:

"The team was also allegedly instructed to “purge entirely any applications by non-diverse employees from the hiring pipeline,” a request with which Wilberg said in his lawsuit he did not comply."

I can't imagine any HR policy on diversity hiring saying "purge entirely non-diverse candidates. Is it weird that I am I feeling skeptical about that statement and these concerns? I have never worked at a huge corporation, but the diversity hiring practices and programs are typically written by pretty smart people and lawyers, right?

[cookiemdough]

Mar 14, 2018 8:53:41 GMT -5 glw said:

I've always felt uncomfortable with the resume-sorting instructions I was given at my former job at a private college (I did not work in HR). I was told to put any "diverse looking" resumes into a yes pile, and then all the others would be reviewed by HR. And what constituted a "diverse looking"candidate? An HBCU graduate, a "foreign-sounding name", all kinds of really arbitrary stuff... Often we'd get a white female candidate whose married name was Asian, and then I'd get scolded for wasting the President's time interviewing her. Of course I wanted to support making our administration less white & male, but there must be better ways to do that.

Yes, consciously trying to diversify an organization is uncomfortable. But unfortunately people don’t want to spend the time fixing the unconscious bias of their actions that make organizations less diverse in the first place.

What better ways do you think can do that? Did you pitch diversity training for all hiring professionals? Did you go through unconscious bias training or pitch it as a way actively remove barriers that may stand in the way of a diverse workforce?

[GilliC]

I had my annual performance appraisal yesterday, and for “Diversity” I was marked as “Satisfactory” (basically “2” on a 1-4 scale). LOL. Only 4% of the people in my role are women. And of the 8 engineers on our team, 6 of them are white Norwegian men in their 40s-50s. I give up.

ETA - And this is a company that likes to brag about the diversity of its workforce and number of nationalities represented.

[UMaineTeach]

Mar 14, 2018 12:56:58 GMT -5 GilliC said:

I had my annual performance appraisal yesterday, and for “Diversity” I was marked as “Satisfactory” (basically “2” on a 1-4 scale). LOL. Only 4% of the people in my role are women. And of the 8 engineers on our team, 6 of them are white Norwegian men in their 40s-50s. I give up.

ETA - And this is a company that likes to brag about the diversity of its workforce and number of nationalities represented.

Seems super awkward to rate individuals on their diversity. Maybe if you hire for a team, they can check your diversity hiring stats vs others who hire for teams vs the company as a whole.

But to be like, sure you’re a woman , by if you could try to be more black, with a side of Muslim, and try out a disability that’d be greaaat.

WTF

[raangoli]

Mar 14, 2018 13:04:49 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

Mar 14, 2018 12:56:58 GMT -5 GilliC said:

I had my annual performance appraisal yesterday, and for “Diversity” I was marked as “Satisfactory” (basically “2” on a 1-4 scale). LOL. Only 4% of the people in my role are women. And of the 8 engineers on our team, 6 of them are white Norwegian men in their 40s-50s. I give up.

ETA - And this is a company that likes to brag about the diversity of its workforce and number of nationalities represented.

Seems super awkward to rate individuals on their diversity. Maybe if you hire for a team, they can check your diversity hiring stats vs others who hire for teams vs the company as a whole.

But to be like, sure you’re a woman , by if you could try to be more black, with a side of Muslim, and try out a disability that’d be greaaat.

WTF

I've been trying to figure this one out as well. You can't change yourself to become more diverse. You are who you are. Or is the rating based on the make up of her team which doesn't sound diverse at all. 

[glw]

Mar 14, 2018 12:35:41 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Mar 14, 2018 8:53:41 GMT -5 glw said:

I've always felt uncomfortable with the resume-sorting instructions I was given at my former job at a private college (I did not work in HR). I was told to put any "diverse looking" resumes into a yes pile, and then all the others would be reviewed by HR. And what constituted a "diverse looking"candidate? An HBCU graduate, a "foreign-sounding name", all kinds of really arbitrary stuff... Often we'd get a white female candidate whose married name was Asian, and then I'd get scolded for wasting the President's time interviewing her. Of course I wanted to support making our administration less white & male, but there must be better ways to do that.

Yes, consciously trying to diversify an organization is uncomfortable. But unfortunately people don’t want to spend the time fixing the unconscious bias of their actions that make organizations less diverse in the first place.

What better ways do you think can do that? Did you pitch diversity training for all hiring professionals? Did you go through unconscious bias training or pitch it as a way actively remove barriers that may stand in the way of a diverse workforce?

As far as I know, they haven't done any of that (I don't work there anymore). I think even just sorting all resumes into "looks like a good fit for the position" and "not" and then focusing on hiring a diverse candidate when you have actually seen the person would be better than handing your EA a stack of resumes and saying "pull out anyone who is probably not white based on their name." It doesn't seem effective and also relies on racial stereotyping. A black Jane Smith was not going in that yes pile. 

ETA: I'm not an HR person, so maybe this is actually a legitimate technique of screening resumes. It didn't feel right to me, though. 

[downtoearth]

Mar 14, 2018 12:56:58 GMT -5 GilliC said:

I had my annual performance appraisal yesterday, and for “Diversity” I was marked as “Satisfactory” (basically “2” on a 1-4 scale). LOL. Only 4% of the people in my role are women. And of the 8 engineers on our team, 6 of them are white Norwegian men in their 40s-50s. I give up.

ETA - And this is a company that likes to brag about the diversity of its workforce and number of nationalities represented.

Wait - are you "satisfactory" at being a diverse person or encompassing diversity measures?  I think someone needs to review your criteria on performance.  That sounds like an inherent bias written into some performance appraisal program to help management find out if they have a diversity problem and should not be a rating that employees or managers give out. If it's really part of a performance review program, then it does sound like tech development needs some diversity training.

[downtoearth]

Mar 14, 2018 13:39:29 GMT -5 glw said:

Mar 14, 2018 12:35:41 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Yes, consciously trying to diversify an organization is uncomfortable. But unfortunately people don’t want to spend the time fixing the unconscious bias of their actions that make organizations less diverse in the first place.

What better ways do you think can do that? Did you pitch diversity training for all hiring professionals? Did you go through unconscious bias training or pitch it as a way actively remove barriers that may stand in the way of a diverse workforce?

As far as I know, they haven't done any of that (I don't work there anymore). I think even just sorting all resumes into "looks like a good fit for the position" and "not" and then focusing on hiring a diverse candidate when you have actually seen the person would be better than handing your EA a stack of resumes and saying "pull out anyone who is probably not white based on their name." It doesn't seem effective and also relies on racial stereotyping. A black Jane Smith was not going in that yes pile. 

This is why I get annoyed at my company when I was helping hire a position. The HR people would do an initial screening, then they would skype-interview about 15 people, then I would get the resumes of about 5 of those 5 to interview. I have never interviewed anyone except white males for technical science/engineering positions. There is some flaw in the process (and very little diversity in my state).  

[cookiemdough]

Mar 14, 2018 13:39:29 GMT -5 glw said:

Mar 14, 2018 12:35:41 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Yes, consciously trying to diversify an organization is uncomfortable. But unfortunately people don’t want to spend the time fixing the unconscious bias of their actions that make organizations less diverse in the first place.

What better ways do you think can do that? Did you pitch diversity training for all hiring professionals? Did you go through unconscious bias training or pitch it as a way actively remove barriers that may stand in the way of a diverse workforce?

As far as I know, they haven't done any of that (I don't work there anymore). I think even just sorting all resumes into "looks like a good fit for the position" and "not" and then focusing on hiring a diverse candidate when you have actually seen the person would be better than handing your EA a stack of resumes and saying "pull out anyone who is probably not white based on their name." It doesn't seem effective and also relies on racial stereotyping. A black Jane Smith was not going in that yes pile. 

ETA: I'm not an HR person, so maybe this is actually a legitimate technique of screening resumes. It didn't feel right to me, though. 

Except that your preferred way completely ignores the fact that people likely are discriminating because people’s bias comes into play in determining “good fit” which is why workplaces struggle with diversity.

[glw]

Mar 14, 2018 14:18:37 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Mar 14, 2018 13:39:29 GMT -5 glw said:

As far as I know, they haven't done any of that (I don't work there anymore). I think even just sorting all resumes into "looks like a good fit for the position" and "not" and then focusing on hiring a diverse candidate when you have actually seen the person would be better than handing your EA a stack of resumes and saying "pull out anyone who is probably not white based on their name." It doesn't seem effective and also relies on racial stereotyping. A black Jane Smith was not going in that yes pile. 

ETA: I'm not an HR person, so maybe this is actually a legitimate technique of screening resumes. It didn't feel right to me, though. 

Except that your preferred way completely ignores the fact that people likely are discriminating because people’s bias comes into play in determining “good fit” which is why workplaces struggle with diversity.

I take no issue with pre-screening based on diversity, I just don't think that a person's name or where they went to college is the best way to determine how "diverse" a candidate is, going on nothing but a resume. 

[GilliC]

I assume that the intent is to rate people on their promotion of diversity, but the whole thing is super unclear. I actively participate in company-wide gender balance discussions, so I really don’t know what the metric is. And it’s up to every manager to define the criteria himself, so i really have no idea. I could have asked, but it would have been a super-awkward conversation, and at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter in the long run.

Oh well.

[msmerymac]

Mar 14, 2018 14:27:33 GMT -5 glw said:

Mar 14, 2018 14:18:37 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Except that your preferred way completely ignores the fact that people likely are discriminating because people’s bias comes into play in determining “good fit” which is why workplaces struggle with diversity.

I take no issue with pre-screening based on diversity, I just don't think that a person's name or where they went to college is the best way to determine how "diverse" a candidate is, going on nothing but a resume. 

Are you required to only go by a resume? Can you google them? Check their LinkedIn profile for photos and organizations they're involved in?

[glw]

Mar 14, 2018 14:52:25 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Mar 14, 2018 14:27:33 GMT -5 glw said:

I take no issue with pre-screening based on diversity, I just don't think that a person's name or where they went to college is the best way to determine how "diverse" a candidate is, going on nothing but a resume. 

Are you required to only go by a resume? Can you google them? Check their LinkedIn profile for photos and organizations they're involved in?

I mentioned LinkedIn to my boss's boss, who had handed me the stack of resumes to sort, and he said he thought it would probably be a good idea but would take too long.