Google unwinders the diversity goals, citing Trump's orders

Google tried for years to diversify its workforce, saying that it would hire and promote more women and people of racial minorities.

On Wednesday, the company abandoned the diversity objectives of employees, saying that, as a federal contractor, it had to comply with the executive orders of President Trump that oppose the diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

In 2020, Google announced the objective of increasing the number of people from underrepresented groups in its leadership team by 30 percent in five years.

“In the future we will no longer have aspirational objectives,” said Fiona Cicconi, director of people from Google, in questions and answers that was sent by email to employees and seen by the New York Times.

A Google spokeswoman said the company was “committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities” and that he had been reviewing his programs during the last year. Email was <a target="_blank" class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/google-kills-diversity-hiring-targets-04433d7c?mod=hp_lead_pos1″ title=”” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>previously reported For the Wall Street Journal.

Like other technological giants, Google responded to a violent reaction of Dei reinforced by Trump's electoral victory. Meta, owner of facebook and instagram, has eliminated many of its diversity teams, while amazon has been reviewing its Dei programs.

January 22, Mr. Trump signed an executive order Instructing federal contractors who do not participate in Dei, which described as “illegal discrimination.” Through its arm that computes the cloud, Google provides technological services to the federal government.

Google has also begun a review of Dei that could result in the reduction of additional programs and initiatives of the company, said Mrs. Cicconi in email.

The company “will carefully evaluate programs, training and initiatives” and will update them as necessary, “he said. The company will consider whether some of them” increase the risk “or” are not as shocking as we expected. “

Google reported last year That 5.7 percent of its workforce was black, compared to 3.7 percent in 2020. And 7.5 percent of its employees were Hispanics or Latinos, compared to 5.9 percent in 2020.

After the murder of George Floyd and later protests in 2020, Google was one of the many companies in the United States that promised to hire and promote more black and Latin workers. Part of Google's approach Improving representation was to expand its offices in cities such as Atlanta and Washington.

On Wednesday, Mrs. Cicconi said the company would continue to invest in places outside California and New York, and that the company would also hire in many countries worldwide. He added that the company would continue to have employee resources groups in which similar origins workers can convene.

“We have always promised to create a workplace where we hire the best people wherever we operate, we create an environment where everyone can prosper and treat everyone fairly,” said Cicconi. “That is exactly what you can expect to see in the future.”