Google CEO sends memo to employees after NYT story on sexual misconduct

Google CEO Sundar
Pichai.
Getty/Justin
Sullivan

In the wake of a bombshell New
York Times story detailing Android creator Andy Rubin’s
departure from Google following a sexual misconduct
investigation, CEO Sundar Pichai sent an email to Alphabet
employees.

In the memo, provided to Business Insider from a Google
spokesperson, Pichai says that the company has fired 48 people
for sexual harassment in the past two years, and claims that none
of them received an exit package. He goes on to say that 13 of
these people were senior managers or above.

Rubin, who’s widely known as the “father of Android,”
was reportedly paid a $90 million exit package when he left
Google in 2014 following allegations of sexual misconduct,
including pressuring a Google employee to perform oral sex on
him, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
The Information reported last year that Google had found
that Rubin was involved in an “inappropriate relationship” with a
subordinate.

The Times reports that while Google and Rubin appeared publicly
to part ways amicably, he still received an exit package even
after Google investigators concluded the allegations against him
were “credible.”

You can read the full memo below sent from Pichai and
Eileen Naughton, VP People Operations:

Hi everyone,

Today’s story in the
New York Times
was difficult to read.

We are dead serious about making sure we provide a safe
and inclusive workplace. We want to assure you that we review
every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate
conduct, we investigate and we take action.

In recent years, we’ve made a number of changes,
including taking an increasingly hard line on inappropriate
conduct by people in positions of authority: in the last two
years, 48 people have been terminated for sexual harassment,
including 13 who were senior managers and above. None of these
individuals received an exit package.

In 2015, we launched Respect@ and our annual Internal
Investigations Report to provide transparency about these types
of investigations at Google.  Because we know that
reporting harassment can be traumatic, we provide confidential
channels to share any inappropriate behavior you experience or
see. We support and respect those who have spoken out. You can
find many ways to do this at go/saysomething. You can make a
report anonymously if you wish.  

We’ve also updated our policy to require all VPs and SVPs
to disclose any relationship with a co-worker regardless of
reporting line or presence of conflict.

We are committed to ensuring that Google is a workplace
where you can feel safe to do your best work, and where there
are serious consequences for anyone who behaves
inappropriately.

Sundar and Eileen