Harassed by colleagues while working from home, Google employees are frustrated with the company’s irresponsible behavior.
Share with Business Insider , Saki (character name changed) accused Google of not resolving her complaint about being harassed by a male colleague from March to September 2020. This is the time when the Google office in Tokyo (Japan) switched to working from home due to the impact of the epidemic. In an email to Saki, a representative of Google’s human resources department said that the harassment took place outside of the workplace, not under the management of the company. However, Saki claimed to be harassed by colleagues while working remotely according to Google’s guidelines. “I’m completely disappointed… I don’t know what it would be like to work in an office,” admits Saki has difficulty reporting the inadequacies of working from home. Instigating texting when married Saki’s story was shared after 500 employees of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, simultaneously signed a request to stop covering up employees accused of harassing colleagues in April. Some documents shared by Saki for Business Insider including screenshots of messages between her and male co-workers, a copy of the complaint email sent to Google’s human resources department in Tokyo, and a statement from two friends of Saki. Saki joined Google in December 2019. Immediately after joining the job, she received a message from a colleague she had never met via LinkedIn. During the first week, the man offered Saki a drink. “I just want to talk about work,” he texted Saki. Google has faced many accusations of irresponsibility when it comes to dealing with employees who have been sexually harassed. Photo: The Guardian. A few weeks later, her colleague flirted with her by texting: “I find you very attractive… You are so beautiful in white. Come out for a drink with me.” Although Saki said that she was busy, this person still wanted to meet. By January 2020, Japan recorded the first case of infection. Both accepted to date in the context of the outbreak of the pandemic. However, only a month later, Saki discovered that the other colleague was married. Wanting to cut ties as soon as she knew the truth, Saki decided to video call Google’s human resources department to discuss. Through his lawyer, the male colleague confirmed that the “serious” relationship with Saki only started after he revealed he was married. However, records show that Saki called human resources on March 1, as soon as she learned that the man who flirted with her was married. Employees harassed for months, Google still “ignored” Recounting the meeting, Saki said the Google representative cited the policy of accepting relationships between two employees in the workplace, as long as one is not a senior of the other. According to Google, the incident described by Saki mainly took place at home, not the office, so it is not considered a workplace problem. “They said to me: ‘He’s not your boss. You also agreed to date so that’s your private matter'”, Saki said that Google considers this relationship a private matter, so it refuses to resolve it. . For the next several months, the male colleague continued to text Saki regularly even though she wanted to cut off the relationship. “I am very happy to meet you. I am always excited every time we meet. Hearing your voice makes me happy all day” is the content of the message he sent to Saki on April 4, 2020. Saki did not reply to the message. Google believes that employee harassment occurred at home, so it declined to investigate. Photo: Bloomberg. “I want to go for a walk with you,” a colleague texted Saki on May 8, 2020. 9 days later, another text message read: “You may be out of interest or not like me anymore, but I’ve been thinking about this relationship… I’d be happy if we could just go for a walk and talk about everything. “. For many months, the man repeatedly wanted to see Saki during working hours, although she repeatedly refused. “I don’t want to be the third person. I don’t want to see your face, we have nothing to say,” Saki replied to a colleague in June 2020. When Google announced that most of its employees would work from home through the end of 2020, the alleged harassing co-worker regularly visited Saki’s house without being invited. In the first time on July 10, 2020, Saki refused when he wanted to come to the house, but received the response “I’m in a taxi”. After being bothered many times, Saki decided to video call the HR department for the second time in September 2020. However, despite the “obsessive” harassment actions, the Google representative still insisted that it was a consensual relationship, a private matter, so he refused to investigate. “Neither of you have the right to impose others in the company. Therefore, we still maintain that this is a personal matter. I understand this is a difficult situation, but we ask for your understanding for the company. does not have the right to interfere in the personal affairs of employees”, the Google representative continued that it was an incident at Saki’s house, so there was no responsibility to solve it. Saki did not accept the above response because like millions of others, Saki’s home became a workplace for the whole of 2020. Not long after Saki’s second complaint, this man left Google to go to another technology company for unknown reasons. “I have to acknowledge his existence from time to time because our fields of work are similar… I still feel threatened on a regular basis,” Saki said, adding that she was still worried by the person continuing. continue to work in a technology company. Tired of the irresponsible handling of the human resources team at Google, Saki decided to leave the company in January 2021. According to research by Open Democracy, working from home has “provided an opportunity for bad guys to threaten, intimidate and abuse women”. Photo: AP. Does working from home facilitate harassment? Reply Business Insider A Google representative declined to comment on Saki’s allegations, but asserted that local policy “clearly prohibits harassment in the workplace”. “We investigate all allegations and will take decisive action if an employee is found to be in violation,” a Google spokesperson declined to answer a question when asked if the harassment policy was updated in the wake of the outbreak. not yet. The nature of sexual harassment in the workplace has changed after the epidemic. According to research by Open Democracy, working from home has “provided an opportunity for bad guys to threaten, intimidate and abuse women”. Although there is still very little research, experts around the world confirm that many companies have failed to adjust their policies. “In the world of remote work, harassment must be reconsidered. People can be harassed via text messages, comments and videos. That’s why it’s important to HR and public leaders. The company is about raising awareness, increasing training and opening up a safe psychological space for employees to speak up,” shared Josh Bersin, founder of HR consulting firm Bersin Academy. Inside Google’s $13 Billion Data Center In February 2019, Google announced that it would build more data centers in North America. This creates thousands of jobs and expands office space and data centers.
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