I read the Google manifesto.
This is why Google decided to fire him.
Google has been sued for gender pay discrepancy. Millions of dollars are at
stake. So Google is doing their very best to show that they treat
their female employees fairly. Google also has to consider their
public image, since more than half of Google′s potential user base
consists of women.
One Google employee wrote a piece
implying that these new practices were the wrong thing to do, and
that there were difference between men and women that make income
inequality inevitable. This was posted as an memo on an internal
Google network, ostensibly where only Google employees would be
likely to read it.
Criticizing company policy where your
coworkers can see it is often a fast-track to getting fired. This
includes statements made on social media, statements made to
journalists, and postings on company bulletin boards. This goes
double for criticizing policy in front of clients and customers.
James Damore′s termination was not
about ideology, it was about the bottom line. Although it is legal to
fire a person for political beliefs, most employers are happy to hire
Democrats, Republicans, independents, and people who don′t vote at
all. Google weighed millions in possible lawsuits and bad PR against
Damore′s contributions to the company. They decided that they were
in no longer need of his services. If keeping a employee is going to
cost a company millions more than what they pay him, they will likely
find a reason to fire him.
Damore is a smart man. He knows how
computers work. He would like us to believe that he is an expert on
human biology and psychology. He probably knew how US corporations
work. He had to have known that publishing this manifesto would get
him both fired and famous. That was probably his plan all along.
Google may have had the legal right to fire Damone and it may have made business sense, but it still strikes me as wrong. It would make me less likely to do business with Google if it were not too late for that. It's too much trouble to give up my Chromebook, Android phone and YouTube. However, I would be tempted to patronize a company that hires Damore.
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