C. Recommendations and Conclusion
I. Suggest changes to improve Google's approach
1. Implementing blind hiring practices
Blind hiring is a process used to block out a job candidate’s personal information that could influence or “bias” a hiring decision. Bias can present itself in many ways - both unconscious and conscious - and research says that bias can occur as early as the initial resume-screening phase. This is why leaders are looking for new ways to breathe diversity and inclusion into the hiring process and across the employee roster.
Blind hiring hides or “blinds” resume details like a candidate’s name, college, address, hobbies, or graduation year. These details can allude to someone’s gender identity, race, religion, or socioeconomic background and potentially influence a hiring decision. Instead, recruiters or hiring managers focus on the candidate’s skills or prior work experience and how it pertains to the job. By evaluating candidates on their relevant work experience only, the goal is to reduce bias throughout the hiring process.
Left unchecked, biases can impact or shape a company's culture, engagement, and even bottom line. There are many reasons why Google should choose to tackle this head-on and diversify their teams. Here are just a few of the benefits of having a diverse team:
Increase in profits: Companies with “above-average diversity” have 19% higher revenues.
Improved productivity: Diverse teams deliver 60% better results.
Builds trust across Google’s team: Diversity practices are directly linked to levels of employee engagement, trust, and value.
Attracts top talent: Over 85% of millennials prioritise working for a business that conducts itself ethically and responsibly.
While no process is perfect, if Google is looking to promote diversity or reduce bias in the company hiring process, blind hiring can be the first step.
If Google has the budget to invest in an HR resource or tool, below are some options:
Blendoor: Obscures the names and photos of candidates to combat unconscious bias and facilitate diversity recruiting in tech companies.
Textio: Assesses company’s job descriptions, highlights problematic phrasing, and offers recommendations to help Google attract diverse and qualified candidates.
If there is a small, yet mighty team that doesn’t want to spend extra funds on a tool, there are easy ways to implement blind hiring practises yourself. Below are a few simple methods to consider:
Filter out with a spreadsheet: Hiring managers can pull data into a spreadsheet and simply filter out specific details.
Customise company’s application: Create a standardised application for applicants to include just their relevant skills or experience.
Based on hiring practices, recruiters at Google probably won't be subjectively judged based on a candidate's gender alone. Instead, they will look at the skills, experience and ability to contribute to the company that the candidate brings. Therefore, Google should soon include this recruitment method in its recruitment process to solve a small part of the problem of gender discrimination that is happening a lot at its company.
2. Increasing transparency around promotion and compensation decisions
In general, workplace transparency is a philosophy of sharing information freely in an effort to benefit the organisation and its people. That could mean executives sharing company information with the whole team, or individual teammates sharing feedback with each other. It can go even further and involve what company’s organisation communicates to candidates, customers, and the public.
If company values and internal communications define the "why" behind transparency, some areas where best practices can create a very positive impact include:
Recruiting and hiring: There are ways to create transparency throughout the entire recruiting and hiring process, all of which will benefit an organisation. Detailed, accurate job descriptions, timely and honest communication from recruiters, and open discussion between collaborators during the interview process, are all examples of good transparency. Google could also include the salary range in the job posting, as one study found it to be the most important aspect of a job ad to candidates. Transparency translates to faster, more accurate hires, and an improved employer brand.
Performance management and career development: One way BambooHR has encouraged transparency in performance management reviews is by separating reviews from their traditional ties to promotions and salary increases. Shorter, more frequent evaluations allow managers and employees to remain in the moment, and discuss current projects, rather than judging an entire year's performance in one agonisingly long review. Google can also include peer evaluations, which offer insights at the ground level that might be hard for a supervisor to see when they're managing an entire department. These factors create a more transparent, and less intimidating review process that's been shown to boost employee engagement.
Company performance and goal-setting: It can be difficult to convince executives to pull back the curtain on company numbers, and how they make big decisions. However, being open with employees about the company's performance and future plans prevents speculation, keeps anxiety levels low, and can even offer an increased sense of ownership and trust. All of those are hallmarks of a highly engaged workforce, and it's no secret that engagement directly impacts the bottom line.
Group projects: Whether between two partners or multiple departments, transparency in group projects is essential, even for small organisations. Google can encourage this type of transparency by implementing good processes and formalising feedback. Project managers should feel responsible not just for scheduling, but also for setting and maintaining high expectations at every stage of a project. Stakeholders and service providers alike may need some time and education to begin collaborating more effectively, but the improvement in quality and the reduction in shoulder-tap requests should convince all parties that the outcomes are worth the effort.
Benefits of workplace transparency:
Encourages communication and sharing: When employees see how open and communicative upper management is with their entire organisation, they'll also feel empowered to share . This could mean sharing innovative ideas, new processes to improve workflows, or feedback during performance reviews. Companies thrive when their workforce trusts that they can safely be empowered to share forward new ideas and feedback.
Better employee engagement and happiness: A transparent workplace recognises their people's hard work and successes, and builds trust among management and employees, which in turn, leads to happier, more engaged workers. Engaged and happy workers can only benefit a company's bottom line.
Stronger workplace culture and values: When Google makes an active effort to share knowledge across the organisation, it's demonstrating that management trusts, respects, and values employees at all levels. Leaders are responsible for setting the precedent that transparency is valuable, and expected across the entire organisation.
Better customer relations: All of the above benefits translate into better customer relations , because Google’s staff will care about the company's performance. Employees who feel trusted and respected will want their organisation to thrive.
→ Often people will think and assume that men will be better and can advance to higher positions in a company. Since then, when there are evaluations and ratings of work capacity, sometimes sales and results are the same, but when it comes to salary increases or moving to another position, sometimes men will be given priority. more advanced. Therefore, Google should apply workplace transparency in the company to ensure fairness for all employees. From there, it also avoids cases of gender discrimination that have been happening in the company.
3. Conducting regular diversity and inclusion assessment
Conducting regular diversity and inclusion assessments involves evaluating an organisation's current status and progress toward diversity and inclusion goals. This process helps to identify specific challenges, problem areas, and employee sentiments related to diversity and inclusion. An effective diversity, equity, and inclusion audit is designed to assess the current state of an organisation concerning a broad spectrum of diversity and inclusion issues, including race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and age.
Conducting regular diversity and inclusion assessments involves a systematic and ongoing evaluation of an organisation's efforts to create an inclusive workplace that values and respects diversity. These assessments typically involve collecting and analysing data on various diversity metrics, such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability, and other characteristics, and measuring progress toward diversity and inclusion goals.
The assessment process can take different forms depending on the organisation's goals and needs. For example, it can include employee surveys, focus groups, interviews, and data analysis to identify areas where the organisation needs to improve its diversity and inclusion efforts. It can also involve reviewing policies and practices to ensure they are inclusive and equitable.
The effectiveness of conducting the assessment:
Regular diversity and inclusion assessments can help reduce gender discrimination at Google and other organisations by providing a framework for identifying and addressing areas of bias and inequality. By collecting data on workforce demographics, employee experiences, and workplace culture, organisations can gain insights into the specific areas where diversity and inclusion efforts are needed.
Assessments can also help to track progress over time, allowing organisations to evaluate the effectiveness of their diversity and inclusion initiatives and make necessary adjustments. For example, if an assessment reveals that women are underrepresented in leadership positions at Google, the company can develop targeted programs to provide training and mentorship opportunities for female employees to help them advance in their careers.
Moreover, conducting regular assessments can help to increase transparency and accountability around diversity and inclusion efforts. By publicly sharing the results of assessments, organisations can demonstrate their commitment to creating a more equitable and inclusive workplace, and hold themselves accountable to their goals and commitments.
A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that companies that conducted regular diversity and inclusion assessments were more likely to see an increase in diversity in leadership positions. Another study published in the Journal of Business and Psychology found that conducting a diversity and inclusion assessment was associated with higher levels of job satisfaction among employees, especially among women and minorities.
Overall, conducting regular diversity and inclusion assessments is a proactive approach that can help organisations identify and address areas of gender discrimination and other forms of bias. By committing to ongoing assessments and taking action based on the insights gained, organisations can create a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture where all employees can thrive.
II. Conclusion
A common trend among big technology companies in The Silicon Valley in general, and specifically at Google is that males are more involved in the labour market than females. The statistics have stated that there are more male workers than females and their salary is much higher. Besides, female Googlers frequently have some problems in workplaces due to their gender. These problems are various: low opportunities for career promotion, dress code, bad attitude, work restrictions, etc…
Gender discrimination in the workplace has negatively impacted on the performance of the company itself both directly and indirectly. This vice is also against human rights as human conscience is applied more at work and not just instinct.
There are a number of contributing factors to this rising problem, from surface level such as lack of diversity, the difference in pay between two genders; to deep level such as people’s perception. Therefore it is important to resolve this problem of gender discrimination from the core, which is how each employee sees their female counterparts.
In order to solve gender inequality in this company, Google has implemented some management tools such as policies, training programs, support groups, etc… These measures appear to be effective, since they have created a culture where all employees feel empowered and have a strong sense of belonging. This essay has also stated some recommendations for Google in order to minimise cases of gender discrimination in the future.
In conclusion, gender inequality is obviously an urgent problem in the world. Despite the fact that its volume decreases, it still exists and makes a lot of people suffer its consequences every day. And there are many reasons leading to gender discrimination which cannot be solved easily. However, with education and progressive thoughts of people, there are also reasons to trust in the future of gender inequality being stopped. Then, hopefully, people can live in fairness no matter what gender they are.