The company apologized for its wrongs, changed some of its policies related to sexual harassment, and promised to make it simpler for its employees to report misconduct. They say employees are still retaliated against after reporting their bosses for bad behavior, and that overall the trust between the company and the rank-and-file has deteriorated.
But the walkout accomplished something else: Today, Google employees are more willing than ever to be openly critical of leadership even on controversial issues such as immigration and unionization and they know they will have a loud chorus of support on their side. Despite Googles attempts to move on, employee dissent on issues ranging from controversial government contracts to business in China remains a big, and growing, problem for the company.
Just last week, employees in Zurich defied management to hold a meeting on unionization that Google had unsuccessfully attempted to cancel, as Recode first reported. A few days later, employees in the US expressed outrage both internally at an all-hands and to the press over a report that Miles Taylor, a recent Google public policy leadership hire, had advocated for the presidents family separation policy and the Muslim travel ban during his time working at the Department of Homeland Security.And last Wednesday, employees publicly accused the company of using a browser extension to spy on employees who are internally organizing.
Meanwhile, management has tried to quell the dissent and its associated issues by cracking down on Googles famously open work culture.
The biggest legacy is the culture shift of people realizing they can be active agents in their own destinies instead of just passive subjects of the powers that be.
Original article