Defining Corporate Culture: Google Takes A Stand

The recent events in Charlottesville have prompted companies, from small startups to Fortune 500s, to reflect on their core values and how they apply them in practice. This blog is the first in a series spotlighting organizations that have had to make tough decisions about their values. Today, we focus on the controversy surrounding a memo written by a Google employee.

This past week, the tech giant fired an engineer who penned a controversial memo criticizing the company's diversity efforts and questioning the role of women in the workplace. The memo quickly spread internally and then went viral, leading to a massive PR issue for Google. The timing is especially problematic for the company, which has been facing scrutiny over gender discrimination. As TechCrunch noted, "The timing of the saga is not good for Google, which was hit by a lawsuit in January to obtain compensation data, ending up with a snafu over gender pay discrimination."

If Google is serious about addressing gender discrimination, it has a lot of challenging work ahead. To achieve meaningful change, companies must communicate their values consistently to employees and take a firm stance when those values are compromised.

However, these efforts will likely fall short without a systematic approach to hiring individuals aligned with the company’s values and mission. Building a strong corporate culture is difficult enough when employees agree on core principles; it becomes nearly impossible when they don’t.

For organizations committed to their mission statements being more than just marketing jargon, decisions like Google’s recent one are necessary. The backlash Google faced was amplified because it failed to convince both the public and its own employees of its genuine commitment to these values. Focusing on candidates' character, in addition to job experience, can help prevent future hires who might harm company culture or spark a media scandal.