News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai by visarga on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @07:01AM (#14956498)
When calling it a "code of conduct" does it refer to concrete actions, or just expressing opinions? Other than speech, what was the violation here? Restricting free speech by threat of firing is the solution everyone is applauding? Apparently Google is declaring an attitude in opposition to what they did: "many points raised in the memo ... are important topics. The author had a right to express their views on those topics...". But got fired as a result.
Re:Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai by cdubzzz on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @07:22AM (#14956615)
Speech is action and just as capable of breaking any rule or code as physical action. Free speech is also not really relevant here as it has to do with the government's inability to restrict speech.

I think it is certainly a very fine line to walk and people (including Google employees) will definitely see it in a lot of different ways. But, reading this as an outsider, the note appears to me to address the situation very directly and conveys a real sense of urgency (more so than I have ever seen from any of my employers, at least).

Re:Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai by tchaffee on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @10:58AM (#14958444)
Expressing opinions that make employees feel less adequate due to their gender is a violation of the CoC. I applaud restricting that kind of speech, as do most companies. At some companies the motivation might be strictly legal, but regardless of the motivation you're going to get fired if you open the company up to future gender discrimination lawsuits.

"many points raised in the memo ... are important topics."

So what? Other points were a violation of the CoC. Goodbye, good luck, see you around the campus!

Re:Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai by Caveman_Coder on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @08:26PM (#14964388)
So I'd expect every employee posting "The Future is Female" or "#YesAllMen" or something on Memegen/Eng-Misc to be fired as well...but that is not going to happen.
Re:Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai by tchaffee on Wednesday August 09, 2017 @12:18PM (#14970792)
> but that is not going to happen.

At every company in the world. You aren't seriously expecting a company code of conduct to be applied fairly in some sort of scientifically measurable way? The code of conduct is there to protect against the worst types of behavior, and plenty of bad behavior will slip under the radar. So what? It's not meant to create some sort of utopian workplace. It's meant to create a better workplace for those who have historically been discriminated against. So far, it looks like it has come in handy at least once in a very public way.