Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Black at Google’

Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by SolaceQuantum on Friday August 16, 2019 @02:35PM (#20718159)

"... a return to a professionalized work environment, one in which sociopolitical and personal opinions are kept to oneself and the focus is purely on the work."

Forgive me but: When was this ever the case in the work environment?

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by prepend on Friday August 16, 2019 @07:37PM (#20720724)

It’s been that way in every company I’ve worked for 25 years. I’ve never known my bosses’ religion or political beliefs.

I’ve never had a political discussion at work.

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by keiferski on Friday August 16, 2019 @02:41PM (#20718225)

Well, I don’t have firsthand experience but I imagine most “traditional” industries don’t have issues mentioned above very often. It doesn’t seem to me that insurance companies or bread manufacturers have problems with their employees getting entangled in the culture war.

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by SolaceQuantum on Friday August 16, 2019 @02:53PM (#20718371)

"I imagine most “traditional” industries don’t have issues mentioned above very often."

Finance is a well-known boys' club. Law? How could insurance companies not have the same issues, given that redlining and offering different rates to different races was only made illegal a few decades ago?

Are you sure pastry and bakeries don't have culture war issues? I was under the impression there's been plenty of culinary debate where chefs with the greatest respect were always male chefs.

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by keiferski on Friday August 16, 2019 @03:07PM (#20718541)

I’m making a distinction between “political issues are constantly discussed and encouraged in the workplace” and “political issues exist in the field.” The culinary field may have its own sociopolitical issues, but they certainly aren’t discussed often in the workplace, largely because there simply is too much work to do for the job.

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by SolaceQuantum on Friday August 16, 2019 @03:12PM (#20718612)

"The culinary field may have its own sociopolitical issues, but they certainly aren’t discussed often in the workplace, largely because there simply is too much work to do for the job."

Are you certain about this? I was under the impression that kitchens had a large reputation for foul-mouth, offensive behavior and attitudes, including along political lines.

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Re:Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Bl... by keiferski on Friday August 16, 2019 @03:22PM (#20718736)

I have spent a considerable amount of time working in kitchens. Of course there are foul mouths and bad attitudes. But it’s fundamentally a sort of blue collar job, one in which you have to do the work or you’re gone. The harsh language has nothing to do with race or class or anything typically talked about in technology companies. It’s far more meritocratic in a skills-based way than most industries IMO.

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