Summary:
A former Google engineer filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming that it "failed to police an out-of-control 'bro culture'" that lead to her being frequently sexually harassed. Loretta Lee worked at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA for 7 years and throughout those years, she was often bullied and touched inappropriately by her male colleagues. They would regularly "spike her drinks with whiskey and laugh about it" and shoot Nerf balls and darts at her on a daily basis. They would send her disturbing messages, show up to her apartment with alcohol asking to help her fix her devices and hide under her desk. When she brought the issue to HR, her male coworkers retaliated by refusing to approve any of her work, which led to her being labeled a "poor performer" and her termination in late 2016. "We dispute the allegations made in Ms. Lee’s complaint. We have strong policies against harassment in the workplace and review every complaint we receive,” a Google spokesperson told The Post. “We take action when we find violations — including termination of employment.”
Questions:
1. Do you think this "bro culture" is apparent in places such as high school as well?
2. What do you think must be done to put an end to sexual harassment in the workplace?
Link: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/03/02/google-gets-sued-over-rampant-bro-culture.html
8 comments:
I don't think that 'bro culture' is very apparent at Aragon specifically, but I can see how this can happen at high schools and colleges. I think that the HR reps should work more efficiently to prevent or stop sexual harassment. They should legally be obligated to run investigations on all harassment allegations and report them. If they had done their job at Google, the employees who harassed Lee would have been fired instead of Lee. I kind of sense a tiny bit of sexism in this incident on the part of HR and Google, idk
I agree with Elena that the 'bro culture' at Aragon is very minimal, but we are lucky and that isn't true for a lot of other schools and work environments. Anytime an employee or a person mentions possible sexual assault it needs to be taken seriously. I don't know if this is actually true, but I've felt I've heard google to have a "playful" atmosphere where it seems people who wish to still be a kid for the rest of their life go to work. I've gotten this sense from the movie The Internship and other sources. I wonder if this playful persona causes people to not mature and act like adults who need to respect their peers and be professional. If any of what Lee is claiming is true, google has to really reconsider the type of people they are hiring.
I also agree with Elena in that sexual harassment should always be taken seriously until the situation is solved, and the victim feels comfortable. Sexual harassment has become a huge problem in the recent years because more and more people are becoming more vocal about what happens to them at their jobs, and in public, and as long as that continues everyone should feel safe and protected at all times.
I agree with the comments above. I personally have not witnessed much of this "bro culture" at Aragon and I think we are pretty fortunate that it's not as prevalent in our school than in other high schools and colleges. I feel like this "bro culture" starts off as jokes between guys who find this to be entertaining but since it does cause the people targeted to feel unsafe and uncomfortable, it should be regarded as an important issue. I think that all legal actions must take place and everything should be reported to begin a culture where everyone knows that this "bro culture" or any culture that makes people feel targeted or uncomfortable is not tolerated. I also applaud Lee for raising her voice on this issue because I think raising awareness that this is going on is the first step towards solving this problem.
I agree with Elena that I do not think that this bro culture is apparent at Aragon, but could easily be happening at other high schools. I think that there needs to be cut and dry rules about sexual harassment and the consequences for sexually harassing someone. In addition, I think that the mindset that women think that they might lose their job if they come forward must end. But, this is not the fault of the accuser, those men at Google basically punished Lee for coming forward, resulting in her eventual termination. This type of situation makes it more likely that women will not report harassment in fear that they might lose their job. Lee lost her job because the men did not want to own up to the fact that they were sexually harassing her. So, to put an end to sexual harassment in the workplace HR departments and companies as a whole need to have clear rules about what is okay and not okay, as well as have a clear punishment, which could include termination. Doing this would allow more women, and even men, to come forward without fear that they would lose their job.
No, I don't think that Bro culture. That it is being called is rampant in Aragon or any other schools in this district as far as I know. I mean it could be happening and we'll probably never know. Sexual harassment is a serious thing that needs to be dealt with. I agree with Isabela that sexual harassment needs to be a cut and dry rule. Yet, sexually harassment is a tough bird to tackle since it's barracked with stereotypes and gender roles, which harms both gender in their own equal rights. If your a women it's a lot more common and they don't speak out, do to things like this and if your a man, you can pretty much forget it because almost no one will take you seriously. No matter who you are, it should be apparent that if someone is being sexually harassed they should be taken seriously and the persecutors should have consequences, not the other way around.
I also personally don't think that "bro culture" is extremely apparent at Aragon, but it can totally be a pattern throughout other high schools, universities, and work places. It's extremely unsettling to me that termination, in cases like Lee's, can fall under the guise of "poor performance" in the workplace when it is so much more than that. Like other people suggested, there really needs to be more cut and dry rules when it comes to handling sexual harassment. They need to write policies and better inform employees of the consequences that come as a result. On the other hand, I also feel like sexism and lack of women in positions of power in these large companies have to do with mishandling of such situations. While I do acknowledge that men also get sexually harassed, I wonder if things would be different if we had more women serving as leaders at companies like Google.
"bro culture" is EVERYWHERE and it continues to be tolerated because a majority of the time, the victim gets blamed for men's disrespectful actions. To make progress, such "culture" needs to be seriously addressed and those who have involvement in it need to face consequences.
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