Alphabet became the latest tech company to face a grilling at its annual general meeting this evening, with investors tabling proposals to get Google's parent company to tie pay to diversity. The measure, which was backed by employees, would have meant Alphabet would have had to consider a number of metrics in its incentive plans, including those linked to diversity and inclusion. Although the proposal was voted down – an expected outcome given Alphabet management effectively control the company – it provided a platform for shareholders and employees to vent their frustration with the business. Google software engineer Irene Knapp, who presented the proposal at the meeting on behalf of Zevin Asset Management, said: "At Alphabet, diversity and inclusion activities by individual contributors have been met with a disorganised array of responses, including formal reprimand. "The chilling effect...had impaired company culture." In response, Alphabet chairman John Hennessy said the board would be considering more diverse director candidates, while HR chief Eileen Naughton said the company was seeking to increase its proportion of black, Latino and female workers.<doc-sep>Roughly 50 protesters showed up to voice concerns about Google's planned campus in San Jose. Source: Jeff Barrera / Silicon Valley Rising Alphabet's aggressive real estate expansion in the Bay Area was a big topic at its annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, as about 50 picketers protested outside and two shareholders asked questions about how its plans would affect local residents. At issue is the mega-campus Google intends to build in San Jose, which will accommodate 15,000 to 20,000 employees and include offices, retail space, and thousands of residential units. Earlier this year, the city agreed to sell Google nine parcels of land to be used in the project for $67 million. Proponents of the deal expect it to revitalize San Jose, which is the only major U.S. city that has a higher population at nighttime than it does during the day, while critics fear it could exacerbate gentrification and inequality in the area. The protesters and shareholders were affiliated with Silicon Valley Rising, a coalition of Bay Area organizations that has been critical of Google's plans. The organization has a list of priorities that it thinks the San Jose City Council should include in any building agreement with Google, including commitments to minimize displacement, address area homelessness through affordable housing, provide well-paying contract jobs, give locals first consideration for employment, support area schools. Protesters gather in front of a Google commuter bus at the company's Mountain View headquarters. Source: Jeff Barrera / Silicon Valley Rising One representative, Chava Bustamente, highlighted how only 4 percent of Google's technical workers are Hispanic or black, while many of its service workers are people of color. "As Google works to increase diversity in its workforce, will the company also make a commitment to ensure that its plans for a Google campus do not damage the diversity of San Jose?" he asked during the question period of the meeting. Alphabet general counsel Kent Walker said the company was exploring different housing initiatives but declined to offer specifics. San Jose has created an advisory group that includes both Google and Silicon Valley Rising, as well as other parties, and will present recommendations to the city council by the end of the year. Kim Walesh, San Jose's director of economic development, told CNBC that the negotiations are going to stretch over several years, with plenty of public back-and-forth. "There's no question that the Google project has heightened fears about lower-income residents being able to stay in the community, and we're taking that really seriously," she said. By showing up at the shareholders meeting, members of Silicon Valley Rising wanted to bring their concerns to people who didn't necessarily know about Google's San Jose plans. The protesters stayed for several hours, handing out fliers and waving signs. Two of the protesters that showed up to Alphabet's annual shareholder meeting in 2018. Source: Jeff Barrera / Silicon Valley Rising<doc-sep>MOUNTAIN VIEW — Google’s culture wars played out in dramatic fashion Wednesday as a Google engineer and a conservative shareholder argued for very different approaches to diversity and inclusion at the annual meeting of Alphabet, which owns the technology giant. For the past year, Google’s campus has been a frequent battleground between warring ideologies, with left-leaning employees demanding more workplace diversity and conservatives demanding more tolerance of their views, led by former employee James Damore. In the latest salvos of the online search giant’s internal battle, three different shareholder proposals addressed diversity. One sought a report outlining Alphabet’s gender pay gap across its global operations; another aimed to tie Alphabet executives’ pay to diversity and inclusion measures; and a third called for adding more conservative thinkers to Alphabet’s board. All three proposals, along with four other shareholder proposals, were voted down in line with the company’s recommendations. But before the votes were counted, presenters painted different pictures of life at Google: A seemingly hostile work environment for some women and minorities, or a place that values only liberal thinking and punishes conservative views. In a rare pitch by a current Google employee in front of Alphabet’s board, Google engineer Irene Knapp said Alphabet’s diversity and inclusion initiatives have been lacking, which has “left many of us feeling unsafe and unable to do our work.” “The chilling effect of harassment and doxxing has impaired productivity and company culture,” said Knapp. “Responses from (human resources) have been inadequate, leaving minority communities unprotected. Now we are forced to weigh the risks to ourselves before giving each other support.” Knapp’s proposal was filed by Zevin Asset Management and other parties, according to Alphabet’s proxy statement on the shareholder meeting. In the written proposal, Zevin Asset Management cited numerous studies over the past five years that showed improved financial returns, better customer experiences and bigger profits for companies that increased diversity in the workplace. It also cited recent media scrutiny of Alphabet over employees leaving the company because of alleged discrimination as “human capital risks.” Knapp also advocated that Alphabet should improve its code of conduct to prevent leaks that intimidate employees, formalize H.R. procedures and find “a solution for bad-faith H.R. complaints.” Despite Alphabet shareholders voting against the measure, Alphabet Chairman John Hennessy said the company was committed to having diverse genders and backgrounds among its board members. “We take the issue of diversity seriously,” Hennessy said. “That’s reflected in the makeup of our board. For every new Alphabet board opening, we will consider candidates of underrepresented colors and different genders.” Alphabet and Google in recent months have fended off many accusations of unethical practices and discrimination from both ends of the political spectrum. Last month, Google backed away from its artificial intelligence partnership with the Pentagon after dozens of employees resigned. In past months, Google was sued for alleged age discrimination by 250 would-be employees; for alleged wrongful termination by a disabled, queer, transgender engineer Tim Chevalier; and for alleged discrimination against white men and conservatives by Damore, who was fired after his internal memo on the scarcity of women in tech went viral. Before Knapp’s testimony, North Carolina-based investment firm Arjuna Capital, along with two other firms, proposed Alphabet should conduct a report on gender pay equity. Arjuna Capital has proposed the same request the past two years. Farnum Brown, managing partner for Arjuna Capital, said that the United Kingdom mandates disclosure of median gender pay gaps from companies. Google reported that the median gender pay gap for its United Kingdom operations was near 11 percent, but has not published similar information on its global operations, according to Brown. In the proxy statement against Arjuna Capital’s proposal, Alphabet said it did release a report on pay equity and believed another report would be unnecessary. A separate proposal from the conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research sought to close another gap it perceived as existing inside Alphabet: lack of conservative thought. Emphasizing his view that diversity “is not what someone looks like,” but rather how they think and believe, the think tank’s general counsel Justin Danhof argued for the board to appoint conservatives to avoid what he called “liberal group think.” “Silicon Valley elites often preen about their commitment to diversity and inclusion, but I don’t think many of you know what that means,” said Danhof. “At this company, it appears that thinking and believing in conservative policies is verboten.” Danhof also defended Damore’s memo and criticized Google CEO Sundar Pichai, saying, “That Pichai still has a job shows that the board’s liberal group-think problem is pervasive.” Alphabet, in its proxy statement, said that it upholds a rigorous selection process for its board directors by examining their backgrounds, skill sets and life experiences. “This wide range of attributes … bring unique perspectives and judgment necessary to guide our strategies and monitor their executions, all the while inspiring robust, thoughtful discussions in the boardroom,” wrote Alphabet. One proposal which did win approval at the shareholders’ meeting was the re-election of the company’s 11-person board of directors until next year, including Hennessy, Pichai, Alphabet Chief Executive Larry Page and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.<doc-sep>
Google's headquarters at Mountain View, California Getty Images Tariq Yusuf, a privacy engineer in Google's Seattle office, is heading to Alphabet's Silicon Valley headquarters on Wednesday to take part in the company's annual shareholder meeting. But Yusuf is hardly attending as a cheerleader. Rather, he's part of a small group of Google employees attending the meeting to seek shareholder support for a diversity and inclusion proposal that the company recommends rejecting. The proposal, filed by Zevin Asset Management, which describes itself as a socially responsible investment firm, calls for Alphabet's executive compensation to be tied to gender, racial and ethnic diversity metrics in employee recruiting and retention. Zevin cites Google's own data showing that over the past four years, the percentage of women employees has only gone from 30 percent to 31 percent, while the number of underrepresented minorities has increased from 9 percent to 10 percent. "One of the reasons we partnered with Zevin is that it advocates building in the values that Alphabet purports to support," Yusuf told CNBC. Alphabet "can do a better job of putting its money where its mouth is to some degree," he added. 'Employees and investors locking hands' Zevin's proposal challenges Google, which was one of the first major companies to publicly publish its diversity statistics, to step up its efforts and better protect employees working internally on diversity projects so that it has the talent to drive long-term shareholder value. Zevin has made similar proposals to Amazon and Apple. "It's not often you see employees and investors locking hands like this," said Pat Tomaino, Zevin's director of socially responsible investing. The Boston-based firm owns about $23 million worth of Alphabet shares, according to FactSet. Alphabet recommends shareholders vote against the proposal because the company says it already incorporates diversity values into its business. Because of Alphabet's dual-voting structure that gives the co-founders outsized control, the proposal likely won't pass. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page John MacDougall | Getty Images