Google's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai recently responded to issues concerning the firing of former employee James Damore.
Many may remember Damore as the former Google employee who created a memo detailing reasons why women are not "biologically fit" to work for the company. As a result, Pichai and several other key people at Google decided that it would be best if they fire Damore. However, some people thought that the motivation behind the firing was actually "political" and not about social justice.
Speaking with journalist Kara Swisher, MSNBC's Ari Melber, and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, the Google CEO said that he does not regret the decision. Rather, his only regret is that the general public misunderstood the reasons behind the decision.
"I regret that people misunderstand that we may have made this for a political belief one way or another," the Google CEO said. He added that he still thought that it was the right decision, because it was "important" for women and other people at Google to know that the company is an "inclusive environment."
It should be noted that one of the main points of Damore's memo is that the diversity efforts that Google is trying to push are "misplaced." This is because in Damore's point of view, women are "less biologically-suited" for work in the technology industry. His memo claimed that Googe's efforts for employee diversity instead create a "hostile environment" for white males.
Damore was fired in August because of the memo he tried to circulate. He then filed a lawsuit against Google after the event, claiming that the company "discriminates" against white male conservatives.
On the other hand, Pichai and other Google CEOs thought that stating a certain stereotype are "less biologically-suited" for the work is offensive. After the memo was made public, Google executives made it their top priority to fire Damore.
