Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O), has announced it will eliminate its hiring goals for underrepresented groups and review diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, following similar moves by other major U.S. corporations.
“In 2020, we set aspirational hiring goals and focused on growing our offices outside California and New York to improve representation,” Alphabet’s Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconi wrote in an internal email reviewed by Reuters. “But in the future, we will no longer have aspirational goals.”
Google had previously been a strong advocate for workplace diversity, particularly in response to 2020 protests over the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans. That year, CEO Sundar Pichai set a goal for 30% of Google’s leadership to come from underrepresented groups by 2025. At the time, 96% of Google’s U.S. leadership was white or Asian, and 73% of leaders worldwide were men.
In 2021, Google began incorporating diversity and inclusion into executive performance evaluations, following the high-profile departure of an artificial intelligence researcher who alleged she was fired for criticizing the company’s diversity efforts. Google’s Chief Diversity Officer Melonie Parker stated in a 2024 interview with the BBC that the company had achieved 60% of its five-year diversity goals.
On Wednesday, an Alphabet spokesperson confirmed that the company did not have updated figures regarding Pichai’s original diversity targets.
Alphabet’s recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission omitted a prior statement affirming its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of its mission. That language had appeared in the company’s annual reports from 2021 to 2024.
A company spokesperson said the wording change reflects Google’s ongoing review of DEI programs.
The Alphabet Workers Union criticized the decision, with union president Parul Koul stating, “This is a real attack on gains that workers have made in the tech industry through movements fighting against racism, gender, and LGBTQ discrimination. This is part of a troubling right-wing, anti-worker trend developing within tech companies that AWU is committed to fighting against.”
Google, a federal contractor providing cloud computing and other services to the U.S. government, also cited compliance with recent federal policy changes as a factor in its DEI review.
“Because we are a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes to our programs required to comply with recent court decisions and U.S. Executive Orders on this topic,” Cicconi stated.
Despite these shifts, Google will maintain internal employee resource groups such as “Trans at Google,” “Black Googler Network,” and the “Disability Alliance,” which the company has said inform its product and policy decisions.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the internal memo on Wednesday.
Google joins other tech giants in scaling back DEI initiatives. In January, Meta Platforms (META.O) announced the discontinuation of DEI programs for hiring, training, and supplier selection. Amazon (AMZN.O) also confirmed in an internal memo that it was “winding down outdated programs and materials” related to representation and inclusion.
The corporate pullback comes as conservative groups, emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions, intensify legal challenges against DEI policies in the private sector.
