Diverse, But Not Equal

Google cans engineering diversity training scheme after alumni complain of abysmal pay packages

Katyanna Quach, The Register :

The engineering residency program, known as Eng Res, has run since 2014. It’s aimed at those who don’t quite qualify as entry-level engineers; these folks are then trained up in various departments in the Chocolate Factory, and after a year they’re either hired as a proper developer or dropped.

The idea is to identify and top up the skills of people who show potential but have not had the same opportunities as others to learn and grow, or have faced unfair career-limiting hurdles, prior to applying for a role at Google. Newbie coders get a place at one of the world’s biggest names in tech, and Google gets a workers from a diverse range of backgrounds.

But after completing the program, alumni are given lower salaries, smaller bonus payments, and no stock units compared to their peers, a group of over 500 current and former Googlers have claimed.

This has the air of a scheme designed to tick the diversity check-box rather than actually foster diversity. And since these are people who were hired after the first year, I’m not buying the argument that they somehow weren’t as good as those doing the same work.