Google has announced the end of its aspirational hiring goals for underrepresented groups and is reviewing several of its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
The move aligns the tech giant with a growing number of U.S. companies scaling back diversity programs.
“In 2020, we set aspirational hiring goals and focused on growing our offices outside California and New York to improve representation,” said Fiona Cicconi, Alphabet’s chief people officer, in an internal email on Wednesday. “…but in the future, we will no longer have aspirational goals.”
Google had been among the most vocal corporations promoting diversity following the 2020 protests over the police killing of George Floyd. That year, CEO Sundar Pichai set a target to increase leadership representation from underrepresented groups by 30% by 2025. At the time, 96% of the company’s U.S. leaders were white or Asian, and 73% of global leadership positions were held by men.
In 2021, Google began evaluating executives based on team diversity and inclusion efforts, following the controversial departure of a leading artificial intelligence researcher who had criticized the company’s diversity policies.
By 2024, Google’s chief diversity officer, Melonie Parker, said the company had achieved 60% of its five-year DEI goals.
However, Alphabet’s annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday omitted a previous commitment to making DEI “part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve.” That statement had appeared in the company’s filings from 2021 to 2024.
A spokesperson explained the removal as part of an ongoing review of DEI programs.
The decision has sparked criticism from worker advocacy groups.
“This is a real attack on gains that workers have made in the tech industry through movements fighting against racism, gender, and LGBTQ discrimination,” said Parul Koul, president of the Alphabet Workers Union, calling the rollback part of a broader “right-wing, anti-worker trend” in the tech sector.
As a federal contractor, Google is also evaluating policy changes stemming from court decisions and U.S. executive orders. “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 wrote.
Despite the broader rollback, Google will continue to support internal employee groups such as “Trans at Google,” “Black Googler Network,” and the “Disability Alliance,” which contribute to company policies and product development.
Google’s decision follows similar moves by other tech giants.
In January, Facebook parent Meta announced it was ending its DEI programs, including hiring and supplier diversity efforts. Amazon also informed employees it was “winding down outdated programs and materials” related to representation and inclusion.
