“Irene Knapp, a software engineer for the web-search giant, presented a proposal at Wednesday’s annual shareholder meeting in Mountain View, California, on behalf of Zevin Asset Management, which submitted the measure. They requested Alphabet consider certain metrics in incentive plans, with a focus on diversity and inclusion in the workforce. Though the proposal was voted down, it’s highly unusual for staff to even comment at annual meetings, let alone to chide their leaders.
Sentiment has been growing internally that executives aren’t doing enough to address workplace harassment, said Liz Fong-Jones, a longtime employee who’s backed a petition to create better policies and procedures, including cracking down on “malicious leaks that have intimidated individuals.””