Google Employee Writes Memo About ‘The Burden of Being Black at Google’
From the original memo:<p>&gt; Provide additional mental health support for Googlers of
color  — especially following critical moments impacting their communities<p>&gt; Throughout my time at Google, my mental health has been heavily influenced by what I read in the
news. And in America, that means frequently reading about innocent black men and women who’ve been killed by police officers. Whether the issue is police brutality, or mass shootings targeting the LGBTQ community, or racist comments from the President debasing immigrants, Google needs to provide mental health support equitably, which means making a more concerted effort to create opportunities for underrepresented groups to seek counseling and support.<p>With respect, I don&#x27;t think this is an employer-based issue. Because this was caused by a non-work related source [the news], I think it should be the responsibility of the individual to seek therapy and other resources on their own time and on their own dime.<p>Now if the employee was experiencing mental health issues as a direct result of coworkers or the work environment, then yes, the company should provide support.<p>In fact, Google does provide free counseling for the staff who have to filter through illicit images on Google&#x27;s search engine. Since those employees are regularly exposed to horrendous issues as part of their work, they get company-sponsored help with it.