The gold standard of the best place to work in the world continues to be a very white place. Google just released its annual diversity report which shows they have made almost zero progress in the last year when it comes to building a staff that does not look like white people and men.

Nearly 70% of the Google workforce is male and 53% are white. These numbers are more startling at the leadership level where 67% of their leaders are white and 75% are male.

Why can’t Google put a dent in its “everything is white and all right” culture. Look no further than white privilege fueled by the following accelerants.

Segregation
As Hank Williams says, “Google is just carrying on an old family tradition.” Since most Google leaders live and work in segregated environments, they are not regularly exposed to diversity. They do not fully understand the consequences of not being exposed to people who do not look like them. Their lack of exposure to different people is not a loss to them.
 
Universalism
Google’s leaders have been conditioned to see their industry as the experience of white people. This forces them to view other human beings as being the same as opposed to being different. They assume that people of color have the same reality as white people. They grandstand by giving excuses like why can’t they be like us.
 
Individualism
The kingpins at Google tend to view race as an individual exercise as opposed to a group thing. This allows them to continue to be elitist and at the same time ensure that the same exclusion is not associated with their group membership. That way they can blame their “good old boys network culture” on someone or something other than themselves like not enough diversity in STEM positions or the economy.
 
Entitlement
Since white people are at the top of pecking order when it comes to inclusion security at Google, they are in the enviable position to cordon themselves off from inclusion concerns. This kind of thinking tends to punish anyone who tries to upset their cocoon of racial comfort. They have never had to build a tolerance for inclusion.
 
Arrogance
Most of the white workers at Google have such a positive self-image of their selves; they delude themselves into thinking that their success is due to their hard work and not their unearned privilege. To address any privilege associated with that success would threaten their sense of entitlement. This thinking also limits the parameters of this entire painful discussion by making them even more uncomfortable about the exclusion they exude.
 
Belonging
The white folks at Google experience a strong sensed cultural connectedness since their values are permanently imbedded. If you are lucky to get a job at Google, you will find the company was founded by white people. Most of its leaders are white. Most of the board of directors is white. The standards of success are due to white people. It is impossible for white people to feel isolated or unattached to the symbols and icons of an organization that they built.
 
Freedom
The history of Google’s lack of diversity is built on the historic trend that most white people operate as non-racial beings. They view inclusion as something important only to people of color. This frees them from carrying any burden of inclusion Their mantra is inclusion is something that happens to other people and not me. Their inclusion muscles are weak because they rarely ever need to use them.
 
The less things change at Google, the more things stay the same