3 min read

It was just a little over a week ago when Google released its diversity annual report for the year 2019. And last thursday, its chief diversity officer, Danielle Brown, who co-wrote the report with Melonie Parker, announced that she is leaving Google to join Gusto, a leading Denver and San Francisco based HR-tech firm.

“I’m joining the team at Gusto…that’s on a mission to create a world where work empowers a better life. I’ll be leading the People team at a company that is all about people”, writes Brown in a LinkedIn post.

Brown is being replaced by Melonie Parker, who earlier served as the Global director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Google. Brown had joined Google as the Chief Diversity Officer back in June 2017 and earlier worked at a similar profile at Intel.

“Danielle has dedicated her career to helping foster humanity at work. Most recently, she served as vice president, employee engagement and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Google, where she focused on ensuring their workplace and culture were respectful, safe, and inclusive — values we hold paramount at Gusto. Danielle will be an incredible addition to the Gusto team”, said Josh Reeves, co-founder, and CEO, Gusto.  

Gusto serves 6 million small businesses all over the U.S. and provides small businesses with a full-service people platform. The platform provides business owners with all the features they need to build their team.  

Eileen Naughton, Google VP of People Operations, confirmed Brown’s departure and told TechCrunch that she’s “grateful to Danielle for her excellent work over the past two years to improve representation in Google’s workforce and ensure an inclusive culture for everyone. We wish her all the best in her new role at Gusto”.

Liz Fong Jones, a former Google Engineer, who left Google earlier this year in February, tweeted in response to the news of Brown’s departure, saying that it’s not a good sign for Google. She mentioned that Brown wasn’t “always popular with execs and employees” but was a  “straight shooter”.

Jones at her departure cited Google’s lack of leadership in response to the demands made by employees during the Google walkout in November 2018. She had also published a post on Medium, stating, ‘grave concerns’ related to strategic decisions made at Google and the way it ‘misused its power’.

Brown hasn’t specified a reason for her departure from Google but wrote on her Linkedin post that “What if, in addition to trying to solve for employee engagement and inclusion within the biggest tech companies in the world, we tried to solve those critical needs for every local storefront, every new startup just getting off the ground, or every doctor’s office across our communities?”

Google is facing a lot of controversies over its employee treatment and work culture. Just last week,  over 900 Google workers signed a letter urging Google for fair rights for its contract workers, who make up nearly 54% of the workforce. Google in response rolled out mandatory benefits for its TVCs including health care, paid sick leaves, tuition reimbursement, and minimum wage among others.

Brown hasn’t spoken out yet anything regarding her experience within Google and writes that she’s “thrilled to join Gusto and advance its mission. I look forward to a future where work empowers a better life for all small businesses and their teams”

Audience reaction to the news is largely positive with people congratulating Brown on her new role at Gusto.

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Natasha Mathur
Tech writer at the Packt Hub. Dreamer, book nerd, lover of scented candles, karaoke, and Gilmore Girls.