In 2005, articles in The New York Times[263] and other sources began suggesting that Google had lost its anti-corporate, no evil philosophy.[264][265][266] In an effort to maintain the company's unique culture, Google designated a Chief Culture Officer whose purpose was to develop and maintain the culture and work on ways to keep true to the core values that the company was founded on.[267] Google has also faced allegations of sexism and ageism from former employees.[268][269] In 2013, a class action against several Silicon Valley companies, including Google, was filed for alleged "no cold call" agreements which restrained the recruitment of high-tech employees.[270] In a lawsuit filed January 8, 2018, multiple employees and job applicants alleged Google discriminated against a class defined by their "conservative political views[,] male gender[,] and/or [...] Caucasian or Asian race".[271]
On January 25, 2020, the formation of an international workers union of Google employees, Alpha Global, was announced.[272] The coalition is made up of "13 different unions representing workers in 10 countries, including the United States, [the] United Kingdom, and Switzerland".[273] The group is affiliated with the UNI Global Union, which represents nearly 20 million international workers from various unions and federations. The formation of the union is in response to persistent allegations of mistreatment of Google employees and a toxic workplace culture.[273][274][271] Google had previously been accused of surveilling and firing employees who were suspected of organizing a workers union.[275] In 2021, court documents revealed that between 2018 and 2020, Google ran an anti-union campaign called Project Vivian to "convince them (employees) that unions suck".[276]
In February 2025, Google dropped their commitment to make "diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do" from their annual investor report. This action followed Meta, Amazon, Pepsi, McDonald's, Walmart and others who all have rolled back their DEI programmes.[277]