Rubin denies that he was fired and that there were any complaints of sexual misconduct from any Google employee though he had consensual relationships with some. (Reuters)

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently wrote to the company’s employees, saying the company had adopted strict policies on sexual harassment at the work place in 2015, and 48 employees had been sacked for such misconduct over the last two years, including 13 senior managers and executives. None of the 48 received any severance.

Pichai (read: Google) perhaps thinks coming clean to employees will help stem some of the anger—including within the company—a New York Times (NYT) report on how the company handled alleged sexual harassment complaints against former Android executive Andy Rubin has generated. As per NYT, Rubin received a multimillion dollar severance in 2014 as did another executive while a third was retained. Rubin denies that he was fired and that there were any complaints of sexual misconduct from any Google employee though he had consensual relationships with some.

Pichai, though, hasn’t yet denied the report. This isn’t the first time that the company has been accused of covering up cases of sexual harassment. Vice-president, Google Search, Amit Singhal, was let go because of sexual harassment with a hefty severance package.

But, the problem isn’t Google’s alone. Silicon Valley power dynamics is shaped by an overwhelmingly large population of male engineers, one that is steeped in “bro culture” or frat-like behaviour.

Emily Chang’s Brotopia: Breaking Up The Boys Club of Silicon Valley, a book that details stories of women who have been allegedly sexually harassed at tech companies and VC firms and turns a critical eye on how companies have responded, opened up a debate on diversity and how the lack of it has led to problems like Google’s.

The case of Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, who was later forced to resign as CEO, is a textbook example of how digital companies are failing their women employees—Uber, under Kalanick’s watch, protected harassers it thought were “high performers” and even hired Singhal who had been fired by Google for harassment! Google’s forced introspection should offer a cue to other companies to get serious about protecting the interests of their women employees.