Google pledges to overhaul its sexual harassment policy after global protests

Company faced historic staff backlash following revelation it paid out $90m to an executive accused of sexual misconduct

The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, said the company would overhaul its sexual harassment policies, meeting some of the demands of employees who organized historic walkouts across the globe.

In an email to staff on Thursday, Pichai said Google would end forced arbitration for sexual misconduct claims, revamp its investigations process, share data on harassment claims and outcomes, and provide new support systems for people who come forward. The announcement is a notable achievement for employees who organized roughly 20,000 workers to walk out of the corporation's offices across 50 cities last week.