Google: Stay and Thrive
Executive Summary
One day, a fellow Googler reached out to Rachel Spivey, who was at the time a Community Advisor for the Black Googler Network and HOLA Employee Resource Groups, with a problem: they needed help navigating their relationship with their manager. The situation was so dire that the employee was getting ready to give notice. Recognizing this person’s talent and not wanting to lose them to another company, Rachel reached out to the company’s Chief Diversity Officer to see what she could do. One Googler turned into ten and a new retention strategy was underway.
Rachel is now the director of Google’s Stay & Thrive initiative, a unique retention and progression program focused on advocating for underrepresented Googlers. The program launched in 2017 when Google saw disproportionate attrition among their Black, Latinx and Native American employees in the US. From 2020 to 2022, Rachel’s team grew from 7 to 27 members with full support from Google CEO Sundar Pichai. More than 2,400 Googlers have been through the program to date, and among that group, 86% are still Googlers.