Hundreds of Google employees in more than 20 offices around the world are staging walk-outs to protest what organizers describe as "a workplace culture that's not working for everyone."

The demonstrations — set for 11:10 a.m. at each local time — come in in the wake of an explosive New York Times' report that detailed how Google shielded executives accused of sexual misconduct, either by keeping them on staff or allowing them amicable departures. For example, Google reportedly paid Android leader Andy Rubin a $90 million exit package despite asking for his resignation after finding sexual misconduct claims against him credible. (Through a spokesperson, Rubin denied any misconduct and on Twitter he called his reported compensation a "wild exaggeration.")

Organizers of the walk-out demand more transparency from Google around its handling of sexual harassment and pay and opportunity inequality, as well as more employee empowerment overall, according a statement circulated by organizers and sent to company executives. For example, organizers want an employee representative to join the company's board and for Google to end "forced arbitration" in cases of harassment and discrimination, a practice that prevents employees from taking cases to court.

"While Google has championed the language of diversity and inclusion, substantive actions to address systemic racism, increase equity, and stop sexual harassment have been few and far between," the employee statement reads. "ENOUGH. Reassuring PR won't cut it: we need transparency, accountability, and structural change."

 Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a memo to staff last week saying the company has taken "an increasingly hard line" on inappropriate conduct at work and had fired 48 people, including 13 senior managers, in the last two years, without exit packages. On Tuesday, he sent a follow-up note reiterating his apology "for the past actions and the pain they have caused employees" and said that employees would have the "support" they needed to show up for the protests.

One of the executives accused of inappropriate behavior in the Times' piece, Richard DeVaul of Alphabet's research Lab, X, resigned on Tuesday.

Still, protesters say that, for every story reported in the press, there are "thousands more, at every level of the company."

Thursday's action follows more than a year of turbulence and organizing at parent company Alphabet.

Lack of diversity is a problem across the tech industry, but Google has been at the center of public attention since last August when an employee's internal memo attributing women's under-representation in the tech industry to gender differences went viral. The memo's author, an engineer named James Damore, was subsequently fired, but the incident led to internal turmoil and employee frustration about how the company handles diversity-related hiring and retention, as well as about harassment.

Overall, nearly 70 percent of Google employees are male and 53 percent are white, according to the company's latest diversity statistics. In leadership roles, the numbers are even starker: 67 percent are white and 75 percent are male.

At Alphabet's shareholders' meeting in June, a group of employees bucked leadership by presenting a proposal that called for Alphabet's executive compensation to be tied to diversity metrics. The proposal didn't pass, but Pat Tomaino, a representative of Zevin Asset Management, which filed the proposal, said these latest protests are another sign that the company's top executives need to take responsibility.