THOUSANDS of Google employees joined a co-ordinated worldwide walkout on Thursday to protest the US tech giant’s handling of sexual harassment.

The “Google Walkout For Real Change” account that sprang up on Twitter on Wednesday called for employees and contractors to leave their workplaces at 11:10am local time around the world on Thursday.

“All employees and contract workers across the company deserve to be safe. Sadly, the executive team has demonstrated through their lack of meaningful action that our safety is not a priority,” said a statement published by organisers on the website The Cut.

“We’ve waited for leadership to fix these problems, but have come to this conclusion: no one is going to do it for us. So we are here, standing together, protecting and supporting each other.”

In New York, where Google has a large office in the Chelsea neighbourhood, hundreds of employees took to the streets, some carrying signs saying “Time’s Up Tech” — taking a cue from the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements against sexual harassment.

“I think we are a really powerful collective and we all want to see change,” said Claire Stapleton, one of the New York organisers.

“I think leadership is listening.”

The protest took shape after Google said last week that it had fired 48 employees in the past two years — including 13 senior executives — as a result of allegations of sexual misconduct, citing “an increasingly hard line” on inappropriate conduct.

That statement came after The New York Times reported that a senior Google employee, Android creator Andy Rubin, received an exit package worth $90 million as he faced allegations of misconduct, and that Google had covered up other sexual harassment claims.

Rubin has denied the allegations and said he was the victim of a “smear campaign.”

The concerns at Google have added to the growing chorus of voices denouncing the existence of a sexist culture in male-dominated Silicon Valley, which has knocked a number of internet industry executives at other tech giants from their perches.

The protesters pointed out that women make up only about 31 per cent of the workforce and 25 per cent of executives at Google.

Demma Rodriguez, head of equity engineering and a seven-year Google employee, said the protest was an important part of bringing fairness to the technology colossus.

“We have an aspiration to be the best company in the world,” Rodriguez said.

“But we also have goals as a company and we can’t decide we are going to miss those.”