NEW YORK Google employees around the globe staged a walkout Thursday to protest the tech giants handling of sexual harassment, prompted by a bombshell New York Times report last week that Google quietly offered several high-profile executives lucrative exit packages after they were accused of sexual misconduct.

The action, floated last weekend on an internal message board by a group of female engineers, grew past its 200 organizers and became a massive worldwide event in just a handful of days.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged the discontent in an email to employees Tuesday, pledging the company would take a much harder line on inappropriate behavior.

That inappropriate behavior is a reference to Android creator Andy Rubin, who the Times revealed was quietly given a $90 million golden parachute after the company discovered he allegedly coerced a woman into performing oral sex at a hotel in 2013. (Rubin disputes the claim.)