Certain companies, products, and institutions become so deeply ingrained into the culture that their name becomes a generic - "aspirin," for example, or when people refer to Kleenex brand to mean "tissues."

For internet search engines, Google has also done so. It's a common refrain, when someone asks a question, for the reply to be "Google it." But as a tech company, one based in California's San Francisco Bay Area at that, Google the company has not escaped all of the leftist fads that have infected many tech organizations - like Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) practices. But now, Google may be officially ending its DEI hiring practices and training programs.

Is "officially" a qualifier, though?

Google officially began the process of unwinding the company’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs on Friday, a source familiar with the company’s decision-making told Fox News Digital.

The tech giant announced in a February company memo that they were discontinuing their diversity goals of hiring more employees from "underrepresented groups," and was analyzing whether their other initiatives were in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI in the public and private sector.

Google is now ending their "equity and inclusion employee trainings that the company previously conducted," per the source.

See Related: Trump Takes Aim at DEI in Corporate America and Academia As Well As Carving It From Government

Culling the Herd: Thanks to Trump's EO, DEI Departments Are Shuttered, Employees Placed on Leave

Now, a caveat: Google is not an arm of government, and their hiring and training practices are up to the company's management and its Board of Directors. With that said, their seeming abandonment of DEI practice is not only a good idea; it may well save them from some headaches concerning any contracts they have with the federal government.

Google still, it seems, retains their former "Head of Diversity."

At a Feb. 12 all-staff meeting, Google’s former Head of Diversity Melonie Parker, who now serves as vice president of Google engagement according to her LinkedIn profile, told employees the company was "updating" their training programs that contain "DEI content," The Guardian reported.   

"What’s not changing is we’ve always hired the best person for the job," Parker reportedly said at the meeting. 

What's changing is that they are now, presumably, hiring the best person for the job; under a DEI program, they were hiring the best person who met one or more arbitrary qualifiers in addition to the basic job skills needed. That would, in a certain number of cases, actually preclude hiring the best person for the job. Melonie Parker doesn't seem anxious to admit that.

See Related: DEI Could Make Surgery Dangerous - A Veteran Surgeon Speaks Out

MSNBC Guest Claims DEI Creates 'Level Playing Field' — Why That Worn-Out Trope Is Patently False

The question is this: Google remains a San Francisco Bay area company, with staffing and management presumably on board with Bay area values. So, is the company really unwinding its DEI practices? Or is it just repackaging them with a shiny "New - Improved!" wrapper to evade the Trump administration's EOs for anyone with a federal contract? That's the real question.

Hopefully, Google is sincere in this; DEI practices are anathema to good hiring and training practices. It encourages quota ticket-punching over simply hiring the best person for the job, and the training programs wrapped up in DEI practices are not value-added, in addition to being a colossal waste of the employee's time. But for now, there may be some return to sanity in hiring and training practices at the world's best-known internet company.