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Google employees at offices around the world are staging a walkout over the treatment of women at the company after sexual misconduct claims were made against several senior figures.

The protest - dubbed Walkout For Real Change - has been organised a week after The New York Times published a number of allegations surrounding high-profile workers at the technology giant.

Google workers left their offices in Tokyo, Singapore, Zurich, London, Berlin and Dublin on Thursday.

Hoi Lam, a staff developer advocate at one of Google's London offices, posted a photo on Twitter of workers gathered together.

He wrote: "The stories shared at Google London Walkout are heartbreaking."

At the tech giant's office near the capital's King's Cross station, a crowd of around 100 workers also congregated outside.

"I'm here protesting against harassment in the workplace to make sure we don't protect or support those perpetrators of harassment," one protester told Sky News.

He revealed the New York Times article had shocked Google's workforce.

Unequal pay and a lack of gender representation were also said to be among employees' concerns as they staged the action.

Another employee said: "It's not necessarily the senior executives that are a problem but the structures that are in place - this is a call for change.

"I would really like to believe, given what we've seen today at Google offices, that things will change but I can't say I'm 100% confident.

"Things like this are complicated and there isn't going to be an issue that changes overnight - it's really a question of time."

In a press release, organisers of the global walkout said: "As Google workers, we were disgusted by the details of the recent New York Times article, which provided the latest example of a culture of complicity, dismissiveness, and support for perpetrators in the face of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse of power.

"Sadly, this is part of a longstanding pattern, one further amplified by systemic racism."

Andy Rubin, who created the Android mobile operating system, and Richard DeVaul, a director at the Google X research firm working on far-flung projects such as self-driving cars, were among those named in the New York Times article.

The former is said to have received a $90m (£69.7m) severance package when he left Google in 2014, despite the company concluding that sexual misconduct claims against him were credible.

He derided the story in a tweet, insisting it contained "numerous inaccuracies" and "wild exaggerations about my compensation".

But Mr DeVaul has acknowledged an allegation in the article that he made inappropriate advances towards a female job candidate in 2013 - and apologised for his "error of judgement".

He resigned on Tuesday without severance.

In response to the story, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a company-wide email to apologise for "past actions" by former employees and the response to them.

"I understand the anger and disappointment that many of you feel," he wrote.

"I feel it as well, and I am fully committed to making progress on an issue that has persisted for far too long in our society. And, yes, here at Google, too."

The email sought to reassure employees that the company had cracked down in sexual misconduct, disclosing that Google had fired 48 employees - without severance - for "sexual harassment" in recent years.

In reference to the global protests on Thursday, Mr Pichai said: "Yesterday, we let Googlers know that we are aware of the activities planned for Thursday and that employees will have the support they need if they wish to participate.

"Employees have raised constructive ideas for how we can improve our policies and our processes going forward. We are taking in all their feedback so we can turn these ideas into action."

It is the latest expression of a backlash against the exploitation of women in business, entertainment and politics - as part of the #MeToo movement - with the technology sector a largely male-dominated field.