Google diversity report shows incremental progress

Google has released its seventh diversity report, revealing modest gains in representation for women and people of colour, and a disproportionately white, Asian and male workforce, reports Forbes.

The percentage of black hires in the U.S. grew from 4.8% in 2018 to 5.5% in 2019. However, Latinx employees saw a dip in hiring, from 6.8% in 2018 to 6.6% in 2019, as did female employees, dropping from 33.2% in 2018 to 32.5% in 2019.

In 2018, Google started including attrition rates to show a fuller picture. Women continued to have a lower than average attrition rate in 2019, while Latinx attrition in the U.S. fell below the Google average. Attrition was highest for Native Americans and increased significantly for black women.

Overall, Google’s workforce representation – defined as hiring minus attrition – saw a slight increase for most underrepresented groups. Black and Latinx employees represented 9.6% of the U.S. workforce in 2019, up from 9% in 2018, and women represented 32%, up from 31.6%.

The representation of women and Latinx employees in leadership roles also grew, by .6% and .4% respectively. The percentage of black employees in leadership positions didn’t change year-over-year and dropped by .2% for Native American employees.

There has been significant progress in Google’s internship programme, too. Globally, 40% of interns in technical roles were women in 2019 and 24% of U.S. interns were black and Latinx.

Google is investing in several diversity initiatives. Through its philanthropic arm, the company pledged $10 million to support low-income students and students of colour in Bay Area STEM classrooms in 2019.

The company is running all job postings through a bias removal tool, which it says has led to an 11% increase in applications from women. Plus, in order to retain diverse talent, Google expanded its retention case management programme for underrepresented employees who are considering leaving the company.

Commenting on the latest diversity figures, Melonie Parker, chief diversity officer at Google, says: “The Native American population is one of those areas where we remain flat and so we will continue to invest more focus in 2020 to make sure that we’re targeting this population as well.”

Parker also says that the company will continue to focus on representation and creating an inclusive culture companywide. She notes that even the smallest percentage gains represent thousands of jobs for underrepresented groups. 

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