In 2014, Google came in for tough scrutiny when the Silicon Valley-based online search giant released employee diversity statistics showing scant levels of African-American and Latino employment, along with relatively low numbers of women holding technology and management positions. Google then was the first among major Silicon Valley technology companies, including Facebook and Apple, to release such figures in response to calls by fair employment activists to do so.
Earlier this month, the company released its diversity numbers again, revealing negligible progress over the past year. According to Google data, women still hold roughly one-fifth of the company’s tech jobs and leadership positions. Women had slight progress in tech jobs since 2014, moving up one percentage point to 18 percent. African-Americans make up just 2 percent of the company, and Latinos account for 3 percent, both unchanged from last year.
“With an organization of our size, meaningful change will take time. From one year to the next, bit by bit, our progress will inch forward. More importantly, our industry will become more inclusive, and the opportunities for currently underrepresented groups will grow,” wrote Nancy Lee, the Google director of people operations, in a recent company statement.
“I’ll give Google an ‘A’ for transparency and attitude. But they must be bold enough to set goals, targets and timetables to include those who have never been given the chance,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson told USA Today.
Wayne Sutton, a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and tech company mentor, shares Jackson’s view that Google deserves credit for its transparency. Like Jackson, Sutton has spoken out publicly on the need for Silicon Valley companies to open their doors to non-Asian minority employees and firms.
The recent employment diversity report “shows a couple of things—one being transparency [and] two that understanding that it’s going to take a lot of work when you have the size of a company like Google” attempting to bring diversity into its technical and managerial ranks, Sutton told Diverse.
Along with publicizing information about company initiatives to establish technology pipeline programs and relationships with diverse higher education institutions, Lee, who is the Google executive leading the diversity charge, has been vocal about bringing to light the challenge the online search giant has faced since making Google employment diversity numbers public in May 2014. The company had more than 55,000 employees at the end of this past March, according to Google.
