Tech companies have traditionally responded to calls for diversity in the industry by releasing annual workplace statistics and restating commitments to improving equality. These efforts, however, have had little impact as employees still face discrimination, underrepresentation, and inequality in the tech industry.
According to data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the high-tech sector employs a larger share of whites (63.5% to 68.5%), Asian Americans (5.8% to 14%), and men (52% to 64%), and a smaller share of African Americans (14.4% to 7.4%), Hispanics (13.9% to 8%) and women (48% to 36%) compared to overall private industry employment.
But after 2020, the culture for change may be shifting. BLM protests, the MeToo movement, and growing awareness around LGBTQ+ rights have provided a renewed focus on disparities in pay, opportunity, and success that underrepresented groups face in organizations.
Time for change
Now, it’s more important than ever for tech companies to prove their commitment to closing the gender and diversity gap in tech — and companies appear to be responding with more substantial policies than before.
Here’s how a few tech giants have demonstrated renewed commitments to diversity and inclusion.
Microsoft
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has openly supported diversity and inclusion initiatives, stating that Microsoft is “committed to taking action to help address racial injustice and inequality, and unequivocally believes that Black lives matter.”
The company released a five-year plan that details how the company plans to combat racial injustice and inequality for the Black and African American community and how it will address the needs of other underrepresented groups, including the Hispanic and Latinx communities.
Microsoft stands out in its response to racial inequality in that its announcement doesn’t skirt the issue but instead faces it head-on with a direct plan and an open mind.
Diverse employees gave Microsoft a score of 75 across various culture categories on Comparably, a website that aggregates employee rankings for various companies. Microsoft ranks in the top 15% of U.S. companies with 10,000-plus employees for its gender and diversity scores. Diverse employees and women at Microsoft both rated the company an A- for perks and benefits, CEO rating, and happiness. When asked whether they believe they’re paid fairly, 74% of women said yes, and 69% of diverse employees said the same.
In the wake of the BLM movement, Google CEO Sundar Pichai released a statement supporting the Black community and acknowledged the structural and systemic racism that Black people face in America. Pichai announced steps Google plans to take to “build sustainable equity for Google’s Black+ community” by creating “meaningful change” within the company.
He reinforced the company’s commitment to funding education initiatives that support minority communities, racial justice organizations, and Black business owners and entrepreneurs. He also announced specific steps that Google plans to take to combat inequality.
- First, Google pledges to improve Black representation at senior levels and has committed to increasing the representation of underrepresented groups by 30% by 2025.
- Pichai has also created a task force to identify challenges with hiring, retention, and promotion at all levels for underrepresented groups and how to improve the process for diverse candidates and employees.
- The company also plans to identify corporate policies that have implicit bias by listening to Black Googlers’ experiences and finding ways to ensure they feel safe in the workplace.
- Pichai announced more mental and physical health support benefits for BIPOC workers.
Diverse employees gave Google an overall score of 78 across culture categories on Comparably, which places the company in the top 10% of large organizations. Diverse employees at Google gave the company an A grade, ranking perks and benefits, happiness, and compensation as the highest categories.
Women at Google gave the company a grade of A+, citing perks and benefits, happiness, and compensation as the highest scoring categories. Around 82% of women at Google feel they’re paid fairly, while 80% of diverse employees say the same.
Facebook has long been criticized for a lack of diversity — between 2013 and 2018, Facebook largely failed to increase diversity from underrepresented groups in its U.S. workforce, despite expanding the employee base sixfold.
Only 4% of the company’s current workforce is Black, and only 6.3% is Hispanic. Among senior leadership, 3.4% are Black, while 4.3% are Hispanic. Black and Hispanic women account for less than 1% of executives at Facebook. These numbers have increased from 2020, but they are moving slowly compared to other tech companies.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did, however, voice support for the BLM movement, stating his commitment to reviewing policies on the site to see whether Facebook should amend any policies regarding posts that involve hate speech, threats of violence, and voter suppression.
Apple
Apple says for the past five years it has “continued to hire more women and underrepresented minorities every year,” citing 53% of new hires are from “historically underrepresented groups in tech,” including women and people who identify as Black, Hispanic, Native American, or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. Representation of underrepresented minorities has increased from 21% in 2014 to 31% as of 2018.
Diverse employees gave Apple a score of 73, which puts it in the top 20% of companies in the U.S. with 10,000 or more employees. Of those polled, 62% of women felt they were paid fairly, while 64% of men and 64% of diverse employees said the same.
Diverse employees gave Apple an overall grade of B+, ranking highest for CEO rating, perks and benefits, and team culture. Women at Apple gave the company a B grade, ranking highest for perks and benefits, CEO rating, and team culture.
Something to ponder
Diversity and inclusion are essential in business today as a healthy variety of people from different backgrounds and cultures provides us with the balance of voices and diversity of thought that we need.
Also read: How Voice Assistants Are The Future Of User Experience
