Is it a culture issues? As the New York Times reports today that Uber has fired “more than 20 employees in conjunction with an internal investigation into its workplace culture,” it’s worth to take a look at diversity in the tech world. Diversity in many large technology companies is still a big issue. A look at Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Uber shows that only, on average, only 32.3% of their employees are women, but the numbers goes down to an average 17.8% when you account only for tech roles. In terms of racial diversity, an average of over 55% of the workforce is white. And it goes up to over 70% for leadership roles. And the numbers look particularly bad if you look at those companies’ board of directors: Apple counts two women in its eight-member , Andrea Jung and Susan Wagner; board Two women out of eight , the company’s CEO Sheryl Sandberg, and ; at Facebook Sue Desmond-Hellmann Of the at Google’s parent company Alphabet, only three are women, Diane Greene, Ann Mather, and Shirley Tilghman; 12 board members Three women in , Teri List-Stoll, Sandra Peterson, and Padmasree Warrior; Microsoft’s board of directors At Twitter, three women — , Debra Lee, and — out of ; martha lane fox Marjorie M Scardino 10 board members Uber counts one woman in its — namely , who’s been trying to coach the company and its co-founder and chief executive officer to change the culture from the inside. six-member board Arianna Huffington Travis Kalanick Why the numbers are so small overall? Do numbers matter? Numbers certainly matter, as shown by “Our commitment to inclusion and diversity is fundamental to who we are and crucial to the effectiveness of our service,” . a Twitter blog post highlighting the companies diversity achievements in 2016 reads But despite that, they acknowledge: “We know that the effects of our actions — many of which were new for 2016 — cannot be immediate. We are focused on sustained efforts that will help us draw more diverse talent, create great experiences and careers, and foster a culture of belonging that fully lives up to the spirit of community on Twitter itself.” And for 2017, Twitter’s targets seem a bit underwhelming with a goal to achieve 37% of women overall — 1% more than 2016 — and to up underrepresented minorities to 13% from 11%. Twitter co-founder and chief executive officer commented : “We focus a lot on the people we don’t have versus the people we do have and how to grow them.” Jack Dorsey during a sit down with the cast of the movie Circle But when asked, “Is [the lack of diversity] a generational thing that’s still there as an echo? Or are we not as advanced as we like to think that we are… if that’s still a thing that’s being addressed?” he answered: “I’m not really sure, actually. I’m not sure what the causes are. Some of it probably comes down to location and where a lot of these things started, and just holding onto a particular locale instead of really broadening out. I think first just acknowledging it and then like, what are the most tangible steps that we can take, that we can actually build into our DNA and our practice every day, has been our focus. But it’s a good question.” , global head of diversity and inclusion at , wrote in that “diversity and inclusion is a huge opportunity — the opportunity to use different experiences and ideas to build a better workplace and a better company.” Bernard C. Coleman III Uber the company’s first-ever diversity report He added: “It’s amazing the progress you can make by harnessing employees’ differences for the collective good.” Uber’s Kalanick that their first diversity report “is a first step in showing that diversity and inclusion is a priority at Uber.” told Business Insider I know that we have been too slow in publishing our numbers — and that the best way to demonstrate our commitment to change is through transparency. And to make progress, it’s important we measure what matters. But Uber’s numbers don’t seem to reflect the statements put out there, in particular if you account the many issues the company has been facing, including public harassment and sexism charges from former employees like , , and . Susan J. Fowler Amy Vertino Keala (key-ay-luh) “Yes, there were some bad apples, unquestionably. But this is not a systemic problem,” . “What is important is that the structures that were not in place are now being put in place to make sure that women, minorities, everyone, feels completely comfortable at Uber.” Arianna Huffington told CNN back in March , of TechCrunch highlights that “since , thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, followed by willing disclosures by many well-known tech companies, very little has changed” and many tech groups haven’t yet released their numbers, including Lyft, Snap, Spotify, and Tesla. In a recent article Megan Rose Dickey the first diversity data came out in 2013 Dickey argues that “although diversity reports […] are good for the sake of transparency and accountability, they accomplish very little else” and they don’t seem to affect or impact a company’s culture as “they don’t make the work environment any better for people who may feel marginalized, passed over, discriminated against or harassed.” What that tells us is that raw numbers and percentages don’t have an impact on culture. Food for thought!

Alphabet

Apple

Facebook

Google

Lyft

Microsoft

Techcrunch

Tesla

Twitter

Uber

G7 calls for tech groups to fight terrorism online

Is the Internet broken?

Read my book!

Read My Stories

Too Long; Didn't Read

CTA: Download the FREE AI Productivity Shift report

Are tech groups bad at diversity?

Are tech groups bad at diversity?

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

Untitled Story

How Nonprofits Can Use TikTok for Digital Diplomacy

200 Black Women in Tech to Follow on Twitter {2023 List}

200 Black Women In Tech To Follow on Twitter {2021 List}

200 Black Women In Tech To Follow on Twitter {2020 List}

19 Stories To Learn About Women

How Nonprofits Can Use TikTok for Digital Diplomacy

200 Black Women in Tech to Follow on Twitter {2023 List}

200 Black Women In Tech To Follow on Twitter {2021 List}

200 Black Women In Tech To Follow on Twitter {2020 List}

19 Stories To Learn About Women

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps