Google Diversity Figures Show Little Change

BBC News

Harmeet Dhillon

A new report from Google has revealed that little has changed despite a commitment to increasing diversity among staff employed by the tech giant.

Overall nearly 70% of Google staff were men, as has been the case since 2014.

In the US almost 90% were white or Asian, 2.5% were black and 3.6% Latin American.

The figures also showed that black and Latin American employees had the highest attrition rate in 2017 – those choosing to leave.

Last year a former Google employee, James Damore, was fired after writing an internal memo arguing there were few women in top jobs at the firm because of biological differences between men and women.

“We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” he wrote.

Other figures from the report included:

  • Just over 25% of leaders were women in 2018, up nearly 5% since 2014.
  • Of the overall US staff hired in 2017, 31.2% were women, although this dropped to 24.5% for tech new recruits
  • In the US, just under 67% of leadership positions were held by white staff and 2% by black employees
  • White and Asian staff make up the vast majority of the workforce in all areas listed: tech, non-tech, leadership and overall
  • In non-tech roles the gender divide is the closest, with around 48% women and 52% men

Read the full article on BBC.

Harmeet Dhillon is a nationally recognized lawyer, trusted boardroom advisor, and passionate advocate for individual, corporate and institutional clients across numerous industries and walks of life. Her focus is in commercial litigation, employment law, First Amendment rights, and election law matters.
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