Latest Facebook diversity report shows little change

Facebook’s latest diversity numbers show that most of their employees are white and male, which does not fit well with the social media giant’s diversity goals. The Silicon Valley-based company released its diversity report Thursday.

The company has only seen a slight gain over the past year of increasing the percentage of nonwhite and female employees, Mercury News reports. Worldwide, Facebook has only increased the amount of females from 31 to 32 percent since June 2014.

In the U.S., the number of white employees has dropped from 57 to 55 percent, the percentage of Asian employees has increased from 34 to 36 percent, and the numbers for black, Latino and multiracial employees have not moved. Of its 9,000 employees, more than half of the U.S. staff are still white.

Facebook’s senior leadership is also dominated by white males. Nearly 73 percent of high positions are held by white employees.

The company did not supply a complete breakdown of employees of different ethnic backgrounds at different firm ranks. Though it is required by law, a spokeswoman said there was a lag in filling the report.

It looks like Facebook is not alone. According to the president of the social justice organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition Rev. Jesse Jackson, Google and eBay have not had great numbers either. He called the lack of change “disappointing” and said that tech companies must do better by setting “measurable goals, targets and timetables” to “move the needle in diversity and inclusion.”

Facebook’s global director of diversity Maxine Williams said that although the company has seem some change, they clearly are not where they want to be. “There’s more work to do,” Williams said.

Facebook is looking to universities and students for more diversity. They are also teaching managers about unconscious biased in an attempt to address the problem, according to Bloomberg.

In addition, they have used a strategy similar to the Rooney Rule in the National Football League where they consider at least one minority for open positions. They have also created support groups for women interested in engineering and computer science and increased opportunities for college freshmen to receive training.

“Having a diverse workforce is not only the right thing to do — it’s the smart thing to do for our business,” Williams said.

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