Google admits diversity in its workforce is ‘miles' from where it should be
Google has for the first time published data about the diversity of its workforce and admitted that it is "miles" from where it wants to be.
The figures have revealed that globally the search giant’s team is comprised of 70 per cent men and just 30 per cent women, while data from the US shows that 61 per cent of workers are white, 30 per cent are Asian and just 2 per cent are black.
In a post on Google’s blog Laszlo Bock, senior vice president, people operations said that the company had been reluctant to publish numbers in the past, but has since realised it “was wrong”.
“Put simply, Google is not where we want to be when it comes to diversity, and it’s hard to address these kinds of challenges if you’re not prepared to discuss them openly, and with the facts… But we’re the first to admit that Google is miles from where we want to be - and that being totally clear about the extent of the problem is a really important part of the solution.”
Bock said there are “lots of reasons” why technology companies like Google struggle to recruit and retain women and minorities, largely because women only account for around 18 per cent of all computer science degrees in the US, while black people make up under 10 percent of US college graduates.
He added that since 2010 Google has given more than $40m to organisations working to bring computer science education to women and girls and been working with “historically black” colleges and universities to “elevate coursework and attendance” in computer science.