Google hires diversity VP as fresh report reveals its workforce is still overwhelmingly white and male
Google has hired a vice-president of diversity in the form of Intel's ex-chief diversity and inclusion officer, Danielle Brown, to help it move the needle in closing the company's gender and race gap.
Google still overwhelmingly white despite as it inches toward greater diversity
The appointment comes as Google's latest diversity report revealed that its workforce is still overwhelmingly white and male, despite a marginal improvement in the representation of Latino staff.
Google, like much of Silicon Valley, has faced criticism for being predominantly white, Asian and male – at odds with the demography of the US as a whole. This situation remains true in 2016 despite efforts to broaden representation of minorities.
Over the course of the year Latino staff saw their representation increase from just 3% in 2015 to 4%, a marginal improvement which still managed to beat the increase for black employees and women, the proportion of whom remained flat at 2% and 31% respectively.
Women in more specialised technical and leadership roles did witness a significant jump however, gaining 1% in both areas to reach 20% and 25% each.
Asian staff, meanwhile, cemented their presence further with the biggest percentage leap of any group as they jumped from 32% to 35% - mirroring a fall in the number of white employees by 3% to 56%.
Where leadership roles are considered it is a different matter, with just 27% of Asian individuals holding top jobs as opposed to an overwhelming 68% of white people.
Earlier this week Twitter ramped up its own diversity efforts with the appointment of Candi Castleberry-Singleton as vice-president of inclusion and diversity. Apple made a similar move at the end of May, enlisting longtime employee Denise Young Smith to head up its diversity efforts.
Brown will start in her role at Google in July, with the company saying in a blog post that she joins with "the deep conviction that Google provides a platform where she and the team can make a real impact internally and across the tech industry."