Google Lacks Diversity: Employees Are Mostly White, Male
New data on the gender statistics of Google's workforce shows an absence of diversity.
Google says it doesn’t employ many female or non-white staff, even though it says it would like to and sees the benefits of having a more diverse organization.
The firm has published data on the gender breakdown of its workforce for the first time, revealing that only 17 percent of technical roles are taken by women.
The balance between the sexes is slightly more even across all roles, with a 30/70 percent split. However, women are much better represented in non-technical roles, at 48 percent, than in other areas at the Web giant.
As well as accounting for only 17 percent of technical positions, female staff make up only 21 percent of leadership roles, with men dominating at 79 percent.
Sadly and unsurprisingly, Google’s preference for hiring men is representative of the wider information technology (IT) industry. At present, women account for somewhere between 15 and 18 percent of IT professionals, a figure that the British Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered Institute for IT, said has fallen significantly in recent years.
On the ethnicity front, Google also shows a leaning toward white males for its most senior positions. Almost three-quarters of leadership roles go to white people, compared to 23 percent Asian, only 2 percent black, and 1 percent Hispanic.
In technical roles, Google quite likes people from Asia, who make up 34 percent of its workforce. But there are still only 2 percent Hispanic and 1 percent black technical staff, compared to 60 percent white.
Google has admitted it could do better at attracting women and ethnic minorities to the company, an objective the firm says will lead to “better decision-making, more relevant products, and makes work a whole lot more interesting.”
“We’re not where we want to be when it comes to diversity. And it is hard to address these kinds of challenges if you’re not prepared to discuss them openly, and with the facts,” Google says of its workforce statistics. “All of our efforts, including going public with these numbers, are designed to help us recruit and develop the world’s most talented and diverse people.”
This article was originally published on the Inquirer.
