This Is How Big Tech Is Failing Its Black Employees
Lofty promises by large corporations only skim the surface of Big Tech’s problems with educating and recruiting diverse talent
By Michael Ellison
Six years ago, Silicon Valley decided to own up to its diversity problem. Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all began releasing annual diversity reports, providing public transparency into the stark underrepresentation of Black and Latinx workers at their companies, promising to do better. The move would help hold the industry accountable, so they claimed, in meeting their latest round of diversity goals.
It didn’t work. The share of technical workers who are Black at Facebook, Google, and Microsoft has inched up less than one percentage point since 2014 and still sits below 4% at each company.
Today, the industry is experiencing a moment similar to what it saw in 2014: Large companies are lining up to announce new diversity pledges, and it genuinely seems like many leaders want to change. The last few months have forced systemic racism into the sightline of business leaders, and companies are also finding that diversity is good for their bottom line. Here’s the problem: They also know that they’re probably going to come up short again.
