Google’s 2018 diversity report recognizes ‘need to do more’ w/ leadership increasing role

Abner Li | Jun 14 2018 - 3:38 pm PT

Google today published its 2018 annual report on diversity in a year that saw the hiring of new chief diversity & inclusion officer, as well as an “anti-diversity” document by a now ex-employee. In 2017, diveristy at Google only increased minimally compared to the year prior.

Vice President Danielle Brown is frank in immediately stating that the company is not meeting its established diversity and inclusion outcomes despite “significant effort.” When Brown was hired last June, she also noted that there was “clearly much more to do.”

In terms of gender globally, the number of females at Google only grew a tenth of a percentage point in 2017 to 30.9%. Across the world, 25.5% of leadership is female and 74.5% is male. Google’s current U.S. workforce is 53.1% White, 36.3% Asian, 4.2% two or more races, 3.6% Hispanic/Latino, 2.5% Black, and .3% Native American. The latter category’s percentage remained unchanged, while Hispanic and Black only rose a tenth of a point.

Acknowledging that the company “need[s] to do more,” Google is starting by including Google’s senior leadership in diversity and inclusion efforts.

Our leadership will share ownership for improved outcomes, taking actions based on the current state of their organization.

In the past, initiatives were primarily led by the People Operations division and grassroot Googler efforts. Moving forward, there will be a new “shared ownership with Google’s most senior leaders” who are “focused on, and committed to, accelerating our progress.”

: Workforce

: Leadership

Meanwhile, Google is publishing more detailed workforce representation data — including attrition and workforce representation data cut by race and gender. It is taking a “more systemic approach to improve outcomes in workforce representation, and to create an inclusive culture.” Future efforts will be governed by the following four principles:

Equity: Drive fairness within Google’s processes, as well as in our distribution of resources and opportunity.
Diversity: Endeavor to attract, develop, progress, and retain more underrepresented talent at all levels of Google’s workforce, reaching or exceeding the available talent pool.
Inclusion: Ensure Google is a workplace where every employee feels welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. We seek to embrace diversity and create the conditions for everyone to thrive.
Integrity: Set a high bar for Google and Googlers to operate in accordance with our values, our Code of Conduct, and the law.

The company is also continuing it works on overcoming unconscious bias, which is also an area of focus in Google’s AI principles, while working to be inclusive of people with disabilities, those who identify as LGBTQ+, older Googlers, and veterans.