Facebook On Workforce Diversity: We Have A Lot More Work To Do
There's a giant microscope hovering over Silicon Valley examining workplace diversity, or the lack thereof, as more and more companies release reports on the topic. The latest to do is Facebook, and as with many other tech firms, the majority of the company's employees are white and male, especially those holding down management positions.
According to Facebook's diversity report, 69 percent of the social network's employees are male. When narrowing the focus on specific areas, 85 percent of the company's tech workers and 77 percent of its management team are male.
Gender isn't the only area where it's noticeably lopsided. In the U.S. 57 percent of Facebook's employees are white, 34 percent are Asian, 4 percent are Hispanic, and just 2 percent are black. Facebook knows it has plenty of room to improve and balance things out.
"As these numbers show, we have more work to do -- a lot more," said Maxine Williams, Facebook's global head of diversity.
It's difficult to truly gauge how deep the problem is because tech companies are super reluctant to share this kind of data. CNNMoney said it tried to do some digging by filing Freedom of Information Act requests, but that Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Google, IBM, and Microsoft all successfully petitioned the Department of Labor to exclude their data.
Not all companies are so guarded. Yahoo, for example, recently released a diversity report of its own, which showed that women comprise 37 percent of its workforce. Yahoo is one of the few tech companies to be led by a woman (Marissa Mayer).
According to Facebook's diversity report, 69 percent of the social network's employees are male. When narrowing the focus on specific areas, 85 percent of the company's tech workers and 77 percent of its management team are male.
Gender isn't the only area where it's noticeably lopsided. In the U.S. 57 percent of Facebook's employees are white, 34 percent are Asian, 4 percent are Hispanic, and just 2 percent are black. Facebook knows it has plenty of room to improve and balance things out.
"As these numbers show, we have more work to do -- a lot more," said Maxine Williams, Facebook's global head of diversity.
It's difficult to truly gauge how deep the problem is because tech companies are super reluctant to share this kind of data. CNNMoney said it tried to do some digging by filing Freedom of Information Act requests, but that Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Google, IBM, and Microsoft all successfully petitioned the Department of Labor to exclude their data.
Not all companies are so guarded. Yahoo, for example, recently released a diversity report of its own, which showed that women comprise 37 percent of its workforce. Yahoo is one of the few tech companies to be led by a woman (Marissa Mayer).
