As tech giants renew vows to diversify their workforces, a look at why their efforts have fallen short, especially in retaining new Black and Latinx employees
Quora Inc., which runs the eponymous questions and answers website, couldn't figure this one out: Why were so many Black … Tweets: @rebeccamkern , @dinabass , @girlsintech , @paigesmithnews , @adblanche , @kathytpham , @sbanjo , @prflaw , @sbanjo , @dinabass , and @timnitgebru Tweets: Rebecca Kern / @rebeccamkern : “About 21% of computer science graduates are Black or Latinx, yet they represent only 10% of technical roles at the 20 top-grossing tech companies. More than 97% of tech startup founders and their venture capital backers are White or Asian.” Read more from @dinabass and @sbanjo https://twitter.com/... Dina Bass / @dinabass : The tech industry has largely failed to attract and keep Black employees, despite years of rigorous data tracking and much public pledging to improve. @sbanjo and I talked to employees, former employees and diversity officers to see why: https://www.bloomberg.com/... Girls / @girlsintech : The racial unrest has called attention to the lack of #peopleofcolor across corporate America. About 21% of #computerscience graduates are Black or Latinx yet they occupy only 10% of tech roles at the 20 top #tech companies. What can we do to #closethegap? https://ow.ly/... Paige Smith / @paigesmithnews : “They didn't inherit the same racial disparities entrenched at banks and other centuries-old institutions. Yet they've replicated the same rot.” https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @BW @adblanche : It is *common* for tech companies with millions in revenue to give their CDOs (non-recruiting / marketing) budgets of $150,000 or less. Thank you @Shellybanjo @dinabass for covering this story that's so crucial to the future of humanity. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Kathy Pham / @kathytpham : “Black Googlers who speak out are criticized even as the company holds them up as examples of its commitment to diversity.” - a common trend for organizations to publicly gain from individuals, and privately punish them https://twitter.com/... Shelly Banjo / @sbanjo : “It's not just, 'Don't put your knee on my neck.' It's also, 'Help me get a job and build wealth, because I'm qualified and you're not even looking in my direction.' "@RPCoalition's Joseph Bryant tells me for this story on tech's lack of diversity. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Peter Romer-Friedman / @prflaw : Terrific article detailing how major tech co's have failed to diversify their workforces and describing how Black workers — including my clients at Facebook — are taking a stand to end systemic racial discrimination in Silicon Valley.https://www.bloomberg.com/ ... Shelly Banjo / @sbanjo : “One of my managers used to call all the things I was doing around diversity 'extracurriculars,'"says former Facebooker @BariAWilliams “Leadership can talk ab diversity all day long, but if managers don't buy in, it's not going to happen.” https://www.bloomberg.com/... Dina Bass / @dinabass : A very thoughtful thread on our story and the issue of underfunding D&I and counting other things in that budget: https://twitter.com/... Timnit Gebru / @timnitgebru : https://www.bloomberg.com/... “The reality is that Black employees are leaving faster than they're being hired because, for people of color, many tech companies can be painful places to work.”