Facebook recently published its diversity update, sharing the company’s short-, medium- and long-term plans to build a more diverse and inclusive company.
And Facebook isn’t the only company to share its data on workplace diversity (or lack thereof). Many companies release diversity reports, highlighting their own demographic breakdowns and plans for the future.
So let’s use some of those to compare the diversity breakdowns of six tech-based companies.
The companies and the reports
Facebook’s most recent diversity update is based on data from July 2016.
Google’s diversity report uses data from January 2017.
Apple’s most recent diversity report is based upon data from June 2016.
Microsoft’s report is based on data from Sept. 30, 2016.
Twitter’s diversity data is from December 2016.
Amazon’s demographic data is from July 2016.
Gender
Amazon has the highest percentage of female employees — 39 percent — when compared to the other five companies.
Twitter is in second place in terms of gender diversity at 37 percent, and Facebook came in third, with a global workforce of 35 percent women and 65 percent men.
Apple comes in fourth; 68 percent of its employees are men and 32 percent are women. Google is closely behind, with 69/31 percent split.
Microsoft is in dead last, with a workforce that’s roughly 74 percent men and 26 percent women.
Race
All of these companies have U.S. workforces that are majority white. Amazon has the smallest percentage of white employees, at 48 percent. Facebook is 49 percent white, Apple and Google are 56 percent white, Twitter is 57 percent white, and Microsoft has the largest percentage of white employees, at 58 percent.
Amazon is the only company on this list to have black employees as their second-largest demographic (21 percent). The other five companies have Asian workers as their second-largest demographic. Amazon’s workforce is 13 percent Asian, making Asian workers the company’s third-largest racial group.
Every other company has a higher percentage of Asian employees than Amazon: 19 percent at Apple, 30.5 percent at Microsoft, 32 percent at Twitter, 35 percent at Google and a whopping 40 percent of employees are Asian at Facebook.
Amazon’s workforce is 13 percent Hispanic, a number that’s followed closely by Apple’s 12 percent. After those two companies there’s a significant drop in Hispanic workers; Microsoft’s workforce is 5.5 percent Hispanic, Facebook’s is 5 percent and Google and Twitter each have 4 percent Hispanic workforces.
In terms of black workers, Amazon completely dominates the field with its 21 percent. Apple is somewhere in the middle, at 9 percent, sitting significantly lower than Amazon but significantly higher than the rest of the companies. Microsoft’s workforce is 3.7 percent black and Twitter and Facebook follow closely behind at 3 percent. Google ranks the lowest in terms of black employees, with a meager 2 percent.
In terms of “other” employees — workers who are multiracial, American Indian and Native Hawaiian — all of the companies sit around or below 5 percent. Amazon and Google are both at 5 percent, Facebook and Twitter are around 4 percent, Apple is 3 percent and Microsoft is somewhere between 2 and 3 percent.
Takeaway
Though diversity reports suggest that many companies are striving to build more diverse and inclusive workplaces, the numbers suggest that there’s still a long way to go. All of these companies have thousands of employees, which means they have thousands of chances to hire diverse workers; hiring a single-digit percentage of Hispanic or Black workers isn’t going to cut it.
So hopefully these companies effectively utilize their opportunities and funding to encourage diversity. Equalizing workplace opportunities is vital, and by taking initiative, these companies are taking an important step in the right direction.
Have something to add to this story? Comment below or join the discussion on Facebook.
Header image: Getty Images
