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Sheryl Sandberg

Facebook making 'slight' progress on diversity

Jessica Guynn
USA TODAY
Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook.

SAN FRANCISCO — Don't expect Facebook to show much progress in its year-old effort to increase the diversity of its work force.

That was the message from Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg this week at the company's annual meeting.

In response to questions from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sandberg said Facebook had made "slightly more progress" in recruiting women and underrepresented minorities but "we know we have a long way to go."

Facebook will release statistics on the diversity of its work force at the end of June, the same time as last year, Sandberg said.

Sandberg touted some of Facebook's diversity initiatives such as bias training for employees and requiring that vendors pay workers at least $15 an hour and give them 15 paid days off a year for sick leave, holidays and vacation.

"Despite your best efforts, the representation of African Americans and Latinos remain basically static," said Jackson, the civil rights leader who is putting pressure on major technology companies, which are staffed mostly by white and Asian men. "Too many technology companies have zero, or too few, women or people of color in the boardrooms and c-suites and in the workforce."

When Rev. Jackson called on Facebook to use the departure of Donald Graham as an opportunity to make its board more diverse, Sandberg did not respond. Of the nine Facebook directors, two are women, all are white.

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