Google's nearly static diversity numbers point to long road ahead

SAN FRANCISCO — A year ago, facing mounting criticism from civil rights leaders, Google took a major step to address gender and racial imbalance in its workforce: It publicly divulged that lack of diversity.

Major technology companies soon followed suit, leading to a more open dialogue about diversity in an industry dominated by white and Asian men.

On Monday, Google released an update on its efforts to close the gender and racial gap. The update shows the Internet giant is moving the needle but very slowly.

At Google, seven out of 10 employees are still men. Most employees are white (60%) and Asian (31%). Latinos made up just 3% of the work force, African Americans 2% — a far cry from fulfilling the mission of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to have their company reflect the diversity of its customers in the USA and around the world.

But Nancy Lee, Google's vice president of people operations, told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview that the company is seeing "a lot of positive trends."

"I think we are getting better and we are hoping that ultimately we are able to accelerate the improvement," Lee said.

Women made slight progress in technical roles at Google since last year, rising one percentage point to 18%, but African Americans and Hispanics were unchanged at 1% and 2% respectively.

Among non-technical employees, African Americans gained ground, making up 4% versus 3% a year ago. Women lost ground, representing 47% versus 48%. Hispanics didn't budge at 4%.

In Google's leadership ranks, women now account for 22%, up from 21%, but Hispanics and African Americans made no progress in climbing the corporate ladder at Google.

Making substantial change in one year at an Internet giant that employs nearly 56,000 isn't possible, Lee said.

But, she said, Google has the "deep commitment and the sustained commitment" to grow the numbers "over the long run."

The diversity report hints at the enormity of the task ahead for Google and the industry overall.

"The system moves slowly so we must remain persistent," said Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has led the campaign to pressure technology companies on diversity.

"This is a long distance struggle" for the industry to look like America and the communities it depends on "for growth and success," he said in an interview with USA TODAY.

For years Google and other technology companies resisted divulging the racial and gender breakdown of their work forces. On Monday, Rev. Jackson called on technology companies to set specific goals for hiring more women and underrepresented minorities and to commit to reporting regularly on their progress in reaching those goals.

He also said his organization, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, wants other technology companies to commit to releasing this year's diversity data by Sept. 1. EBay is the only major tech company to release its diversity numbers so far this year.

"I'll give Google an 'A' for transparency and attitude," Rev. Jackson said. "But they must be bold enough to set goals, targets and timetables to include those who have never been given the chance."

Google says it's focusing significant resources on bringing more diversity to its own ranks and to the technology industry. It says it will spend $150 million in 2015 alone on diversity initiatives that range from casting a wider net on college campuses to changing the perception of computer science as a field best suited for white and Asian men.

"This is not just a numbers game for us," Lee said. "We want to be thoughtful and get at root causes of what created the lack of diversity in the industry in the first place."

She says Google is targeting parity, in other words, that its work force better reflect the population it serves.

With investments in scholarships for women and more on-campus recruiting, one in five technical hires at Google last year were women, up from 13% of technical hires five years ago, Lee said.

Last year, 22% of software engineers hired through campus outreach were women.

"Ultimately there isn't any reason why women who are 50% of the world and more than 50% of college grads are so underrepresented in technical fields," Lee said. "We should have parity. But that's a much longer game."

Google says it's also hiring more African Americans and Hispanics in technical roles, even though that increase is not apparent in the numbers Google reported Monday.

African Americans and Hispanics in technical and non-technical roles grew at a faster pace than hiring in those roles overall, Google said, the result of initiatives to double the number of universities it recruits from and deepening ties to historically black colleges and universities.

"A lot of what we are doing is doubling down on things that are working," she said.

Diversity consultant Joelle Emerson says Google has "catalyzed a pretty significant change" with technology companies now taking a hard look at the lack of diversity and taking steps to improve hiring and retention of women and underrepresented minorities.

But, she said, meaningful change is a long ways off.

"When companies ask me if there is a company they should look to as a model in creating more diversity, I say no," Emerson said. "Then I say, 'but I think Google will get there. They are really trying.'"