Yahoo Finance Facebook's diversity dilemma
Despite Facebook’s (FB) efforts to improve diversity, the demographics of its workforce are little changed from last year.
The social networking company announced that Hispanics compose 4% of its worker base, while African Americans represent 2%, unchanged from its previous diversity report. Globally, 68% of its employees are male, a 1% decrease from last year.
“At Facebook, diversity is essential to achieving our mission. We build products to connect the world, and this means we need a team that understands and reflects many different communities, backgrounds and cultures,”
Maxine Williams, Facebook’s global head of diversity, said last year.
In the latest report Williams concedes that while Facebook has “achieved positive movement over the last year, it’s clear to all of us that we still aren’t where we want to be. There’s more work to do.”
Williams notes that the company plans to quadruple the number of freshman year paid training opportunities, through its Facebook University training program. The company is also piloting a diversity slate program, similar to the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires that at least one qualified candidate from an underrepresented group is considered for each job opening.
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"I'm sympathetic with Facebook," says Yahoo Finance’s Aaron Task. "They want to do this. It is the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean that Facebook can hire minorities just to hire them. They need to find qualified candidates, and it's not easy to get a job at Facebook, for anybody."
Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli adds that it will take a long time for Facebook to shift its employee demographics. He notes that Facebook is running up against a scarcity of potential candidates, which, he says, over time can be remedied.
"The people who are candidates to be an engineer...probably started coding in their bedroom when they were twelve years old," he says. "Google is also looking for [diversity], so you have competition for a very limited pool of people. I'm not surprised there wasn't much of a moving of the needle in one year's time."
Facebook started releasing its diversity numbers in 2014, following the lead of Google (GOOGL). Rick Newman applauds Facebook for publically exposing its diversity issues.
"I give Facebook credit for showing its cards on this, even if it doesn't look favorable to the company," he says. "This is a great opportunity for schools to double down on...coding, technology, engineering…There seems to be a real opportunity here to do something that's good for the Valley."
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