There’s a growing movement in technology to finally be transparent about diversity in the workforce and release data that illustrates how many women and minorities work for companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple.
Although such initiatives are gaining support, tech companies in Silicon Valley remain off the lists that rank successful places for diversity in the workforce.
On Tuesday, Black Enterprise magazine released a list of the top 40 best companies for diversity, specifically emphasizing African-American representation, USA Today reported. Conspicuously missing from the list is any one of the Silicon Valley companies that have touted diversity efforts in recent months.
The top companies out of 1,000 surveyed include AT&T, FedEx, and J.P. Morgan Chase. To figure out which companies made the cut, Black Enterprise took a look at the representation in all levels of the workplace, including board members, suppliers, and company leadership.
Companies provided the magazine with the data voluntarily, and Derek Dingle, chief content officer of Black Enterprise, told USA Today that some Silicon Valley companies didn’t provide the magazine with a survey and others just flat out said they weren’t interested in participating.
It’s interesting that such companies would neglect to be open with the magazine, especially considering the commitments many of them have made to diversifying the workforce. Publicly available data illustrates that they likely wouldn’t have made the cut anyway; major tech company workforces are largely white and male.
The industry is still in the nascent stages of making diversity a focal point. Intel recently promised $300 million to improve diversity and has said the company will create actionable goals to address the issue, much like how Intel solves engineering problems.
While efforts announced in the last few months are unlikely to do much to move the needle immediately, hopefully in the coming years Silicon Valley will be not only willing to provide data to organizations that want to promote diverse workplaces, but actually make the lists Silicon Valley companies are regularly left off.
