Workforce Diversity, equity and Inclusion (DEI): Technology industry updates from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Splunk & More.
How are the technology industry and Silicon Valley addressing workforce diversity, equity and inclusion? Check this ChannelE2E blog for ongoing updates. We track market research, corporate policies, key DEI leaders, and initiatives designed to address social equality across:
- education and access to opportunity;
- recruiting and hiring practices;
- compensation;
- community support;
- career development;
- staff retention;
- executive leadership; and
- much more.
Note: Blog originally published June 18, 2020. Ongoing updates thereafter. If you have an update to share, please email details to ChannelE2E’s Joe Panettieri (Joe.Panettieri@CyberRiskAlliance.com).
Activision Blizzard: The video game company has hired a law firm to investigate complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace. The announcement came hours before a planned employee walkout over the company’s reaction to allegations made in a recent lawsuit. Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2021.
Adobe: The company recaps its diversity and inclusion efforts here. Source: Adobe, April 20, 2021.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Alphabet and Google: Multiple updates…
- Google announced a new hiring goal and security policy to address racial issues at its offices. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that by 2025, the company aims to have 30% more of its leaders be from underrepresented groups. About 96% of Google’s U.S. leaders are white or Asian, and 73% globally are men. Source: Reuters, June 18, 2020.
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Google and parent company Alphabet Inc. are committing more than $175 million to advance Black businesses and entrepreneurs and are moving toward increasing representation of people of color in their leadership ranks. Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal, June 17, 2020.
- More than 1,100 Google employees circulated a petition internally, calling for Google to end police contracts. The letter tells the company to “take real steps to dismantle racism” by cutting off business contracts with agencies. Source: CNBC, June 22, 2020.
- Four female former employees of Google are trying to persuade a state court to let them represent more than 10,000 peers in a gender-pay disparity suit against the company, setting the stage for the next big battle over class-action status. Google denies the allegations. Source: Bloomberg, July 21, 2020.
- Alphabet is proposing to tap the bond market at rock bottom yields, in a rare debt sale that will help combat racial inequality, among other sustainability projects. The parent company of Google is looking to fund organizations that support Black entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses impacted by Covid-19, as well as affordable housing, among other eligible proceeds listed in bond documents. Source: Bloomberg, August 3, 2020.
- Google reassigned one of the leaders of its diversity team after antisemitic comments from a blog post he had written in 2007 resurfaced in early June 2021. Source: Cnet, June 3, 2021.
- Google plans to shut down a long-running program aimed at entry-level engineers from underrepresented backgrounds after participants said it enforced “systemic pay inequities.” Source: Reuters, June 22, 2021.
Beth Galetti, senior VP,
people eXperience and technology,
Amazon
Alicia Boler Davis,
VP of global customer fulfillment,
Amazon
Amazon: Multiple updates…
- Amazon has added the first Black member to its prestigious S-team, a group of executives that advises CEO Jeff Bezos. Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment, is joining the S-team — along with John Felton and Dave Treadwell — as consumer chief Jeff Wilke departs the company. Boler Davis joined Amazon last year after serving as a top lieutenant at GM. Source: Business Insider, August 21, 2020.
- Amazon was sued for allegedly discriminating against Black and female workers in hiring employees for its corporate offices. The lawsuit, filed March 1, 2021 in federal court in Washington, alleges that Amazon hires people of color “at lower levels” and promotes them less than White co-workers with similar qualifications. The claims include discrimination and harassment as well as violations of the Equal Pay Act. Amazon didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on the suit. Source: Bloomberg, March 1, 2021.
- Amazon vowed to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across its business. Senior VP Beth Galetti described Amazon’s progress on DEI in 2020, and new Amazon DEI goals for 2021. Moreover, Amazon pledged to increase the amount amount and specificity of data the company shares publicly on amazon.com/diversity. Source: Amazon, April 14, 2021.
- Amazon plans to investigate allegations of discrimination and bias within its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud business after an employee petition criticizing the culture and seeking an AWS probe garnered hundreds of signatures. Source: GeekWire, July 23, 2021.
Activision Blizzard: The video game company has hired a law firm to investigate complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace. The announcement came hours before a planned employee walkout over the company’s reaction to allegations made in a recent lawsuit. Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2021.
Adobe: The company recaps its diversity and inclusion efforts here. Source: Adobe, April 20, 2021.
Tim Cook
Apple CEO
Barbara Whye,
VP of inclusion and diversity,
Apple
Apple: Multiple updates…
- Apple’s head of diversity and inclusion Christie Smith has left the company. Her successor has not been named as of this report. Apple’s diversity and inclusion team will continue to report to Deirdre O’Brien, senior VP of retail and people. Source: Bloomberg, June 17, 2020.
- More than half of new Apple hires in 2018 were Black, Hispanic or from other historically underrepresented groups in tech. Women accounted for 38 percent of Apple workforce under the age of 30, compared to 33 percent of the overall staff. Source: Bloomberg, June 17, 2020.
- CEO Tim Cook said the company was starting a $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative focusing on criminal justice reform and expanding opportunities for people of color. Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal, June 18, 2020.
- Apple is deepening its existing partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), adding 10 more HBCU regional coding centers that will serve as technology hubs for their campuses and broader communities. Source: Apple, July 16, 2020.
- Apple has hired Intel veteran Barbara Whye as vice president of inclusion and diversity. Whye will join Apple in early 2021. Source: Fortune, November 2020.
- Apple has announced a set of new projects as part of its $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI) to help dismantle systemic barriers to opportunity and combat injustices faced by communities of color, the technology giant says. Source: Apple, January 13, 2021.
- Apple has launched an inaugural Entrepreneur Camp for Black Founders and Developers. Source: Apple, February 16, 2021.
- Fifteen Black- and Brown-owned businesses will join Apple’s Impact Accelerator — which is designed to support equity and opportunity in the environmental sector. Source: Apple, August 17, 2021.
- Apple announced $30 million in new commitments as part of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI). These new projects, Apple says, include a Global Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) Equity Innovation Hub; expanded education initiatives for community colleges and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); a new cohort of the Apple Entrepreneur Camp immersive tech lab for Hispanic/Latinx founders and developers; and funding for leaders working to advance criminal justice reform and environmental justice. Source: Apple, August 31, 2021.
- An Apple employee who led fellow workers in publicly sharing instances of what they called harassment and discrimination at the company said she had been fired, according to Reuters. When asked about the alleged employee firing, Apple said it does not discuss specific employee matters, the report added. Source: Reuters, October 15, 2021.
Aryaka: CEO Matt Carter offered his thoughts on inclusion, diversity and equality in the interview below. Source: ChannelE2E, June 29, 2020.
This blog describes the context that set the stage for ChannelE2E’s interview with Carter.
Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition: See ongoing updates involving business policies, social issues and potential racial bias here. Source: ChannelE2E, January 2020 and ongoing thereafter.
Atos: Multiple updates…
- Atos UK and Ireland has once again been recognized as a leading employer of women by its inclusion in the Times Top 50 Employer for Women 2021. Source: HPC Wire, April 30, 2021.
- Cloudreach, an Atos business, is working with Amazon Web Services to expand a Talent Academy. The academy is designed to, “discover and nurture new cloud talent in-line with our joint mission to create a more diverse and inclusive technical community. Source: CloudReach, March 11, 2022.
This blog was written by Joe Panettieri and updated on March 12, 2022. To continue reading this informative article please click here.
