Intel released its latest mid-year diversity report on Wednesday. Most of the key metrics ticked up just a little or remained flat despite concerted efforts by the chip maker in the past six months to target minorities and women in the hiring process.
Intel too far from its ambitious goal
Intel has committed around $300 million to make sure its staff shows what it calls the market availability of the U.S. tech workforce by 2020. But the latest report proves that even a lot of money cannot purchase overnight success in this area.
A note that was attached to the report and signed by Chief Executive Brian Krzanich, Human Resources leader Danielle Brown and Diversity and Inclusion chief Aisha Evans reads, “One of the biggest learnings we’ve had this year was that, while there are positive trends in the hiring of underrepresented minorities and our representation of women, we have a ways to go on our journey to making Intel a truly inclusive place.”
Intel’s efforts to hire women and minorities remained flat, with the two groups accounting for 43.4% of all hires, while in December, the number was 43.1%. The chip maker said it was at 99% pay equity for URMs, while its gender pay equity is at 100%. Women in senior positions increased from 16.5% six months ago to 18.2%, and in leadership positions, it grew from 17.6% to 18.7%.
Not much progress
About 53% of Intel’s employees are white, and 32% are Asian currently. This figure generally displays the diversity of tech companies, from tech giants like Apple and Google to small startups, as they continue to battle the challenge of creating a workforce that reflects the population of the United States in a better way. Several tech firms have resisted disclosing the percentages of their white and male work force, but activist groups and media outlets continue to pressure them. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition has made reporting diversity efforts almost compulsory.
Now many tech companies have diversity as their top priority. They are dedicating their resources to in-house nontraditional outreach programs and diversity programs in attempts frequently spearheaded by senior leaders who focus only on inclusion and diversity. Progress is, however, slow, despite this new-found emphasis.
In a report last month, Facebook disclosed that despite its best efforts, its employee makeup had changed slightly. Meanwhile Apple disclosed last week that its non-white workforce grew by one percentage point. The number of white employees increased by 2% to 56% as well. The iPhone maker disclosed that Hispanics went from 11% to 12%, Asians from 18% to 19%, and African-American employees from 8% to 9%.
