Meanwhile, women only make up 32.9 percent of Snap’s workforce with only 16 percent in technical roles. Along with the numbers, Snap says it’s setting new goals, including doubling the number of women in tech at Snap by 2023 and doubling the number of underrepresented US racial and ethnic minorities at Snap by 2025. Long-term, the team says it wants to “reflect the racial and gender diversity (including non-binary) of the different places where we operate.”
To reach these milestones, it’ll also implement new initiatives, like tying leadership performance to diversity, expanding its mentorship program, and innovating its machine learning tools to prevent bias. Along with the diversity report, it released its “CitizenSnap” report, a 50-page document outlining its work in social and environmental causes. It also mentions how Snap’s providing employees based out of its Santa Monica, California headquarters with a “robust living wage” of $70,000, and adjusting that number based on where employees are located.
The diversity report’s release arrives after more than a month of increased scrutiny of Snap’s diversity and its product. CEO Evan Spiegel told employees in an all-hands meeting last month that the team wouldn’t release these diversity numbers publicly because it might perpetuate the belief that Silicon Valley companies aren’t diverse. (For comparison, Facebook
Although Snap
“We reviewed the Lens from the standpoint of Black creative content, made by and for Black people, so did not adequately consider how it would look when used by non-Black members of our community,” she wrote.
Now, Snap is joining many of its counterparts in releasing its diversity numbers, which, while not great, set it up to be more accountable to the public.