TOPLINE
Facing allegations of discriminatory behavior from employees, Snap published its first annual diversity report Wednesday looking at team demographics from 2019, becoming the latest company to reckon with diversity and inclusion following a resurgent Black Lives Matter movement this summer.
In this screengrab CEO Evan Spiegel, speaks at the virtual Snap Partner Summit2020.
KEY FACTS
In 2019, Snap’s team was 4.1% Black and 6.8% Latinx and 32.9% of staff identifed as female; at the director-level and above, the leadership team was 2.6% Black, 2.6% Latinx, 16.5% Asian, 7% multiracial, 70.4% white and 24.3% identified as female.
The diversity report outlines steps Snap has taken to improve, including hiring Google exec Oona King as its first vice president of diversity and inclusion in 2019, creating hiring goals for underrepresented groups and instituting a “living wage pledge” which set a minimum employee salary of $70,000 for all employees at headquarters and equity grants for employees worldwide.
CEO and founder Evan Spiegel addressed concerns of racism at an all-hands meeting last month and said he was concerned with releasing diversity reports because they “effectively normalize the current makeup of the tech industry, of which Snapchat's in line,” but said the team would work on a report that would include Snap’s diversity and inclusion strategy, according to a Business Insider report.
The meeting came days after former employees shared their experiences as people of color at the company on Twitter, including discriminatory behavior from leadership team members.
Five former employees who worked on the content team from 2014 and 2018 told Mashable that editorial practices were racially biased and they had to advocate for Black representation; Snap said it would investigate the allegations.
This month, Snap hired a law firm and launched an internal investigation into allegations of racism and sexism, according to a Business Insider report.
This isn’t the first time Snap has been criticized — in 2016, people said that some of Snap’s filters were racially insensitive, including one which “whitewashed” skin, one gave users slanted eyes and another turned people into Bob Marley, effectively creating blackface — and this year the company apologized for a Juneteenth filter that prompted users to “smile and break the chains” of slavery.
key background
When many prominent Silicon Valley tech companies started publishing diversity reports in 2014, there was hope that transparency would be a catalyst for change. Looking at 2019 data, Google said 51.7% of all employees were white, 41.9% were Asian and 32% of employees were female; Facebook said 41% were white, 44.4% were Asian and and 37% were female; and Twitter said 40.9% were white, 27.7% were Asian and 42% were female.
big number
91%. That is the percentage of Snap’s tech employees who were white or Asian in 2019. Just 16.1% of all tech employees identified as female.
further reading
Snap Inc. Diversity Annual Report (Snap)
Snap CEO says in internal meeting he doesn't release diversity numbers because it would reinforce the perception that Silicon Valley isn't diverse (Business Insider)
Snapchat ex-employees say past editorial practices were racially biased (Mashable)
Snap is investigating allegations of racism and sexism within the company after some employees complained of a 'whitewashed' culture (Business Insider)
Five Years of Tech Diversity Reports—and Little Progress (Wired)
