Noted civil rights activist, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has been pressuring Silicon Valley to diversify its ranks, on Thursday said Pinterest’s approach stood in stark contrast compared to other tech companies that would serve well to emulate its strategy.
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“We think one reason it’s been hard to get numbers to change is that companies haven’t started specific goals”, the post said.
That makes the 8 percent hiring goal a doubling of its usual average. Pinterest also wants to grow hiring rates for non-engineering roles to 12 percent underrepresented ethnic backgrounds.
The report stated, “By sharing these goals publicly, we’re holding ourselves accountable to make meaningful changes to how we approach diversity at Pinterest”.
Pinterest’s co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Evan Sharp talked about the diversity plans today, saying the company will go on record about its diversity plans – in that in 2016 it plans to increase the number of women and individuals of “ethnic backgrounds” it hires, as well as giving at least one woman and one person from an underrepresented group an interview for all leadership positions that open up.
On a company blog this week, the web and mobile application company revealed its diversity goals for 2016.
Overall, Pinterest hopes to boost hiring rates for full-time engineers to at least 30 percent female and eight percent from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds.
Currently, Pinterest is roughly 42 percent female across the board, which dips to 21 percent across its tech divisions.
Pinterest has full intention on “pinning” more women and underrepresented ethnicities in their engineering and leadership positions, and hope that the rest of the tech industry will follow suit. These are all small steps, but the fact that Pinterest is setting goals and letting the public know about them is an important one.
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The engineering department, for instance, is another story with a 81 to 19 percent male to female split, with 66 percent from Asian backgrounds and another 31 percent Caucasian. To avoid unconscious bias Pinterest will also make all its employees participate internal training. We’re also sharing details about the new programs and improvements we have planned. In addition, Pinterest is launching a new initiative dubbed “Inclusion Labs” in partnership with a strategy firm called Paradigm.
