Both Pandora and Indiegogo released diversity reports today that highlight an absence of African-American employees. The companies join a bandwagon of tech brands that have been releasing similar reports throughout the summer.
At Pandora, approximately 3 percent of its 1,300 or so employees are African-American/black and 4 percent are hispanic. That’s notable given that the company is located in Oakland, where about 28 percent of the total population is African-American and 25 percent is hispanic. The percentage of African-Americans is even lower in leadership and tech roles, where they represent only 1.1 and 2.8 percent of employees. In contrast 6.3 percent of Pandora’s leadership is hispanic.
At Indiegogo, a company of slightly more than 100 employees, only 2 percent of total employees are African-American, and the group is not represented in leadership or tech positions.
African Americans make up 12.9 percent of the U.S. population, but at tech companies they are continually underrepresented. At Twitter, Facebook and Google, African-Americans make up 2 percent of employees.
Despite lagging in ethnic diversity, both companies seem to be making some progress in closing the gender gap repeatedly highlighted by these diversity reports.
Women make up almost half of Pandora’s total staff and almost 40 percent of the company’s leaders, which is impressive for a company of its size. However in tech, women make up only 18 percent of total employees.
Indiegogo reported 33 percent of its tech employees are female, a relatively higher percentage than other companies that have recently released diversity reports.
In comparison, Twitter’s tech employees are 10 percent female, and those numbers are only slightly better at Snapchat (about 15 percent), Facebook (15 percent) and Google (17 percent). Both Pinterest and eBay reported more than 20 percent of their tech employees are female, but Indiegogo is the first company in the recent string of reports to break 30 percent.
However when comparing these numbers, it is important to keep in mind that Indiegogo has significantly fewer employees, and only has about 30 female engineers on its staff. That being said, the company has committed to remaining inclusive and diverse as it increases its scale.
