TaskRabbit announces plan to increase hiring of black employees

TaskRabbit announced a detailed plan to improve the diversity of its workforce today. The plan is part of the Congressional Black Caucus’ Tech 2020 initiative, which aims to increase black representation and inclusion throughout the tech industry.

TaskRabbit’s plan is focused on increasing diversity on its workforce and retaining its black employees. The company is currently 11 percent African-American, and intends to raise that number to 13 percent by the end of this year.

Taskrabbit-Stacy-Proofs-9

Stacy Brown-Philpot

TaskRabbit is already ahead of other major tech companies when it comes to diversity — according to their recent diversity reports, only two percent of Google and Facebook’s workforces are black. TaskRabbit chose its 13 percent goal to reflect the current U.S. population.

The errand and task outsourcing company also boasts diversity stats across the board — TaskRabbit’s workforce is 58 percent female, 11 percent Asian, 11 percent LGBTQ, and 5 percent Latino.

“We’re proud of our efforts around diversity where our approach has always been to partner and build relationships with groups that can help us connect with underrepresented candidates, mentor those candidates once they join the team, and support our employees to maintain an active presence in the community,” CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot said in a statement announcing the plan.

“This plan recognizes TaskRabbit’s diversity as a huge asset aiming to break down barriers while shining a light on ways to expand the great talent of black individuals.”

Until today, most of the organizations partnering with the Congressional Black Caucus to institute inclusion plans have been focused on talent and recruitment. TaskRabbit is the first major tech company to institute such a plan.