Workers identifying as “Black+” or “Latinx+” left Alphabet Inc’s Google at higher rates last year than in 2019, the company said on Thursday in its latest annual diversity report, highlighting a persistent challenge to growing representation.
What Google calls an attrition index, with 100 as a baseline, registered at 121 last year for Black+ workers in the United States compared with 112 in 2020. For Latinx+ employees, it jumped to 105 last year from 97. Attrition soared to 146 from 110 for Black+ women, though it fell to 81 from 93 for Latinx+ women.
For White+, attrition dropped to 112 from 117, falling across both men and women.
Google last year committed to increasing retention of racial minorities and other groups by increasing support staffing and programs. But some people from underrepresented backgrounds have said they continue to feel unwelcome in the tech industry, and they also remain high in demand elsewhere as companies compete to increase diversity.
Google declined to comment beyond its new report, which noted room for improvement in retaining underrepresented talent but added some new training and practices are showing promising results.
Civil rights groups and activist investors are pressuring Silicon Valley companies such as Google to bring more women and racial minorities into leadership, contending that better business results would follow.
Google did make some strides. The company nearly doubled the number of Black+ people in US leadership to 7.1 percent last year and increased the number of women globally in leadership to 28.9 percent from 26.1 percent.
Last year was its best since it began reporting data in 2014 for hiring of Black+ and Latinx+ US workers, with 8.8 percent of overall hires coming from each of those groups compared with 5.5 percent for Black+ in 2019 and 6.6 percent for Latinx+.
Still, just 1.8 percent of technology hires were Black+ women and an equal share Latinx+ women.
Google reports soaring attrition among Black women
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Google reports soaring attrition among Black women
- Black and Latino workers left Google at higher rates in 2020 compared to 2019, annual diversity report indicates.
- Google last year committed to increasing retention of racial minorities and other groups by increasing support staffing and programs.
Foreign press group welcomes Israel court deadline on Gaza access
- Supreme Court set deadline for responding to petition filed by the Foreign Press Association to Jan. 4
- Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the Strip
JERUSALEM: The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem on Sunday welcomed the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to set January 4 as the deadline for Israel to respond to its petition seeking media access to Gaza.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory.
Israel has instead allowed, on a case-by-case basis, a handful of reporters to accompany its troops into the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition to the supreme court last year, seeking immediate access for international journalists to the Gaza Strip.
On October 23, the court held a first hearing on the case, and decided to give Israeli authorities one month to develop a plan for granting access.
Since then the court has given several extensions to the Israeli authorities to come up with their plan, but on Saturday it set January 4 as a final deadline.
“If the respondents (Israeli authorities) do not inform us of their position by that date, a decision on the request for a conditional order will be made on the basis of the material in the case file,” the court said.
The FPA welcomed the court’s latest directive.
“After two years of the state’s delay tactics, we are pleased that the court’s patience has finally run out,” the association said in a statement.
“We renew our call for the state of Israel to immediately grant journalists free and unfettered access to the Gaza Strip.
“And should the government continue to obstruct press freedoms, we hope that the supreme court will recognize and uphold those freedoms,” it added.
An AFP journalist sits on the board of the FPA.
