Posted on Jan 13, 2022 6:31 PMUpdated Jan 13, 2022, 7:15 PM
Twitter does not want to be the temple of “white men”. The microblogging giant’s “work from anywhere” policy taken during the pandemic, along with new demands to expand its pool of applicants, have started to bear fruit.
The group is pleased to employ 9.4% of people of color in the United States, against 6.9% a year earlier, notes the Bloomberg news agency. “Latinx” (term for people from Latin America or Latin American culture) now represent 8% of employees in 2021, against 5.5% a year earlier.
Twitter does not specify the number of employees from these origins, but the group hired a total of 7,100 people worldwide in the third quarter.
American groups have come under pressure to be more inclusive, in particular, since the death of George Floyd in 2020, killed by police. For example, Apple announced shortly after that it would invest $ 100 million in the fight against racial inequalities, including investments in training and funds for young entrepreneurs of color.
Open up to diversity
But Silicon Valley has been seeking to open up to profiles other than the “white male” for several years, hiring responsible for diversity. In particular, Facebook and Twitter have been experimenting for some time with the “Rooney rule”, a rule requiring at least one candidate from an under-represented category to be considered each time a job is opened. Applied by the National Football League from 2003, it has helped boost the number of coaches from ethnic minorities.
Twitter has been committed for several years to improving the representation of women and minorities. In 2020, he had thus promised that the fairer sex would represent half of its workforce in 2025, against 42.5% in 2020. The “minorities” (blacks, Latin Americans, coming from Alaska etc.) would be at 25%. of the workforce, up from 14.8% in 2020, according to a blog post.
Indexed salary
The blue bird firm has set up several concrete initiatives: for example, the salaries of managers are partly determined on the basis of diversity criteria. And at least three people need to be offered for certain jobs, including a woman and a person of color.
At the same time, the fact that Twitter allows lifetime teleworking for some employees – an initiative taken in May 2020, at the height of the pandemic – has made it possible to hire candidates in Africa or South America.
(with Bloomberg)