Twitter CEO's diversity slip up highlights HR's need to reflect community
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Posted By: Hija Chang on April 26, 2017 Jake Matthews HR Grapevine „J Tweet this: A workforce should reflect the community it serves Silicon Valley firms are frequently criticised for their lack of diversity. The issue came up during a Periscope livestream chat with Twitter¡¦s CEO Jack Dorsey and cast members from upcoming film The Circle. The film, based on a novel by Dave Eggers of the same name, thematically concerns itself with the themes of privacy, surveillance and freedom, and is based at a technology firm in the near-future. Speaking about diversity within Twitter, Dorsey said: ¡§We benefit, pretty dramatically, from having different perspectives within the company, different ways of thinking, different backgrounds, different contexts . . . We can¡¦t build something for our customer if we don¡¦t understand who they are and don¡¦t live that way every single day. ¡§We were one of the first companies to share our [diversity] goals, not just share where we are but where we want to get too, because it¡¦s something that we, and our industry, has to address.¡¨ He also stressed the importance of inclusion: ¡§Making sure that we¡¦re building an environment that helps people feel welcome, helps them think they can thrive . . . is really important.¡¨ Actor Patton Oswalt observed that it¡¦s ¡§odd that [diversity is still] being addressed in 2017¡¨. Dorsey replied: ¡§I¡¦m not sure what the causes are. ¡§Some of it probably comes down to location and where a lot of these things started.¡¨ However, according to census data, Gizmodo reports, if this were the case then 23.5% of Twitter¡¦s workforce would be Hispanic or Latino and seven per cent would be black or African-American. Women would also make up half of the workforce. But this is not the case. Four per cent of Twitter workers are Hispanic or Latino and three per cent are black or African-American. Women make up 37% of the workforce. Dorsey does have a point though. A workforce should reflect the community it serves. We spoke to Santander¡¦s HR Director about how firms who are failing to hit diversity targets can do so and reflect the local community that they serve. Her advice can be seen by following the link below. https://www.hrgrapevine.com/ If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Hija Chang
Management, See Moss Interactive Bellarmine University class of 2021 Member Since January 2011 |
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