It’s investing $150 million in diversity initiatives this year
Google looks to be getting serious about increasing the diversity of its workforce. The company told USA Today this week that it?s planning to invest $150 million in workforce diversity initiatives this year, up from $115 million in 2014.
Among Google?s plans, which have been percolating over the last year: doubling the number of schools where it actively recruits to find potential job applicants (Alabama A&M, a historically black college, is among the new schools Google is targeting). The company is also encouraging workers to take workshops to lessen any unconscious bias in the workplace, as well as letting Googlers use 20% of their work time to focus on diversity projects.
To help broaden the pool of people potentially qualified to work at Google, the search giant has also released a free curriculum to help teachers launch computer science clubs and introduced Made With Code, an initiative aimed at helping girls identify with the world of computer programming.
The fact that Google is tackling diversity on a number of different fronts is a smart approach, says Kimberly Bryant, the founder of Black Girls Code, a nonprofit that teaches programming skills to girls of color. ?Google is being very deliberate about addressing the systemic issue,? she says. ?They recognize that you can?t fix diversity by just focusing on just one area. You have to build a pipeline.?
Read more at?TIME
