Slack, an increasingly popular communication platform that offers real-time messaging and collaboration, has released its inclusion and diversity report. Following in the footsteps of other companies that have done the same, Slack aims to create a more "welcoming" work environment for everyone.
Slack had around 250 employees when the report was posted, which was two years after the platform was launched. The findings show 70 percent (175) of Slack employees were non-Hispanic Caucasians, 19 percent (47) were Asians, 7 percent (18) were filed under "mixed-race/other" and only 4 percent (10) were African Americans.
Although the number of African Americans in Slack's workforce may seem underwhelming, the percentage is a huge improvement from the 1.8 percent (758) that Facebook, Google and Twitter have on their combined 41,000-strong workforce. Majority of Slack's African-American employees were part of engineering, where they comprise 7 percent of the department.
Why does Slack have a greater percentage of African-American engineers compared with other Silicon Valley groups?
"It's impossible at this early stage to point to a clear reason why we have a higher percentage of African-American engineers than other companies," Anne Toth, Slack VP of compliance and policy, responded.
It was also noted that "Hispanic/Latino" was not presented in the graphs because it racked up less than 1 percent, which, according to Slack, was too little to report.
Slack's other metric showed female employees comprised 39 percent of its total workforce. The 97 women were distributed across several areas: 18 percent (17) in engineering, which involves coding; 51 percent (49) in non-engineering, which includes the marketing and product management teams; and 45 percent (44) held managerial positions.
The report also specified 41 percent of people working for Slack were managed by women who were tasked with setting goals and priorities, evaluating performance, mentoring, and making recommendations for wage increases and career progression.
"We are reporting our diversity data early on. We have already begun examining our compensation data to ensure that we are paying men and women equitable wages," stated Slack in the report.
As underrepresented groups exit from the tech industry due to various forms of discrimination, Slack hopes for a workplace that welcomes diversity. The report, according to the company, is a step to minimize and altogether remove biases in its processes.
