Google Scraps 30% Diversity Hiring Goal Despite Two-Thirds of Workforce Being Male

Key Takeaways

• Google is cutting back on its 30% diversity hiring goal.
• This follows Trump’s executive order prohibiting companies with federal contracts from deploying a number of diversity programs.
• Two-thirds of Google’s worldwide workforce is made up of men.

Google has told employees it is scrapping its 30% diversity hiring goal as it becomes the latest tech giant to scale back on diversity under Donald Trump’s presidency.

The move, which comes as two-thirds of the workforce are males, follows Trump’s executive order prohibiting private companies from implementing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs for positions funded by federal contracts.

Google Rolls Back Diversity Target

In an employee email reported by the Associated Press, Google said it was cutting back on its 30% diversity hiring goal.

Alphabet’s 10-K report filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission removed a line it had included in all previous reports stating it was “committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve.”

Because Google provides services to the federal government, such as cloud computing infrastructure for the Pentagon, the tech giant falls under Trump’s executive order as a federal contractor.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Google outlined:

“We’re committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year, we’ve been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there.”

“We’ve updated our 10-K language to reflect this, and as a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic,” the statement concluded.

Google’s Workforce

Google currently holds a global workforce of around 183,000.

In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, CEO Sundar Pichai announced he was setting a goal to increase representation of underrepresented groups to 30% by 2025.

Since that five-year goal, Google’s headcount has become slightly more diverse, but is still a long way off from reaching its target.

The share of women in leadership roles grew from 26.7% to 32.8% in four years, according to Google’s annual diversity report.

The report outlined how black people in leadership roles rose from 5.1% to 2.6% in 2020, while Hispanic people saw a change from 3.7% to 4.3%.

Shockingly, two-thirds of Google’s worldwide workforce is made up of men.

Trump’s Anti-Diversity America

Trump’s executive order, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” mandates that all DEIA programs be canceled within 90 days.

Failure to comply could result in the termination of existing contracts, as federal agencies are instructed to review contractors’ hiring practices and determine whether to continue, reassign, or cancel contracts based on adherence to the order.

Additionally, the order requires agencies to include new contract clauses stipulating compliance with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws, which will play a key factor in payment decisions.

Non-compliance with these provisions could lead to huge fines under the False Claims Act, which imposes liability on individuals and companies that defraud governmental programs.

Google’s Tone Deaf Diversity Announcement

On Feb. 6, after Google had confirmed it was scaling back diversity, the tech giant uploaded a blog post titled: “We’re building a Google for all of us.”

The blog was introduced with a comment from Melonie Parker, Vice President of People Operations: “To build products that help billions of people reach their goals, we’re bringing together talented people from everywhere and empowering them to do their best work.”

Google’s blog post said it pushed past “traditional recruiting sources” to bring talented people of every background to Google.

The juxtaposition of reaffirming inclusivity while modifying DEI strategies may seem ironic to some.

However, the tech giant asserts that despite scaling back DEI initiatives, it remains dedicated to fostering an inclusive workplace and developing products that cater to a broad user base.