With a consequential presidential election less than 100 days away and the Supreme Court gutting affirmative action, Silicon Valley tech giants are reeling in diversity programs and practices meant to uplift people of color.
Bay Area companies like Google, Meta and Zoom reportedly laid off workers focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies. Cost cutting measures and mounting criticism from conservative commentators, including former President Donald Trump, have also made expanding such policies difficult just years after DEI became a top priority for companies focusing on improving the culture for their workforce.
“You’ve got companies on both sides of the fence, also some companies that don’t know what side of the fence to move to so they’re just waiting. November is going to be very telling,” DEI consultant and Elevate Diversity founder Rhonda Moret told San José Spotlight.
An executive order issued by Trump near the end of his presidency banned federal government contractors, subcontractors and grantees from offering certain DEI training, describing it as “malign ideology.”
“Depending on who’s elected into office, we could see some (DEI) shifts one direction or the other. I understand why some organizations are just kind of waiting to see what happens with the election,” Moret said.
Silicon Valley companies created DEI programs after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the racial reckoning that followed.
Zoom, headquartered in San Jose, acknowledged in its 2024 impact report that 0% of its leadership is Black despite ongoing initiatives.
The company axed its internal DEI team amid broader layoffs earlier this year, The Washington Post reported, and Meta slashed its own teams by at least 50%. Meta’s most recent impact report published in 2022 showed just 2.4% of their tech employees were Black and 4.8% were Latino.
Representatives for Meta did not respond to a request for comment.
Documents reviewed by San José Spotlight show Zoom COO Aparna Bawa told employees earlier this year that the company recognizes it needs to change its DEI approach and plans to hire DEI firms to inform their future approach.
“Zoom is committed to DEI and ensuring its principles remain firmly rooted in our DNA across our entire company. We continue to partner with leading external experts to help inform our DEI programs and ensure we are utilizing best practices,” a Zoom spokesperson told San José Spotlight.
Google reported last year 5.6% of their employees are Black and 6.9% are Latino. Google’s data on LGBTQ+ employees also showed 7% of their workforce identified as such, while less than 1% identified as non-binary. CNBC recently reported Google cut internal teams and programs aimed at helping underrepresented talent, causing uproar from apprentices.
“To be absolutely clear, our commitment to our DEI work has not changed and we invest in many programs and partnerships,” a Google spokesperson told San José Spotlight.
Google recently committed more than $5 million to historically Black colleges and universities to help build a stronger pipeline to the tech industry for underrepresented talent, along with launching the Google for Startups Women Founders Fund to help women entrepreneurs.
From the top down
With tech cuts rippling Silicon Valley, San Jose State sociology professor emeritus Scott Myers-Lipton said programs aimed at empowering women and workers of color should be preserved.
A 2023 VC Human Capital Survey by Deloitte, the National Venture Capital Association and Venture Forward showed Black employees only made up about 5% of the venture capital workforce — up slightly from about 4% in 2020.
“Venture capital funding creates high tech jobs, but African Americans receive only 1% of the $20 billion provided annually to new tech startups, which leads to a lack of wealth creation,” said Scott Myers-Lipton, a retired San Jose State sociology professor. “Combine this with the limited access that African Americans, as well as other folks of color, have to middle and upper management positions in tech companies, and wealth creation is almost totally cut off.”
The 2024 Silicon Valley Pain Index, which highlights the region’s inequities, found Black tech workers between age 25 and 44 comprise 1% of the industry workforce, while Latino tech workers the same age make up 4%.
Reports like the Silicon Valley Pain Index rely on voluntary reporting by tech companies. Without a legal mandate requiring companies to report all their progress on DEI goals or employment diversity, the public could be in the dark about the lack of diversity in tech.
“They’re not going to say they’re discriminating based on race, but there are conditions and practices that are discouraging and not allowing for all folks to move into leadership positions,” Myers-Lipton said.
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Diversity initiatives have been practiced and studied dating back to the 1960s when the U.S. adopted the first affirmative action laws for schools and equal treatment of all people in the workplace. The philosophies developed over the following decades into what we now know as DEI.
“We went from managing diversity to valuing diversity,” SJSU business professor and DEI expert Monica Gavino told San José Spotlight. “You are creating these great places to work where everybody flourishes, where people want to work and stay. So you are not losing your best talent and you become a magnet for employees.”
Joint Venture Silicon Valley President and CEO Russell Hancock said regardless of what happens in November, tech companies face pressure to balance the need to hire quickly with the time it takes to ensure a diverse workforce.
“It’s not easy, there’s nothing easy about it,” he said. “Our companies, they’re subjected to intense pressures to compete to have the very best talent. They need that talent yesterday and sometimes can’t go through a drawn out processes and take that extra time.”
