Just 10.9% Of Snap Employees Are Black Or Latinx, Company Discloses Amid Allegations Of Discrimination

In 2019, Snap’s team was 4.1% Black and 6.8% Latinx and 32.9% of staff identifed as female; at the director-level and above, the leadership team was 2.6% Black, 2.6% Latinx, 16.5% Asian, 7% multiracial, 70.4% white and 24.3% identified as female. 

The diversity report outlines steps Snap has taken to improve, including hiring Google exec Oona King as its first vice president of diversity and inclusion in 2019, creating hiring goals for underrepresented groups and instituting a “living wage pledge” which set a minimum employee salary of $70,000 for all employees at headquarters and equity grants for employees worldwide. 

CEO and founder Evan Spiegel addressed concerns of racism at an all-hands meeting last month and said he was concerned with releasing diversity reports because they “effectively normalize the current makeup of the tech industry, of which Snapchat’s in line,” but said the team would work on a report that would include Snap’s diversity and inclusion strategy, according to a Business Insider report.

The meeting came days after former employees shared their experiences as people of color at the company on Twitter, including discriminatory behavior from leadership team members.

Five former employees who worked on the content team from 2014 and 2018 told Mashable that editorial practices were racially biased and they had to advocate for Black representation; Snap said it would investigate the allegations.

This month, Snap hired a law firm and launched an internal investigation into allegations of racism and sexism, according to a Business Insider report.