While several tech giants, such as Google, Facebook, andMicrosoft, have publicly shared their diversity numbers—largely driven after Pinterest engineer Tracy Chou began collecting numbers about women in tech in 2013—not all that much has changed. But Pinterest thinks that with specific goals and programs it can finally move the needle.
To get there, Pinterest plans to expand the group of universities from which it recruits and launch intern programs for students from underrepresented backgrounds. “Over the past year we learned when we double down on a particular area—like hiring women out of college—we see movement,” the company said in a statement.
The company is also setting up an “Inclusion Labs” with Paradigm, a strategy firm focused on diversity, to experiment with better ways to create a more diverse staff. They will offer a workshop on unconscious bias, host events like Blacks in Tech and Future Female Founders, change hiring practices that may put some candidates at a disadvantage, and continue to collect better data.