Google Sets Hiring Goal to Advance Black Executives

Google announced a new hiring goal to dramatically boost the number of black executives at the search giant.

The initiative, laid out in a memo to staff Wednesday by Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, places the company firmly to one side on cultural issues that have historically roiled its staff. The company has been the subject of lawsuits and fevered internal debate over whether efforts to increase diversity discriminated against white and Asian men. 

Mr. Pichai, who was born in India, said he aimed to increase the proportion of “leadership representation of underrepresented groups” overall by 30% at the company by 2025. He added that theAlphabet Inc. GOOG 0.65% unit would provide $175 million in a mix of financing and funding to related businesses.

“Listening to the personal accounts of members of our Black Advisory Leadership Group and our Black+ Googlers has only reinforced for me the reality our Black communities face: one where systemic racism permeates every aspect of life, from interactions with law enforcement, to access to housing and capital, to health care, education, and the workplace,” Mr. Pichai wrote in the memo.

Google’s leadership is 2.6% “black+,” and 3.7% “latinx+,” according to the company’s 2020 diversity report, which didn’t define those categories. Nearly two-thirds of the leadership is “white+.” The report said that new hires were proportionally more diverse.

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