Twitter pledges greater diversity in the top ranks

The tech giant has set new targets for elevating women and minorities

Twitter pledges greater diversity in the top ranks

Twitter has announced plans to increase the number of women and minorities elevated to leadership roles, in a bid to promote greater diversity within the next five years. The social media group is appointing members of historically marginalised groups to at least 25% of executive positions in the US by 2025.

The tech giant joins a coalition of firms in the San Francisco Bay Area – known as the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) – which urges businesses to raise the diversity goals of their leadership teams.

Read more: Measuring the ROI: How to show diversity’s value

“We’re proud to join the [SVLG’s] 25×25 pledge, which expands on our bold vision for workforce representation and commitment to inclusion and diversity,” said Dalana Brand, Twitter’s vice president of People Experience and Head of Inclusion and Diversity.

“Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation and we’re committed to making sure our company reflects the diversity of people who use the service.”

Twitter pledges to improve its workforce diversity as part of a larger effort to “have every voice represented” on the platform.

“If we want to build a platform as Twitter that has a place and a voice for every person on this planet, we have to be able to represent those kinds of voices inside the company as well,” Maya Hari, vice president for Asia Pacific, told CNBC last month.

In 2019, Twitter also vowed to have a US workforce that was at least 50% women and 25% underrepresented minority groups, which include Black, Latinx, Native-American, Alaskan, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or multiracial workers.

Read more: The nine 'levers' to pull if you're serious about inclusion

“Twitter has long been a ground breaker in Silicon Valley and a driver of the important conversations in our culture. By taking the 25×25 pledge, they propel the conversation of inclusion and show themselves to be one of the most forward-thinking, action-oriented companies in diversity and representation in our industry,” said SVLG chief executive Ahmad Thomas.

“This is all about action to make our leading companies stronger at the end of the day. We’re proud to have them alongside so many of our member companies at this historic moment of reckoning, on diversity and representation.”

Recent articles & video

Manitoba government reinstates 1:1 apprenticeship ratio

Two-thirds of Canadian organizations expecting cybersecurity incident

Training leaders to address chronic pain issues

Employee relocation to another province

Most Read Articles

Province introducing paid sick leave as of Oct. 1

Lecturer fired for misogynistic paper published in his name

Ottawa limiting employers’ access to Temporary Foreign Worker Program