Twitter Touts Pay Equity Progress in Its 2020 Annual Inclusion & Diversity Report

Twitter’s 2020 Annual Inclusion & Diversity Report, released Thursday, includes the results of its annual pay equity study, and the company found that women earned 100% of what equivalent men on its work force took home, and employees who identified as underrepresented minorities earned 100% of what equivalent white employees were paid. The social network said when it released its 2019 report last March that its goals for 2025 were for at least one-half of its global workforce to be women and at least one-quarter of its U.S. workforce to be underrepresented minorities—Alaskan or Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Black, Latinx, multiracial or Native American. Starting this year, the executive team’s annual compensation will be determined in part by progress toward those targets. Twitter said that as of the end of 2020, women made up 43% of its global workforce, up 13% over the past three years. In the U.S., the number of Black employees has more than doubled over the same time period, to 7% of the total and 7% of leadership (director level and above). Latinx workers made up 5.5% of the U.S workforce, up 49% over the past three years. Vice president of people experience and head of diversity and inclusion Dalana Brand detailed some of the initiatives built into Twitter’s hiring process with the aim of meeting its goals: Twitter teamed up with Textio to standardize job descriptions and mitigate possible bias.The company implemented inclusive hiring principles to ensure that anyone involved in the hiring process understands the requirements and where to go with questions.Its diverse slate initiative was expanded, meaning that all open roles must have an interview panel with at least three qualified candidates, and at least one must be a woman (globally) or Black or Latinx (U.S.)Twitter had a presence at more than one-dozen virtual conferences to connect directly with potential candidates.The company also hosted several virtual events of its own to engage directly with clients and give them a better idea of what working at Twitter is like.Podcast series Building Characters kicked off to help Twitter connect with emerging and early career talent. On the philanthropy front, Twitter will invest $100 million in the Finance Justice Fund, managed by Opportunity Finance Network, which lends to Black, indigenous, Latinx and rural borrowers across the U.S. through community development financial institutions. The company also entered into a partnership with nonprofit Operation Hope, which provides financial literacy and economic inclusion for underserved communities. Brand wrote in the report, “As we look back on 2020, we will remember its many challenges—the unprecedented stress, trauma and loss in communities around the world. However, in the midst of it all, we took time to double down on inclusion and diversity (I&D). We selected, ‘Still, we fly,’ for our I&D annual report theme because as many times as 2020 tried to knock us down, not only did we get back up, but we responded with empathy, agility, innovation and leadership. In short, we flew.” She concluded, “Looking back, I’m proud of what we accomplished together. Looking forward, it inspires me even more knowing that we have just scratched the surface. Work that’s been happening for many years at Twitter—and across our industry—took on renewed urgency last year. Together, we now have unprecedented momentum. I’m eager for us to use it to accelerate progress on our journey to becoming the world’s most diverse and inclusive tech company. We won’t stop #UntilWeAllBelong.”