Lyft falls short in women, minorities
Ride-hailing firm says it will improve ratios, publish annual updates
SAN FRANCISCO — Releasing its first diversity report Thursday, Lyft revealed that like many Silicon Valley tech companies, it primarily employs white and Asian men — especially when it comes to leadership roles.
Men fill 64 percent of the San Francisco-based ride-hailing startup’s executive and manager positions, according to the report. White and Asian employees fill 70 percent and 18 percent of those roles, respectively. African-Americans hold just 1 percent of Lyft’s leadership jobs, while Latinos hold 5 percent.
“Today, the diversity of our team isn’t where we want it to be,” the company wrote in Thursday’s report. “But we know our destination, which is to make Lyft a reflection of the communities we serve. To get there, we have to acknowledge where we are today.”
Lyft, which employs about 1,600 people, on Thursday promised to publish data on the diversity of its workers every year, and laid out the training programs, mentorship opportunities and partnerships with activist organizations it’s implementing in an effort to improve its numbers. The move adds Lyft to the growing list of Silicon Valley companies now publishing annual diversity reports as pressure mounts for tech firms to recruit, retain and promote more women and minority workers.
Lyft’s report comes two
months after rival Uber released its first diversity report amid accusations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior by Uber managers.
Uber’s leadership team is more male-dominated than Lyft’s — 78 percent of Uber’s leadership roles are filled by men, compared with 64 percent of Lyft’s. And Uber has slightly higher proportions of white and Asian leaders — about 77 percent of Uber’s leadership team is white and 20 percent is Asian, compared with 70 percent and 18 percent at Lyft.
Lyft says women make up 42 percent of its overall workforce, which is on the high end for a Silicon Valley tech company. Women fill 36 percent of jobs at Uber, 43 percent at Airbnb, 37 percent at Twitter, 33 percent at Facebook and 31 percent at Google.
But women fill just 18 percent of Lyft’s tech positions, and 13 percent of its tech leadership roles.
The majority of Lyft’s employees are white and Asian — 63 percent and 19 percent. African-Americans fill 6 percent of Lyft jobs, and Latinos fill 7 percent. Uber has a higher proportion of Asian workers — about 31 percent — and African-American workers — about 9 percent.
Lyft says it’s committed to doing better.
“Imagine a community where anyone, no matter who they love, where they come from, or what they look like, has a fair opportunity, as well as the support they need, to achieve their goals,” Tariq Meyers, Lyft’s head of inclusion and diversity, wrote in a statement included in Thursday’s report. “That’s our vision of a truly inclusive company. That’s the Lyft we’re committed to becoming.”
The numbers Lyft released Thursday don’t include the company’s driv- ers, who aren’t considered employees.
The homogeneity of Lyft’s leadership team is especially concerning to Wayne Sutton, co-founder of Change Catalyst, a company focused on improving diversity in tech.
“If the leaders are not diverse in the company, it affects everything,” he said. “It affects the overall culture of the company. It affects the retention of ... diverse employees. It affects the business of the company.”
Fixing the leadership problem won’t just improve Lyft’s future diversity reports, Sutton said — it will bolster the company’s bottom line. As Lyft works to differentiate itself from rival Uber, which has lost some riders as it struggles with sexual harassment scandals that have led to a high-profile investigation into the company’s culture, embracing diversity could help Lyft win customers, Sutton said.
In its report, Lyft said it’s working with diversity-focused strategy firm Paradigm to improve its numbers.
As part of those efforts, Lyft is partnering with organizations like Lesbians Who Tech and the National Society of Black Engineers to broaden its recruiting pipeline. Lyft is implementing career development and mentorship programs for those recruits, and is training its managers on inclusion and combating unconscious bias. And Lyft says it’s continually updating its interview questions and improving the way the company trains interviewers.
Those are all good steps, Sutton said.
“I’m less interested in the numbers,” he said, “and more interested in what solutions they have not only to increase the numbers but to create an inclusive company and create an inclusive product.”