Uber’s first diversity report shows male, white, Asian dominance

Uber on Tuesday released its first report on diversity in its workplace, showing that the San Francisco ride-hailing company faces the same underrepresentation of women and non-Asian minorities — most notably among executives and tech workers — as most other major tech employers.

Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter and many other major Silicon Valley companies have released such reports annually for the past couple of years. The reports almost uniformly show that blacks and Hispanics account for only a small fraction of the companies’ employees.

Uber has been under pressure to do likewise. The world’s most valuable startup, worth close to $70 billion, is trying to rein in an aggressive workplace culture and repair its tattered image in the wake of a string of controversies this year that included allegations of sexual harassment, a video of CEO Travis Kalanick berating a driver and revelations about a program to evade law enforcement.

Uber’s president resigned this month after just a half-year on the job, citing concerns about the company’s leadership and its values.

Travis Kalanick, CEO Uber, during a press conference in Beijing. Uber on Tuesday released a report on diversity in its workplace, showing that the company faces the same lack of inclusion — most notably among executives and tech workers — as most other major tech employers. less Travis Kalanick, CEO Uber, during a press conference in Beijing. Uber on Tuesday released a report on diversity in its workplace, showing that the company faces the same lack of inclusion — most notably among ... more Photo: WANG ZHAO, AFP/Getty Images Photo: WANG ZHAO, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close Uber’s first diversity report shows male, white, Asian dominance 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

The report provides a window into the demographics of Uber’s 12,000 worldwide staff.

“I know that we have been too slow in publishing our numbers — and that the best way to demonstrate our commitment to change is through transparency,” Kalanick said in a statement. “And to make progress, it’s important we measure what matters.”

Uber’s workers played a role in convincing the company to release the report. “I’d like to thank our employees for their tenacity in arguing the case for greater transparency,” wrote Liane Hornsey, chief human resources officer, in a blog post.

An even bigger spur may have come from a former Uber engineer, Susan Fowler, who wrote an explosive blog post in February, alleging that she had experienced sexism and sexual harassment at the company. Kalanick opened an investigation immediately after the post was published.

Uber said it will take steps toward inclusion, such as recruiting at historically black colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions. It will donate $3 million over the next three years “to support organizations working to bring more women and underrepresented groups into tech,” Hornsey wrote.

Bay Area diversity advocate Freada Kapor Klein said the report reflects the tech sector’s challenges with inclusion and shows Uber attempting to improve. “The numbers in the technical jobs aren’t great, but nobody in tech is getting this right,” she said in a statement. “Companies who have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to improve diversity, and hiring (diversity and inclusion) staff, are honestly not doing much better than Uber.”

Kapor Klein and her husband, Mitch Kapor, who are both early Uber investors, blasted the company in February in a public letter for “a culture plagued by disrespect, exclusionary cliques, lack of diversity, and tolerance for bullying and harassment.”

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Overall, Uber’s workforce is 36.1 percent female and 63.9 percent male. Women account for only 15.4 percent of its tech workers. That’s less than at Apple (23 percent), Facebook (17 percent) and LinkedIn (20 percent) but slightly more than Twitter (13 percent).

In leadership positions, women account for 22 percent overall. They make up just 11.3 percent of tech leaders.

Half (49.8 percent) of Uber’s worldwide staff is white, with Asians accounting for 30.9 percent, blacks 8.8 percent, Hispanics 5.6 percent, mixed race 4.3 percent and other 0.8 percent.

Among tech workers, whites (46.2 percent) and Asians (47.9 percent) have almost equal representation, while blacks are just 1 percent and Hispanics 2.1 percent of the tech workforce. Mixed-race people are 2.4 percent and other 0.4 percent.

The overall U.S. workforce is 9.7 percent black and 6.6 percent Hispanic.

Having black workers account for just 1 percent in technology positions isn’t unique to Uber. Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter and Yahoo also have only 1 percent black tech workers.

Among Uber leaders, whites dominate with 76.7 percent, compared with 20.2 percent for Asians, 2.3 percent for blacks, and 0.8 percent for Hispanics.

Tech leadership is three-quarters white and one-quarter Asian, with no blacks, Hispanics or mixed-race people at all.

Uber also included statistics on the hot-button issue of immigration, noting that 15 percent of its U.S. employees hold work visas, and that they come from 71 countries.

Among nontech workers, and especially in customer support, women and non-Asian minorities account for larger segments of Uber’s workforce.

Kapor Klein said that’s a positive, giving Uber “the ability to create real job pathways for existing workers of color, to provide training and mentorship to move them into technical careers.”

Uber’s worldwide staff has almost doubled in the past year. The company’s report includes data on employees hired over the past 12 months to show that it’s attempting to broaden diversity. Women account for 41.2 percent of new hires, it said.

Among those recently hired, 46 percent are white, 28.2 percent are Asian, 12.3 percent are black, 7.8 percent are Hispanic and 5.1 percent are mixed race.

“We need to do better and have much more work to do,” Hornsey wrote.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid