Google raising stakes on diversity

Google is raising the stakes in its bid to attract more women and minorities, Nancy Lee, Google's vice president of people operations, said. In 2014, Google spent $115 million on diversity initiatives. In 2015, it's planning to spend $150 million on a far-reaching campaign that stretches from inside the walls of Google into the industry at large, Lee says. That spending over two years illustrates the urgency and ambition of Google's diversity efforts. "Our strategy is extremely long term. Sure, we are doing things that can show an impact maybe this year, maybe next year. But we recognize that there is not enough talent entering into our industry and that we have a lot of work to do," Lee says.

Diversity strategist Joelle Emerson says other technology companies are learning from Google, which is taking an innovative and data-driven approach to closing the gender and racial gap. "Google is the first company that has been talking publicly about anything innovative," said Emerson, founder and CEO of Paradigm. "So much of what we are all doing is watching what Google is trying and trying similar things." Among the key initiatives: Employees can volunteer 20 percent of their time to work on diversity projects through a program called Diversity Core. In 2015, more than 500 Google employees will work on projects at Google and in local communities, Lee says. More than half of Google's nearly 56,000 employees have attended a 90-minute seminar on unconscious bias. Now Google is offering "bias busting" workshops, hands-on sessions that give Google employees practical tips on addressing unconscious bias. Nearly 2,000 have taken the workshop.