Pinterest Promises More Gender, Racial Diverse Workforce: WSJ - Pinterest (NYSE:PINS)

Pinterest Inc PINS has pledged to raise the gender, racial and ethnic workforce diversity after facing flak for discrimination last year, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The company CEO Ben Silbermann acknowledged accountability for employees’ workplace experience.
The social media company intends to raise employment from underrepresented races and ethnicities from 12% to 20%. It plans to increase the number of women leader positions from 30% to 36%.
Pinterest said it had achieved racial and gender pay equity across its U.S. workforce, and it had made $1 million in adjustments to employees’ compensation in the second half of 2020. It also pledged to raise employee pay and promotion transparency.
Former Pinterest COO Francoise Brougher filed a lawsuit against the company for alleged top male executive secrecy culture depriving Brougher of meetings and decision-making. Former Square Inc SQ and Alphabet Inc’s GOOG (NASDAQ: GOOGL Google executive Brougher was reportedly hired in 2018 and terminated in April 2020. The lawsuit was settled for a penalty of $22.5 million.
Pinterest was also publicly accused of gender bias and racial discrimination by two other former employees. Black employees Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks were reportedly underpaid compared to male counterparts and reprimanded for speaking up regarding it.
Last year, Pinterest appointed a law firm for an independent review of its workplace culture. In December, Pinterest vowed to make changes, including authorizing unconscious-bias training and a team dedicated to inspecting workplace concerns.
Pinterest promised $2.5 million to help advance women and underrepresented communities in the tech industry under the Brougher settlement.
Tyi McCray was named the new head of inclusion and diversity, and three people of color, including two women, were added to the board.
Pinterest revenue rose 78% year-on-year to $485 million in Q1 as global monthly active users rose 30% to 478 million.
Price action: PINS shares closed higher by 0.31% at $58.28 on Tuesday.

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