Netflix publishes its first-ever inclusion report citing areas in need of improvement

Netflix on Wednesday posted its first-ever inclusion report, which zeroes in on the company's statistics and goals for strengthening diversity in its workforce.

Verna Myers, the streaming giant's vice president of inclusion strategy, released the report on Wednesday along with a video featuring herself and other top-tier company execs, including co-CEO Ted Sarandos, weighing in on what has been done well and what the company can be better at internally.

The report begins with the most up-to-date diversity statistics the company has received. Myers explains the company's diversity stats are shown on the company's job website each quarter.

Based on the data, the inclusion report notes that "women make up half of our workforce" at 47.1%. Female employees at the leadership level (directors and above) make up 47.8% of the workforce, with vice presidents following at 43.7% and senior leadership at 47.6%.

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Additionally, the report states that "nearly half" -- or 46.4% -- of Netflix's employees in the United States are made up of people from one or more underrepresented racial and/or ethnic backgrounds, and 42% of its U.S. workforce in leadership positions are made up of people from one or more underrepresented racial and/or ethnic backgrounds.

Myers notes that the number of Black Netflix employees in the U.S. has "doubled in the last three years to 8% of our workforce and 9% of our leadership (director level and above)."

While the company has "made good progress" in the last three years, according to Myers, it's "not where we want to be and we need to do better."

The executive highlights a number of efforts that exist at the company in order to increase representation. Among them are the intentions of hiring more inclusively, creating access for emerging talent, and building diverse networks.

"People tend to hire people similar to themselves. The inclusion recruiting programs team helps managers break out of that mold by connecting them to networks outside of their own. Partnerships with organizations like /dev/color, techqueria, Ghetto Film School and TalentoTotal play a big role in that," Myers writes.

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She mentions its ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) or "communities of employees who create space to connect on their shared experience." There are 15 in total, the report states, including ERGs serving "Latinx, veteran, Black, and disability communities," among others.

The company also believes in "equitable pay," and practices "open compensation," which Myers explains means the top 1,000 leaders at the company can see what other employees earn.

The report also touches on current events, namely the coronavirus pandemic and racial tensions and protests in the United States that have "disproportionately impacted employees from Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities."

Myers writes: "Asian folks around the world endured xenophobic hate incidents. The killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others brought inequality and allyship to the forefront of our minds. Throughout the year, we held space for employees going through these events to decompress."

The report stresses the continuation of the company's "inclusion lens" that asks employees to focus on who and what is underrepresented. The company describes it as a "way to embrace difference, to look for bias, and to consider a decision’s impact on marginalized or underrepresented groups."

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Moving forward, Myers leaves three areas of improvement Netflix will aim for. The first is the recruiting of "Hispanic or Latinx and other underrepresented folks into all areas of our company, particularly our leadership." Netflix also needs to continue learning about representation "outside of the U.S." Myers notes team members will be added in the company's Pacific and Latin America regions this year.

Lastly, the VP of Inclusion Strategy vows the company is "exploring" how to measure its "inclusion health."

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"We want to go beyond charting demographics and hiring goals by looking at the entire employee experience. Hiring is important, for sure, but so is retention, promotion, tenure and compensation among underrepresented colleagues," Myers concludes.