Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

Workers identifying as “Black+” or “Latinx+” left Alphabet Inc’s Google at higher rates last year than in 2019, the company said in its latest annual diversity report, highlighting a persistent challenge to growing representation.

What Google calls an attrition index, with 100 as a baseline, registered at 121 last year for Black+ workers in the United States compared with 112 in 2020. For Latinx+ employees, it jumped to 105 last year from 97. Attrition soared to 146 from 110 for Black+ women, though it fell to 81 from 93 for Latinx+ women.

For White+, attrition dropped to 112 from 117, falling across both men and women.

Google last year committed to increasing retention of racial minorities and other groups by increasing support staffing and programs.