How diverse is the workforce at Lyft?

The ride-sharing service company lyft Inc. has just released its first diversity report titled “Inclusion & Diversity” on the gender and racial makeup of its employees. The company is a rival of Uber, another ride-hailing company that now serves globally, and the two are very often compared and contrasted in news article reporting.

Lack of diversity: mostly male, mostly white

The San Francisco-based firm is facing an issue that within the past few years has been a major focus in Silicon Valley. The company’s report details that 63% of its workforce is white, 19% Asian, 7% Latino, 6% black, and 1% Native American.

It needs to be successful in attracting and retaining workers from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups. The company’s approach to this issue is to focus on inclusion, by creating a culture of inclusion to allow for an environment where “all team members” can reach their fullest potential.

A bit more gender equal?

According to a recent Financial Times analysis of 500 start-ups in the Bay Area, larger tech companies, such as Apple, Amazon, Oracle, Airbnb and Twitter are in dire need of improving gender equality. Only 36% of these top tech’s employees are female. In comparison, Lyft reported that 42% of its 1,600 employees are women. Only 36% of the overall workforce identified as male in the company’s diversity report.

In their diversity reports, both Lyft and Uber did not include the data they have on their drivers, who are considered as independent contractors and not employees. The idea that companies make their diversity reporting public have only been surfacing since 2013 when employees began pushing for transparency in the workplace.

Lyft was only launched in the middle of 2012, roughly 5 years ago, and since then the service has been accessible for about 300 U.S. cities.

Lyft's plans

Lyft says that the company is working on addressing the problems pointed out by its diversity report. The company said in a blog post accompanying the release of the report that the diversity data exposes gaps in important areas.

“We’re doing something about it,” the post says. From there, Lyft is planning to continue implementing the Gender Identity & Affirmation policy that took effect earlier this year.

Both Lyft and Uber are having other issues that they need to address as well among their pool of drivers. Recent news has emerged on the surfacing discrimination problems found in the treatment of male versus female riders. There have also been stories related to non-compliance, troubling incidents, and the unhealthy rivalry between taxi drivers and Ride Sharing services.