Facebook teaches how to improve workplace diversity

New York, July 29: Facebook has designed a training course for improving diversity in the workplace and is willing to share this with others as long as it helps eliminate biases in the hiring process.

The social network giant on Tuesday launched a new page called "Managing Unconscious Bias," which features a training course and several informational videos aimed at improving diversity in the workplace, CNET.com reported.

The training course, which was developed by Facebook, educates would-be employers and job-seekers on the realities of bias in the hiring process. The training was previously provided to Facebook employees.

"One of the most important things we can do to promote diversity in the workplace is to correct for the unconscious bias that all of us have," Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, wrote in a post announcing Facebook's decisions to publish the training course.

"Studies show that job applicants with 'black sounding names' are less likely to get call backs than those with 'white sounding names' - and applicants called Jennifer are likely to be offered a lower salary than applicants called John, and organisations which consider themselves highly meritocratic can actually show more bias," Sandberg said.

Workplace diversity continues to be an issue for Facebook too. In June, the company reported that 68 percent of its employees are men, and in technology-related roles, males made up 84 percent of its workforce. Just over half of Facebook's employees are white.