Slack diversity report shows slight increase in black engineers

Compared to other Silicon Valley companies, Slack seems to be making progress in hiring practices, with 7.8% identifying as black, 5.6% Hispanic and 13% LGBT

Black engineers make up 8.9% of Slack's US engineering staff, according to a new diversity report released by the company on Thursday. The report has been issued just five months after Slack released its initial diversity figures. According to the new report, globally, more than 7.8% of its engineers identify as black, compared to just under 7% in September.

The most recent data collection allowed Slack to break down its diversity numbers into global and US employees, whereas the first set of data focused on the company as a whole. In September the percentage of African American employees across all departments was 4%; today this percentage, globally, is down to 3.4%, while US figures are up to 4.4%.