Airbnb aims for 20% of its US workforce to be from underrepresented minorities by 2025, and half of employees globally to be women

• On Tuesday, Airbnb pledged that one in five of its US employees will be from underrepresented minorities, and half of its entire global workforce will be women, by late 2025.
• "We are nowhere near satisfied with the status quo," Airbnb said in a statement as it unveiled its new diversity goals.
• The vacation rentals company said it would reach those targets by improving its recruiting, hiring, promotion, and retention practices.
• Earlier this year, Airbnb vowed to increase the diversity of its board of directors and executive team.

By the end of 2025, one in five Airbnb employees in the US will be from underrepresented minorities, the vacation rental company pledged in new diversity goals unveiled Tuesday.

It is aiming for half of its entire global workforce to be women by that time, it said.

Currently, around one in eight of Airbnb's US employees are from underrepresented minorities.

"We are nowhere near satisfied with the status quo," the company said in a statement. Currently, 12% of its US workforce are from underrepresented minorities.

Airbnb classes underrepresented minorities as those who self-identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

To reach the goals, the company will need to improve its recruiting, hiring, promotion, and retention practices, it said.

This follows major companies across the world vowing to increase the diversity of their workforce, in part prompted by Black Lives Matter protests after the killing of George Floyd in May. On December 1, Nasdaq said companies listed on its main US stock exchange should have "at least two diverse directors" on their boards - otherwise, they could face being delisted.

Airbnb is already close to achieving its gender equality goals. According to data from November, 46.9% of its global employees identified as women, the company said. Its target is 50% by the end of 2025.

Read more: How the rapidly growing Hive Diversity app is connecting students with big companies that put equality and inclusion at the forefront of recruitment

The company has set out a series of diversity plans with specific and time-bound objectives for its different divisions, and says it will take "aggressive" steps to remove bias from its processes.

"Setting these long-term goals is part of our ongoing work to make Airbnb more diverse and inclusive," it added.

In June, Airbnb vowed to increase the diversity of its board of directors and executive team, saying that 20% of their make-up will be people of color by the end of 2021.