Trailblazer Pacesetter LATE BLOOMER
Company Narrative
Meta, an information technology company, has been ranked as a LATE BLOOMER on the Women’s Power and Influence Index.
In its extensive Anti-Harassment Policy, Meta clearly defines what constitutes harassment, and it establishes a defined process to handle allegations along with harassment training. Meta also has a paid parental leave policy in place for its employees.
As of 2021, 36% of Meta’s workforce are women, and 37% of its leadership are women.
Meta lacked sufficient information for several key Index criteria including pay parity, an annual compensation review process, and subsidized childcare.
Workforce Profile
Equitable Pay
✘ Does the company demonstrate a clear and transparent commitment to equal pay?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✘ Does the company perform an annual analysis of gender pay equity and pay disparities?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✘ Do female employees earn at least 95% of what their male counterparts earn?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
Career Growth
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to actively attracting, retaining, and/or promoting women within the organization?
“In 2019, we committed to doubling the number of Black and Hispanic employees in the U.S. and the number of women in our global workforce by 2024. We met and exceeded that goal for each of those groups – two years ahead of schedule – and we are working to continue improving these gains. Since 2019:
- We have doubled the number of Black and Hispanic employees in the U.S.
- We have doubled the number of women in our global workforce”
Ref: Pg 6, Meta Diversity Report
✓ Does the company provide professional development programs designed specifically for female employees?
“Women@ Meta (Information through a video)”
Ref: https://www.metacareers.com/life/how-four-women-are-leading-beyond-at-meta
✓ Does the company provide professional development programs designed specifically for diverse employees?
“Meta Resource Groups: Pride@ Meta, Latin@ Meta, Desis@ Meta and Black@ Meta”
✓ Does the company offer a formal mentoring program to support the career advancement of all female employees?
“Hannah founded the Women@ EMEA Mentorship Program with Uthra R., an analytics manager, in 2019. The group started with less than 30 members and now counts more than 600 participants, the largest scheme of its kind across Meta. Hannah, Uthra, and their small team of three volunteers thoughtfully match mentors with mentees and design programs that foster growth and professional community building at Meta.
‘A mentor shines a light on a path they’ve already trodden,” Hannah explains. “It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to do the same thing they did, but you can learn from someone else’s unique experience and their mistakes. I truly believe in women empowering other women.’
Uthra adds, ‘Mentorship gives people an opportunity to make a big impact on someone else’s career. Being a mentor has been a meaningful way for me to give back to a community that has really inspired me over the years. I can proudly say that I now have friends from Johannesburg to Singapore—all strong relationships I built through the Women@ Mentorship Program. I wouldn’t have naturally crossed paths with these women along my career journey, and I love how we’ve come together as a community.'”
Ref: Meta Mentorship Program (Website)
✓ Does the company offer a formal mentoring program to support the career advancement of diverse employees?
“Hannah founded the Women@ EMEA Mentorship Program with Uthra R., an analytics manager, in 2019. The group started with less than 30 members and now counts more than 600 participants, the largest scheme of its kind across Meta. Hannah, Uthra, and their small team of three volunteers thoughtfully match mentors with mentees and design programs that foster growth and professional community building at Meta.
‘A mentor shines a light on a path they’ve already trodden,” Hannah explains. “It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to do the same thing they did, but you can learn from someone else’s unique experience and their mistakes. I truly believe in women empowering other women.’
Uthra adds, ‘Mentorship gives people an opportunity to make a big impact on someone else’s career. Being a mentor has been a meaningful way for me to give back to a community that has really inspired me over the years. I can proudly say that I now have friends from Johannesburg to Singapore—all strong relationships I built through the Women@ Mentorship Program. I wouldn’t have naturally crossed paths with these women along my career journey, and I love how we’ve come together as a community.'”
Ref: Meta Mentorship Program (Website)
✓ Does the company have policies and programs in place to actively recruit female candidates?
“In addition to a distributed-first philosophy, we use a Diverse Slate Approach (DSA) when hiring, to set the expectation that hiring managers will consider candidates from underrepresented backgrounds when interviewing for an open role. This has contributed to increased candidate diversity year over year, along with utilization of fair and equitable processes and tools like DEI training, which is now required for managers. We also provide senior leaders with coaching aimed at driving inclusion and disrupting the status quo.
Underrepresented people are defined as women globally and, in the U.S., Black, Hispanic, Nave American, Pacific Islander, people with two or more ethnicities, people with disabilities, and veterans.”
Ref: Pg 6, Meta Diversity Report
✓ Does the company have policies and programs in place to actively recruit diverse candidates?
“In addition to a distributed-first philosophy, we use a Diverse Slate Approach (DSA) when hiring, to set the expectation that hiring managers will consider candidates from underrepresented backgrounds when interviewing for an open role. This has contributed to increased candidate diversity year over year, along with utilization of fair and equitable processes and tools like DEI training, which is now required for managers. We also provide senior leaders with coaching aimed at driving inclusion and disrupting the status quo.”
Ref: Pg 6, Meta Diversity Report
Work-Life Balance
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to providing support and/or time off for women with children?
“Meta provides programs to give you the support you need to make sure your family feels cared for. We’re here to support our people as they grow their families, with supportive benefits from maternity coverage to paid parental leave.”
Ref: Meta Employee Benefits (Website)
✓ Does the company provide child care support for employees?
“Intro: A dependent care flexible spending account (FSA) lets people pay daycare expenses for a dependent child or parent with pre-tax money.
Eligibility: Full-time employees and short-term employees regularly scheduled to work at least 20 hours per week.
Overview: The dependent care flexible spending account can be used to pay for dependent care services, such as preschool, summer day camp, before or after school programs and child or elder daycare.”
Ref: Meta Employee Benefits (Website)
✘ Does the company offer subsidized child care?
Information regarding this criterion was unavailable or incomplete.
✓Does the company offer paid maternity leave for birthing parents?
“Pregnant women who are full-time, short-term or part-time employees working at least 20 hours per week are automatically eligible for this leave starting from their hire date.
From the date of birth, maternity leave typically allows six weeks to recover from a vaginal delivery and eight weeks from the date of birth for a C-section delivery.”
Ref: Meta Employee Benefits (Website)
✓Does the company provide paid parental leave that extends beyond birthing parents to include surrogacy, adoption, and paternity leave?
“If you’re a full-time employee when your child is born or placed for adoption with you, we offer four months (equivalent to 87 weekdays) of paid leave for you to bond with your new child.
You may take paid parental leave all at once or intermittently within one year after the birth or placement of your child.”
Ref: Meta Employee Benefits (Website)
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to supporting the health benefits of its female employees?
“Our holistic well-being programs include benefits to help boost your physical health, build resilience to manage mental health and stay healthy in all areas of life.”
Ref: Meta Employee Benefits (Website)
✓ Does the company offer women-specific health benefits for female employees?
“We’ve partnered with Progyny to provide meaningful and innovative care for people seeking fertility treatment.”
Workplace Standards
✓ Does the company have a policy listing prohibited behaviors, such as harassment and retaliation?
“At Meta, we believe it is essential to provide Meta Personnel with a respectful and safe working environment. As a result, we do not tolerate harassment or any mistreatment of Meta Personnel in the workplace or work-related situations. The purpose of this Policy is to deter conduct that is unwanted, unreasonable, and demeaning.
Harassment can range from extreme forms such as violence, threats, or physical touching to less obvious actions like ridiculing, teasing, or repeatedly bothering colleagues or subordinates or refusing to talk to them.
For example, harassment may include the following types of conduct:
- derogatory or insensitive jokes, pranks, or comments;
- slurs or epithets;
- unwelcome sexual advances or invitations;
- non-verbal behavior such as staring, leering, or gestures;
- ridiculing or demeaning comments;
- innuendos or veiled threats;
- intentionally excluding someone from normal workplace conversations and making them feel unwelcome;
- displaying or sharing (1) offensive images such as posters, videos, photos, cartoons, screensavers, emails, or drawings that are derogatory or sexual, or (2) symbols of hate directed at race, religion or other protected categories;
- offensive comments about appearance, or other personal or physical characteristics, such as sexually charged comments or comments on someone’s physical disability;
- unnecessary or unwanted bodily contact such as groping or massaging, blocking normal movement, or physically interfering with the work of another individual; or
- threats or demands that a person submit to sexual requests as a condition of continued employment or to avoid some other loss, and offers of employment-related benefits in return for sexual favors.
This list of examples is not exhaustive, and there may be other behaviors that constitute unacceptable harassment under this Policy.
“I was joking” or “I didn’t mean it that way” are not defenses to allegations of harassment. Nor is being under the influence of alcohol or other substances.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment is harassment specifically based on sex, and/or unwanted conduct of a sexual nature and may include:
- Hostile Work Environment: Conduct that has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment; and
- Quid Pro Quo Harassment: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, or when submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting that individual.
Sexual harassment can happen regardless of the individuals’ gender, gender identity, or gender expression and can, for example, occur between same-sex individuals as well as between opposite-sex individuals, and does not require that the harassing conduct be motivated by sexual desire.”
Ref: Meta Anti Harassment Policy
✓ Does the company mandate all employees to undergo harassment and discrimination training?
“All Meta managers globally are required to attend our mandatory sexual harassment training, which includes a comprehensive review of this Policy and applicable law.”
Ref: Meta Anti Harassment Policy
✓ Does the company have a defined harassment policy that includes promptly addressing reported incidents?
“A violation of this Policy or law may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment for Meta employees or removal from Meta’s account for contingent workers, subject to applicable law. For Meta managers, please be aware of your responsibilities under the Code of Conduct to report compliance concerns and alleged or known policy or legal violations to your Employee Relations Business Partner, Human Resources Business Partner, or Legal.”
Stakeholder Engagement
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to helping external stakeholders address gender equality issues?
“Meta is leveraging its internal resources and global reach to raise awareness about systemic inequities. Promoting economic opportunity and connecting the global community is critical to making our world a more equitable place to live, and we have developed programs and technologies designed to help reach those goals within Meta and beyond.”
Ref: Pg 7, Meta Diversity Report
✓ Does the company offer and support initiatives that promote gender equality in the community?
“Meta was able to compare the performance of the brands’ advertisements after analyzing 60 campaigns across industries and found consumers were more likely to remember the ads with a diversity element and more likely to associate the messaging with the ad. Using the findings of this research, Meta created tools and training programs to empower brands of all sizes to create world-enriching advertising campaigns rooted in a diverse approach.”
Ref: Pg 8, Meta Diversity Report
✓ Does the company demonstrate a commitment to helping internal stakeholders/employees address gender equality issues?
“Meta is leveraging its internal resources and global reach to raise awareness about systemic inequities. Promoting economic opportunity and connecting the global community is critical to making our world a more equitable place to live, and we have developed programs and technologies designed to help reach those goals within Meta and beyond.”
Ref: Pg 7, Meta Diversity Report
✓ Does the company offer equity-focused trainings, speaker programs, or events for employees?
“Across regions and communities, we each bring unique differences and powerful stories. When one of us moves forward, we have the opportunity to bring all of us forward,” Vivian V., a program manager in the San Francisco Bay Area explains. “While planning the summit, we meet weekly to talk about what women in different regions are experiencing. From the event theme and content to planning speaker sessions and fine-tuning details, we each have items to own. Two months before the summit, we meet daily to share updates and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.”
“Just like me, women in APAC look forward to Women’s Leadership Day all year long,” Amanda says. Planning something that’s deeply meaningful to so many people can feel like a lot of pressure, but at the same time, it’s uplifting. I appreciate that we have the opportunity to talk about our individual and shared challenges, and we map out ways we can build community while empowering leadership for women across the globe.
Women’s Leadership Day encourages women to talk about challenges like experiencing imposter syndrome, breaking through barriers and how to manage work/life flexibility.