Inclusion and Diversity Journey

2021 Expedia Group I&D Goals

Expedia Group set I&D hiring and program goals based on employee data and the importance of representation in the workforce.

Like many companies around the world, we set these goals while also navigating various market conditions—ongoing pandemic impacts, The Great Resignation, and a highly competitive landscape for talent acquisition.

This was especially true for attracting talent from historically marginalized groups, and we were not alone in doubling down on our efforts after social and racial movements were brought to the forefront in 2020. Following these movements, we reemphasized our commitment to making systematic changes within the company, specifically focusing on increasing hiring and reducing barriers to entry for Black and Latinx/a/o candidates.

We set a binary gender goal to reach a 50/50 balance by the end of 2025 at all levels across Expedia Group, and announced that by the end of 2021, 25% of our external U.S. hires would come from racially and ethnically under-represented identities (URI)— specifically, Black/African American, Latinx, two or more races, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander.

While we made significant changes to reach these goals amid headwinds, 2021 ended with 47% global representation rates for women and 19% for URI talent hiring.

There was measured success in Expedia Group’s outreach efforts and representation of women and URI candidates through interviews and offers, however, we have an opportunity to drive higher application rates for both groups.

To do this, we created capacity within the Global Talent Acquisition organization and strategically built out our sourcing function to help increase our network of available talent, build our pipelines, and proactively seek out talent.

Inclusive Recruitment + Hiring

Hiring is key to representation.

We’re taking steps to reach a wider pool and mitigate bias including manager training, returnships, and new pay practices.

Reducing bias throughout our hiring process is critical to ensuring the diversity of our candidate population. From skill-based interviews and mixed-gender interviewing requirements, to making our company-wide Interview Training and Inclusive Recruiting program mandatory for all hiring managers and interviewers, we continue to iterate and improve our recruiting and hiring policies and practices to be more inclusive.

In 2021, this included:

Implementing manager training to help mitigate bias during hiring. We paired this initiative with provider recruiters with visibility into candidates in our applicant tracking system who have self-identified as belonging to an underrepresented identity group, or as women, enabling them to select more diverse representation of candidates for interviews.

Introducing a new candidate accommodations request process, which provides greater transparency and support to anyone applying for a role with Expedia Group. We also offer free tools and resources to candidates, such as visual interpretation.

Launching the “Return Ticket” returnship program in partnership with the non-profit organization, Path Forward. This 16-week paid returnship empowers and supports experienced professionals’ transition back to the workforce in technical roles after taking two or more years off for caregiving.

Removing a request for a candidate’s salary history. By making this change, we are ensuring job offers are based on fair market compensation, and not perpetuating salary inequity that often exists with Black and women applicants.

View the full Expedia Group 2021 Inclusion & Diversity Report