Managing Diversity and Inclusion at Yelp

This case explores the industry-wide lack of employee diversity in the technology sector and Yelp’s decision to take a leadership position in identifying strategies to increase diversity. The goal of the case is to provide an opportunity for students to develop a framework for understanding the factors that might lead to a less diverse workforce and for evaluating approaches to increase diversity. The case opens in 2014, when Yelp hired Rachel Williams into a newly created position—the Head of Diversity and Inclusion. Rachel was tasked with developing strategies to ensure that Yelp was attracting and retaining a diverse, productive workforce and creating a welcoming environment for all employees. The case puts students in Rachel’s footsteps upon being hired and tasks them to propose a set of changes for Yelp to make in order to increase the diversity of the workforce.