Intel Makes Huge Push To Hire More Women And Minorities

Intel is betting big on workforce diversity.

The Santa Clara, California-based computer chip maker will double referral bonuses for employees who suggest women, minorities and veterans as job candidates. Employees who identify successful matches will receive up to $4,000. 

"Intel is committed to increase the diversity of our workforce," spokeswoman Gail Dundas said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "We are currently offering our employees an additional incentive to help us attract diverse qualified candidates in a competitive environment for talent."

The Wall Street Journal  first reported the news.

Like the majority of its Silicon Valley peers, Intel has a long way to go when it comes to its own employee demographics . Women make up 24 percent of the company, while black and Latino employees represent 3.5 percent and 8 percent of the entire workforce, respectively. Just over half of its employees are white, and around a third are Asian.

The percentage of women in computing jobs has been on the decline  for the last two decades. Women hold 17 percent of the tech jobs at Google , and 15 percent at Facebook . Across the board, tech companies are becoming more proactive about hiring, and some are already seeing results. ThoughtWorks, a tech consulting firm based in Chicago, has nearly doubled  the percentage of women in tech roles to 32 percent.

In January, Intel committed  $300 million to improving its workforce diversity within five years. The initiative aims to attract more women and minorities to the field, and will support engineering scholarships and historically black universities.

This post has been updated with a comment from Intel.