Facebook has a diversity problem. Facebook is far from the only company in the Valley with a diversity problem, but it exists nonetheless. When it comes to the company’s over 10,000 employees, the landscape is very white and very male.

So, what’s Facebook doing about this? It’s in the process of instituting its own “Rooney Rule”.

Established in 2003, the Rooney Rule requires NFL team to interview minority candidates for coaching and senior operational positions. Facebook’s version of the rule forces the company to consider at least one minority candidate for any open position before making a hire.

Apparently, Facebook started doing this a while ago in some departments, but plan to roll it out company wide soon. From Bloomberg:

The rule went into effect in some Facebook departments in the last few months, according to a person familiar with the matter. If it helps increase the presence of people who are black, Latino or otherwise minorities, it will be implemented at the social network widely. Facebook spokeswoman Genevieve Grdina confirmed the effort, while declining to comment further.

Last June, when Facebook released its first diversity report, we found that the company’s global makeup is 69 percent male and 31 percent female. In terms of ethnicity, Facebook is 57 percent white, 34 percent Asian, 4 percent hispanic, and 2 percent black.

“As these numbers show, we have more work to do – a lot more. But the good news is that we’ve begun to make progress,” says Maxine Williams, Facebook’s Global Head of Diversity at the time. “Diversity is something that we’re treating as everyone’s responsibility at Facebook, and the challenge of finding qualified but underrepresented candidates is one that we’re addressing as part of a strategic effort across Facebook. Since our strategic diversity team launched last year, we’re already seeing improved new hire figures and lower attrition rates for underrepresented groups.”

Like I said before, Facebook isn’t the only one struggling with this.

Image via Facebook Menlo Park, Facebook