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The lack of diversity in the tech industry is a long-standing problem that has seen little improvement over the past five years. Take Facebook for example. Between 2014 and 2019, the social media giant increased its share of black employees from 3% to just 3.8%. Other tech companies performed slightly better over the same period, but for the most part, only managed to hit single-digit percentage increases — still not a point of pride.
Since 2015, I’ve served as the Executive Director of a charity that provides free training in computer programming, and I’ve focused a lot of my energy on increasing access to our education here. Since the establishment of the company in the year 43% of the students are women and 42% are people of color. In 2020 alone, 60% of the 1,368 students were women or non-binary and 49% were people of color. We make a deliberate and ongoing effort to create classrooms that reflect the demographics of the communities we serve, and we work to help individuals from marginalized communities succeed in their first roles in the classroom and in technology.
See: The Covid-19 Gender Gap: Why Women Quit and How to Get Back to Work (Free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Our efforts, however, are not representative of the tech industry as a whole, and slow progress can lead you to conclude that tech companies aren’t doing enough when it comes to diversity efforts — or worse, are just paying lip service to diversity. Little to make a real difference. While there may be some merit to these assumptions on a case-by-case basis, the truth is that, like my company, the industry as a whole has been making real, ongoing efforts to improve workplace diversity.
Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear that this problem has no easy, quick solution. As I work to create more accessible tech education, I understand that unless tech companies expand their efforts beyond simple recruiting, a lack of diversity hurts both the workforce and the technology.
Tech needs recruiting reform
A big problem is that tech companies don’t have complete control over the makeup of their tech workforce. Talent pipelines themselves have a number of potential pain points that create barriers to true employment equity.
First, there is still a large gap in the early exposure of female students and students of color to computer science. Only 47% of public high schools offer computer science classes, and even more troubling, the more diverse the school’s student body, the less likely it is to offer a computer class.
Once you get past elementary school, there’s still the problem of traditional college and university paths. These come with high barriers to entry that ultimately shut out a wide range of people who might otherwise be on the path to thriving tech jobs. It’s not just racial inequality, it’s gender inequality. The majority of those with a four-year computer science degree are white, while only 19 percent are women.
The good news is that there are alternative sources of learning the necessary technology skills and the industry is slowly starting to recognize these sources as legitimate employment opportunities. But even that is not without its problems. Coding bootcamps have a higher percentage of female graduates at 41%, but still struggle when it comes to BIPOC students. Black students make up just 6% of graduates, while Hispanic students fare slightly better at 8%.
What tech companies need to know about the impact of low diversity
Diversity in technology and its associated impact are not new concepts, but technology leaders must begin to consider the issue on a systemic level, realizing their power to impact the world as a whole.
First, leaders need to recognize the diversity in technology, and the place for innovation is not just about being a good corporate citizen and creating equity in the workplace. Technology companies are creating products and services that are part of people’s everyday lives. They are shaping norms and influencing the public in sometimes unknown ways. If the people behind these products are demographically, culturally, and ideologically homogenous, their influence will reflect that narrow perspective. You need diverse teams that can create solutions and products for everyone, not just one team. Simply put, companies with technology professionals who all look alike naturally make products for people who look like them and come from similar backgrounds.
Not only that, but the products themselves aren’t as good as they could be. Diversity of ideas, backgrounds, perspectives, and opinions has been proven to foster more creativity and stronger teams. That’s not breaking news: In 2015, McKinsey & Co. Research shows that companies with diverse leadership tend to be more successful. Diversity, the researchers say, “leads to a virtuous cycle of increasing returns.”
But lack of diversity creates a vicious cycle of diminishing returns. Younger generations consider a company’s values and mission when choosing where to work, so it’s important for companies to focus on creating an inclusive and welcoming culture to attract the best and brightest talent. Representation is a big part of that, both in tech companies and in the wider media.
However, if people don’t see themselves in your organization, they are less likely to want to work there. It can even contribute to people choosing a completely different career path. A lack of representation of diverse technology professionals in the media has been shown to affect young girls’ willingness to enroll in computer science courses or enter the industry.
Therefore, entry-level talent should see diverse teams and leaders in the recruiting process, but companies must first hire diverse entry-level talent to build a leadership pipeline. If that sounds a bit like a Catch-22, that’s because it is. However, there are ways to navigate this conflict—and that doesn’t mean workers pretending to have marginalized identities.
How to encourage diversity from the ground up
Technology leaders must make an intentional effort to create avenues for growth and help individuals from all walks of life grow and develop within their companies.
Identify and remove obstacles
Recognize the unique barriers that exist for different groups and break those down. For example, working mothers have unique challenges that prevent them from entering leadership positions. How can you help to overcome these obstacles? Maybe your company needs to offer in-office daycare or other support, or it could be as simple as moving a meeting to an later hour to make it easier to drop off school. Telecommuting is another option that can be very attractive to workers with childcare responsibilities or other caregiving obligations.
Raise different voices
Remember that one of the problems with these kinds of solutions is that the old (white, male, heterosexual, cisgender) guard tries to figure out what’s best for people of other identities. The result may be solutions that do not work at the practical level. To address this, create platforms for women and people of color to share their voices.
This is not only equal to the difference of the comment box, but it can be done in simple ways, for example by asking pen
Attending meetings or inviting them to the table and asking for their opinion. It can also be done in larger ways, such as encouraging them to propose to speak at a conference or write a post on the company blog.
Regardless of your strategy, the main thing is to create an environment where not only different voices can be heard, but also loud. Combine this with a more inclusive hiring practice that embraces the needs of a diverse demographic, and you can create a better combination that will improve the health of your company and make it clear that a career in technology is possible for anyone. Their identity or background.
Jeff Mazur is the CEO of LaunchCode, which aims to fill the technology talent gap by matching companies with skilled individuals.
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