Standard Operating Procedure for High School Science Club Leaders?
March 14, 2022
Unfortunately the tech industry remains predominantly white and male. Tech companies state they have taken initiatives to boost the number of women and ethnic minorities employees. The Conversation discusses the lack of diversity in the article, “The Tech Industry Talks About Boosting Diversity, But Research Shows Little Improvement.” The Conversation conducted a study to see if the numbers of women and ethnic minorities increased. The news Web site used machine learning and firm level data on employment diversity from 6,163 tech companies.
Despite all the hype from the tech industry, the study results are surprising and yet not so much:
“We found that 80% of firms displayed a pattern of very minimal increases in diversity in their professional labor force, primarily driven by small increases in the employment of Asian men and Asian women, with declines among non-Asian women and no change among other minority men. We also found that this widespread pattern reflects much slower movement toward employment diversity in this sector than in the rest of the U.S. labor force.”
There was some diversity growth with a 5.9% decline in the amount of white male executives. More women and ethnic minorities were moved to leadership positions, but it could be a PR stunt/defensive response to demonstrate companies are diverse. In reality, the companies are not dedicating resources to diversifying their labor force.
Companies that exhibited the most diversity had the most growth, so were hiring more employees. Diversity looks good for businesses and/or newer, innovative companies know how to effectively have diverse employees.
Tech companies, however, strongly remain in their attached to their outdated hiring practices. Newer companies are likely to make these practices extinct, but it will be a while before they dominate the industry. It could also be a marketing ploy, because that takes less effort.
Whitney Grace, March 14, 2022
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