Tech workers see diversity at work
Perception doesn’t match reality
SAN FRANCISCO - Tech not diverse enough? That’s news to its workers.
The vast majority — 94% — say they would give their industry a passing grade on diversity, a surprising result from a new survey that counters the tech industry’s own findings of a shortage of women, African-Americans and Hispanics on their payrolls.
A report that surveyed more than 1,400 tech workers across the nation offers a rare glimpse into how the rank-and-file views the tech industry’s growing focus on diversity.
The disconnect: The majority of tech workers say their companies don’t need to make more progress on diversity. Eightythree percent of respondents say their company is already diverse, and 79% say the average team at their company is diverse, according to the survey from enterprise software company Atlassian.
The actual numbers in the industry, whose ranks are dominated by white and Asian men, tell a different story. Women, Hispanics and African-Americans make up 30%, 6% and 3% of employees in the top 75 Silicon Valley tech companies, respectively, according to a report from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
That’s worse than other industries. In non-tech firms in the area, women hold 49% of the jobs, Hispanics 22% and African-Americans, 24%. AsianAmericans, who hold 41% of jobs in Silicon Valley’s top tech firms, make up 24% of the nontech workforce. The demographic makeup of the tech industry’s workforce puts it out of step with its increasingly diverse consumer base.
Why are perceptions of diversity so far removed from reality? The tech industry has sounded the alarm that there’s a problem but hasn’t helped tech workers understand how extensive the problem is, particularly when it comes to the chronic exclusion of underrepresented minorities and women, Aubrey Blanche, global head of diversity and inclusion at Atlassian, told USA TODAY.
Among the top reasons tech workers give for handing out passing grades on diversity:
Sixty percent say their company is making an effort, even though they give no indication of concrete action the company has taken, commenting, “I feel they can do more, but they are trying. So, can’t knock them for it.” Forty-eight percent say their company already has good diversity: “Multiple ethnicities represented at my company.”
Another challenge for diversity advocates: The perception in some quarters that the lack of diversity in tech can be chalked up to a “pipeline” problem — in other words, too few women and minorities becoming software engineers or entering the industry.
Twenty percent of those surveyed say they believe their company is a meritocracy. That deeply rooted sense of an industry that treats everyone equally is a significant barrier to rooting out the causes of underrepresentation in tech and solving them, Blanche says.
“The tech industry has developed this myth about its own meritocracy to justify homogeneity and pattern matching when funding deals and making hiring decisions,” Blanche said. “But the more you believe your system is a meritocracy, the more likely the system is to be biased and discriminatory.”
For Blanche, the survey has given diversity advocates a road map to follow. Her reasoning: Making progress in creating more inclusive work environments has to start with the people who already work there. That’s why she said she conducted months of research: to get a baseline of the opinions held by tech workers and middle managers and figure out how to better engage them.
The survey showed a shift in attitude tied to the industry’s growing social activism since the election of Donald Trump. Tech workers say they are more interested in diversity and are more willing to work to promote inclusion in their workplace, the survey found.
Nearly half of tech workers say the election has made them care more about promoting diversity. More than a third say they fear their company will shrink from diversity efforts in the changing political climate. A quarter of respondents say they’ve taken action since November, reaching out to colleagues from diverse backgrounds and engaging with company leaders to create a more inclusive workplace.
Tech companies should tap into that energy as they strive to include more women and people of color who have been largely left out of the tech economy’s rapid wealth and job gains, Blanche says.
Atlassian, like most tech companies, struggles to reverse the racial and gender imbalance in its U.S. workforce: 75% of workers are men and 73% are white. There are 17% Asian, 5% Hispanic and 2% African-American.
Fearing they will lose their edge in appealing to a global marketplace in which women and minorities wield growing economic power, tech companies such as Atlassian are taking steps to address the racial and gender gap. They have begun publicly disclosing the demographics of their workforce and boosting recruiting and retention efforts.
According to Atlassian’s survey, tech workers overwhelmingly say any shift in industry demographics will come from individuals and companies, not the government or the judiciary.
“The tech industry has developed this myth about its own meritocracy to justify homogeneity and pattern matching when funding deals and making hiring decisions.” AUBREY BLANCHE