Diversity In Technology
Cambridge, Ma — March 27, MIT Sloan School of Management hosted the 2021 Virtual Tech Conference, where a four-person panel discussed diversity recruitment and retention in the technology sector.
Deloitte Managing Director Ayo Odusote said an ethnographic study at Deloitte — an audit, consulting, tax and advisory services firm — revealed the most fundamental issue was that technology employers should not be color blind.
In MIT Technology Review’s 2019 Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning report, Senior Artificial Intelligence Reporter Karen Hao said, “Black workers represent only 2.5 percent of Google’s entire workforce and 4 percent of Facebook’s and Microsoft’s.”
“I recognize my American privilege and white privilege, and it’s grotesque — the way we had built the world that exists today,” said Robin Chase, co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, who was a speaker at the conference.
“Teams with diverse experience expand the knowledge base, skill and company’s network. That is my strongest pitch for diversity,” said Chase.
Odusote said Deloitte published its first-ever diversity, equity and inclusion transparency report. The 2021 report said Deloitte’s United States workforce of 65,316 professionals had a 6.6 percent African-American representation.
“I wear multiple hats and serve as the chief inclusion officer for a technology and telecom strategy consulting practice at Deloitte,” said Odusote.
“I have also been tracking these numbers,” said Stephanie Lampkin, founder and CEO of Blendoor, a diversity, equity and inclusion ratings and analytics company. “It boils down to the fact that there is a lack of governance and incentives. There are no incentives for companies to make significant changes diversity in technology.”
“When you look at the venture capital funding system for technology startups, it is often only a couple of demographics represented. Right about 16 percent women and about 2 percent Black or Latinx,” said Candice Morgan, equity, diversity and inclusion partner at Google Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc..
“Finding Black talent is harder. There is an opportunity for all of us in technology to invest more and expand the aperture of where we go to look for minority talent,” said Odusote.
“Recruitment in technology comes from a handful of schools that typically have 6 percent or less Black on Latinx students; this contributes to the underrepresentation,” said Morgan.
Management Leadership For Tomorrow (MLT), a nonprofit focused on transforming leadership pipelines in leading organizations, published perspectives behind low diversity numbers in technology. Though there is a widely held assumption that a narrow pipeline is the primary driver for low diversity numbers, statistics show that over 20 percent of science, engineering and computer science graduates in the United States are African-American, Latinx or Native American.
Candice Morgan said there could be a double standard to the same behaviors that dominant groups exhibit in the workforce versus minority groups. “Women and people of color often walk this tight rope between being nice but not leadership material, at the same time being seen as aggressive when they exhibit the same behaviors as their male colleagues from dominant groups.”
MIT Sloan School of Management Professor and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Ray Reagans said, “There is a substantial attrition of people of color at much higher proportions given the total numbers that exist in the technology workforce.”
Morgan said the interpretation of mistakes on-the-job could be different for older employers. “Older workers tend to get their mistakes attributed to fundamental gaps in skills and their innate abilities, while younger workers are given the benefit of the doubt.”
Morgan said the differences in ways minority groups are perceived and evaluated could impact their sense of belonging and drive attrition. When people start to feel these tiny cuts, it is like death by a thousand cuts.”
Reagans said one of the first things he realized when he got to MIT was that technology practitioners need to understand the history of the United States.
“What I realized about midway through running Blendoor was that we were selling scuba gear to people who did not know how to swim,” said Lampkin.
Ayo Odusote, born and raised in Nigeria, is a Black migrant, said he had to learn about the history of the United States and the legacy of slavery. “The inherited trauma of enslaved Africans is my reality today. Education is critical because it can lead people to change their mindset and hearts.”
Stephanie Lampkin said it is tough to educate and change corporate cultures, which are a microcosm of the broader American society when they have not reconciled with the traces of institutional racism, sexism and enslavement.
“Technology companies and hiring managers need to understand the history of this country. Not too long ago, it was illegal for someone like me to read or have access to certain opportunities,” said Lampkin.
“It includes advocacy for Asian and LGBTQ Americans. It is about connecting underrepresented people who have an inequitable experience with the same limitless opportunities,” said Morgan.
“Everybody is intersectional if you think about it. The issue is when any part of a person’s identity is being marginalized,” said Lampkin. “I lean into every opportunity and as many intersections I can to be an advocate.”
Morgan said the idea that diversity, equity and inclusion is a zero-sum game is related to white supremacy. “It is the idea that privilege is relative to the benefits of being white in the context of The United States, and people of color have to fight for the remaining advantages.”
“There are always going to be people that do not appreciate the conversation,” she said. “I always start diversity and inclusion conversations with the business case. Diverse thinking can enhance innovation by 30 percent.” Morgan said it was impossible to strive for equity and avoid backlash.
Odusote said Deloitte’s efforts to double down diversity recruitment has yielded positive results over the past two years. “Achieving diversity in technology is possible with the right level of investment, focus and accountability,” he said.
“Companies do not need to change or lower their hiring standards,” Lampkin said. “They need to have the right criteria for underrepresented groups to gain access to opportunities in technology.”