2

| FT

Reports

FINANCIAL TIMES

Wednesday

13 November 2019

Diversity in Technology

F

steptowardschangingthediversityreportsasafirstcompanieshavepostedbiggesttechnologyor fiveyearstheworld’s

culture

inthetechworkforce.The

revealFacebook,Google,andMicrosoft,studies,publishedbyApple,

a nindustrydominatedby

whiteandAsianmen.

Thestatusquoisparticularly

nowatroublingbecauseofhowtechnology

ffectseverysectorfrom

andhealthcare.transportandfinancetogovernment

Ifitisonlytoday’stech-literate

workerswho

canaccess

these

growingemploymentopportunities

,

too.servicestheymakewillbeskewedbeleftbehind.Theproductsandswathsofthegeneralpopulationwill

Since2014,

s omeprogresshasbeen

Facebooksaysmadeongenderrepresentation.

23percentofits

tech

employees

g loballyare

female,up

from15percent;Googlereportsa

however,remainsimilarchange.Ethnicdiversity,

sstubbornlylow.

whoareblackorLatinxproportionofUStechnicalemployeesAccordingtorecentnumbers,the

—ofLatin

percentagepointsince2014.Microsoft,hasrisenbyaboutoneAmericandescent—atGoogleand

Theshareofblacktechnical

workersatAppleremains

at6per

theUSpopulation.proportionofAfricanAmericansincent,lessthanhalfthe13percent

Ageismcontinuestobeachallenge:

whentechworkershit45,

t heirjob

offer

sdrop,accordingtoresearchby

platform.Hired,thetechrecruitment

Salariesstarttofallaged45

,with

withjusttwoyears’experience.askingforthesamepayasmillennialscandidatesintheirfiftiesandsixties

IntheUKtoo,datashowsdiversity

FTSE100.disappointing,laggingfarbehindtheinthetechindustrytobe

About8.5percentofsenior

2018reportminoritybackground,accordingtoaexecutivesintechnologyarefroma

f romInclusiveBoards,an

comparedwiththeboardmembersinthesector,womenmakeupjust12.6percentofexecutivesearchcompany,while

30percent

female

representation

achievedbyFTSE100

servicesbutthedesignofthegoodsandinclusionaffectsnotjustemploymentbusinesses.Theresultinglackof

t hatthe

industrycreates.

Forinstance,voicerecognition

initiallydidnotre

spondtowomen

productsweremale.becausethedesignerswhotestedthe

Facial

recognition

isnotoriouslypoorat

againpartlybecauseofrecognisingdarkerandfemalefaces,

biased

trainingdata

.The

shortageoftalent

mustofprogressalreadymade,recruitersinthetechsectormeansthat,inspite

thinkharder

h owtofindthe

people.skillstheyneedfromawiderrangeof

Amorediverseworkforcewilllead

to betterproductsthatcanaddress

a

backgroundsdifferentethnicandsocio-economicbeolder,differently-abledandfromwiderrangeofcustomers,whomay

.

Inthisreport,welookathow

diversityaddressingthepushforgreaterorganisationsandindividualsare

.

Madhumita Murgiarange of people, saysharder to hire a wideremployers must thinkFacing skills shortfalls,How to push for greater diversity

Wanted: tech-literate workers

Employees are

more picky

than

before about the kind of

morethantechnology.— and few sectors know thisorganisation they will work for

“If you’re a start-up, you

thansecuringfunding.”the early days is often hardering people to your start-up inventure capital firm. “Attract-talentadviseratKindred,aUKone,” says Michelle Coventry,compete for talent with every-

Yet building a diverse team

harder.in a tech business is even

Many tech companies are

gies,”hesays.change your sourcing strate-to improve diversity is toform. “The most effective wayWorkable, a recruitment plat-founder and chief executive ofhiring, says Nikos Moraitakis,not proactive enough when

That starts outside the

ming with local meetups foroffice. The tech world is brim-

mixWhy smart hirers

jobs boards

i

n

Amy Lewinnetworks, experts tellto stick to tapping upResist the temptationRecruitment toolswith social media

working in the sectordiverse groups, from women

to

advises.and sponsor these events, hepanies should attend, talk atLGBTQ networks. Tech com-

Start-ups are often reluctant

such as Indeed, and preferto post jobs on jobs boards,

t o

hire

via their networks. That is

there.”are the most diverse thing outsays Mr Moraitakis: “Job sitesa terrible idea for diversity,

Tech companies are

a lso

of applicantsthey secure a more diverse setrelevant individuals — andbook to advertise job roles tosuch as Instagram and Face-turning to social media sites

. “Why? Because

saysMrMoraitakis.everybody’s on social media,”

“Open up your world, go to

your hiring comes down to thepost,” he says. “The quality ofpostinplacesyoudon’tusuallyplaces you don’t usually go,

FINANCIAL TIMES

Wednesday

13 November 2019

FT

Reports

|

7

Diversity in Technology

aboutmybusinessinGermany.MybossasksinternatamobiletechnologyIt’s1999andIamacommunications

a spirations.

M yresponseis

accompaniesmestill.leadershipandoptimismthatchanging”—wasalessoninsurprisedbyhowfasttheworldisobstacle.Herreply—“Youwillbecompany,butbeingblackmightbeancommunicationsforaglobalthatI’dlovetobecomeheadof

AdoptedbyGermanparentsand

businessthatlookedlikemelocalpopculturebutrolemodelsinmusiciansfromAmericahadenteredenteredwork,blackathletesandperspectiveondiversity.BythetimeIroots,IgrewupwithanunusualwithAfrican-AmericanandGerman

were

hardtofind.

Now,20yearslater,alothas

changed

insomerespects.Inothers,

excluded.societyandtheworkforcestillfeelnotnearlyenough.Largepartsof

Becauseofmybackground,Isee

disabilitygender,sexualorientation,ageordiversityasmorethanethnicity,

.W orking

acrossEurope,

theMiddleEastandAfrica

g ivesmea

vantage

fromwhichtoseethe

experiencesandperspectivesthevaluethatdifferentlifeimportanceofculturaldiversity,and

bring.

Therearechallengesinrecruitinga

thecustomersteamsthatcreateittobeasdiverseaspersonallives,thenecessityfortheorganisationandproliferatesinourclosertotheheartofeveryHowever,astechnologymoveseverthetechsector—myindustry.morediverseworkforce,particularly

isunarguable.

Technologiessuchasmachine

predictions.learninguseexistingdatatomake

Thatiswhyalgorithms

oftenexhibit

biasesunknowingly

amplifyingdiscrimination.embeddedincurrentdatasets,thus

Outcomescanbesoapdispensers

that

donotworkifyourskinisdark

,

oradvertisementsfor

highlypaidjobs

thatareshown

l essfrequentlyto

intenttodiscriminatebutwomenthantomen.Thereisno

bynot

unintentionallyexclude.intentionallyincluding,newtechcan

Itisessential,therefore,toinclude

widelylongerfordiverseteamstogel,itisearlyoninaproject.Whileittakespeoplefromdifferentbackgrounds

acceptedthatthey

innovationandcreativity.outperformmonoculturesin

R esearch

effectively.anticipateandrespondtochangealsoshowstheyaremorelikelyto

Inanageofdigitaldisruption,

priorityforleaders.successfultransformationisa

Amorediverse

helpempathisewithcustomers,whichcanworkforcecanbetterunderstandand

improveinnovationand

demographics.willhaveoncertaincommunitiesoranticipatetheeffectnewtechnologyimplementation.Itcanalsohelpto

Diversityshould

g ohandinhand

withinclusion.

F oreveryone

inan

organisationtofeeltheycanmake

the dos and don’ts of inclusionYou can’t buy it or delegate it:

LampeBenjaminOPINION

is only going to increase’planning... Their populationmore about the elderly in their‘Companies should think overcome funders’ scepticismmen but believes a viable plan will

. Her

detectingabout people’s sight with the aim ofsmartphone game to collect datacompany produces an interactive

problemsearly

.

“If you think your technology can

say it,” she says.transform the eyecare industry, then

“ When I pitched [for

onourboard.”room. A couple of those men are nowfunding] there were all men in the

Nevertheless, the barriers to

are so acute that specialist backerswomentryinggenerallytoraisefunds

have emerged, including

Female

Founders Fund

,Voulez Capital

a nd

MindshiftCapital

.

Ms Kanze says that although the

femaleentrepreneur”.whether they’re addressing a male orpositives and negatives “regardless ofcan help by posing questions abouta long-term goal, would-be investorselimination of gender funding bias is

Furthermore, “parity in pay and

sourcesofcapital”,sheadds.until they’re able to obtain externalmore women to self-fund venturesequity distributions would enable

FT journalist, Special ReportsMark WembridgeResearcherBeniamino DenaroSenior reporter, SiftedAmy LewinHead of visual and data journalismAlan SmithEuropean technology correspondentMadhumita MurgiaContributors

Picture editorEsan SwanDesignerSteven BirdHarriet ArnoldCommissioning editorEmea communications lead, MicrosoftBenjamin LampeTokyo correspondentLeo Lewis

Carol Ramsey,For advertising details, contact:IllustrationsLeonie Woods

+44 (0)207 873 4024,

over or prior sight of the articles.Our advertisers have no influenceproduced by the FT.All editorial content in this report [email protected], or your usual FT

experience that counts’Benjamin Lampe: ‘it is the lived

banking software, now

recog-

for morehands-oninput.asking their target customersuccessful product withoutnise that they cannot design a

Japan’s huge video games

thingwhere they can play every-games arcades to older people,has begun offering tours ofbroader range of customers,ways to adapt games to aindustry, already seeking

free.

As the visitors play, com-

compared withfer and what they need whenwhichtypesofgamestheypre-pany employees look to see

t he usual play-

ferentneeds.tations to accommodate dif-ers. The aim is to make adap-

“You often hear people now-

theyoung.”equally between the old andincrease opportunities to talkmiya. “I think we shouldsex and races,” says Ms Waka-adays talk about diversity in

meaningfulcontributions,they

must

feeltheirvoiceis

heardand

their

hugelyimportant.somethingbiggerthanthemselves,isandthattheyareacceptedandpartofdiverseperspectiveisappreciated,inputcounts.Showingpeopletheir

Theresponsibilityfor

aninclusive

culture

isnotsomethingleaderscan

buyordelegate.

Everyday,everyone

wantstofeel

partoftheteam,the

group,thecompany.

I tisthelived

areunheardwillbeunengaged.experiencethatcounts.Peoplethat

Managers

h avegreatinfluenceover

Theythedailyexperiencesoftheirteams.

setthetone,orbetter,

tunein.

peopletospeakupandtheyTheycreateasafeenvironmentfor

listento

loudest,andhavethewillallthevoicesintheroom,notjustthe

toactonit.

Awarning:people

donoticeifthey

aretheresimplyforappearance

orfor

continueasbefore.oflegitimacyforbusinesstodiversepeopleprovidesafigleaf“morallicensing”,wherehiring

Inclusionrequires

effortasa

diverseteamoften

has fewershared

starttakesmoreexperiences.Gettingofftoagood

workinfinding

approachesandgoals.commonalitiesanddefiningjoint

Ittakesmore

boostsinnovation.timebutitisworthwhile:inclusion

Everyleaderwhoisseriousabout

withoutinclusionanddiversity.transformationcannothappenrealisethatsuccessfulfutureproofingtheirbusinessmust

ThereasonIamheretodayisthat

20yearsago,afterthatconversation

,

mymanager

helpedmelandmyfirst

Yet manypeopletodayasyouneedleaders,youneedallies.full-timejob.Sheknewthatasmuch

arestillbeing

gender,orientationordisability.judgedbytheirbackground,race,

Itisincumbentonusalltoask

lead Emea at MicrosoftThe writer is regional communicationsourselves:arewetheirallies?