The tech industry, especially in Silicon Valley and the broader San Francisco Bay area, is one of the few where employees still have a lot of power over how companies are run. Not all tech employees have this influence, but those with experience, a degree from a university with a “top computer science program,” or connections often get multiple offers from a variety of potential employers when choosing a new place to work. Unfortunately, many folks end up choosing based entirely on money, equity, and/or the perceived technical interest of the projects they’ll work on.
Of course, these are completely reasonable criteria, but if you care about diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the industry or society at large, it’s important that you consider how a company addresses issues when making your choice. A recent study by Atlassian found that about 84% of US tech employees say D&I is important or very important, but we need to turn that sentiment into action.
If you are a tech worker who benefits from privilege, I’ll give some concrete ideas about how to use your career choices to help with D&I in our industry. Whether you’re searching for work, unsatisfied with the D&I efforts of your current company, or thinking about seeking funding to found a new startup, I hope these ideas can be helpful!
Incorporating D&I into your job search
There are many benefits to seeking out companies with good D&I efforts during your job search that will pay off throughout your career. Diversity will give you access to viewpoints and solutions that no one individual has alone. But diversity doesn’t last long without inclusion. If tight cliques formed around, say, cultural groups, create an exclusionary atmosphere, people leave and diversity drops. More over, even if you have good numbers around diversity, if people don’t feel included, they’re likely not to feel safe offering much of their unique insight for fear of being pushed further to the edge of the team or company.
Do your homework
So how do you figure out if a company you’re considering will take D&I seriously?
- Start at the top — Look at founders, the executive team, the board, and investors. A quick glance at team, about, and career pages are a good starting point, but statements on Twitter, the company and personal blogs, or tech media can all offer insight into their commitment or missteps around D&I efforts. Many of these folks are silent on these topics which, to be honest, should be considered a bad sign. Affirmation of commitment is the baseline.
- Listen to employees and customers — Does the company have a number of major missteps with employment issues or insensitive product feature rollouts? Repeated issues may suggest that while a company may appear to have diversity on paper, the internal direction of the company is not inclusive. http://goodforpocin.tech/ is a great resource which highlights companys with inclusive cultures based on surveys from employees who are people of color.
- Search for trends — Look to company review sites for a first pass to see how employees view the company, but go one step further to look at attrition, especially of under-represented minority employees leaving. Search LinkedIn for former employees and see if you can discover a pattern of demographics in folks leaving the company.
- Pay attention to how you’re being recruited — If the company’s message is that they “only hire the best” or have a large percentage of graduates of “top institutions,” chances are that the organization has not made the mission of D&I pervasive in all departments.
- Look for intentional effort in implementing D&I programs — Get familiar with Project Include’s recommendations and see how well the company is following them, if at all. Many of the other points here will be indicative of the efforts’ success or failure, but good reporting should be in place to help figure out causality.
It’s important to get a holistic view of the company when doing your research. One or two missteps that the company responded to with honesty, real changes, and accountability may be a good sign of experience. Companies without a history of issues may actually turn out to deal with them in a worse way when they do come up. (Tangentially, see Project Include’s discussion of zero-tolerance policies.)
It’s also fair to be realistic in your choice to note that the tech industry is not very far along when it comes to D&I. Your chances of finding a perfect company are pretty low. But set standards for yourself and your expectations, such as executive and board sponsors of D&I efforts, and don’t make excuses for a slightly higher paycheck or bonus.
Give feedback to voice your concerns
Choosing or not choosing a company may have some effect on their success and the industry eventually, but without feedback it can be easy for D&I to be dismissed as a reason. If you’re not a marginalized or under-represented person in the tech industry, I implore you to give feedback to a company that failed to meet your standards. It’s valuable to the company and the industry to do so.
You can do it at any stage, including the first email from a recruiter. As an example, I recently responded to a recruiter with the following message:
I tried to be as polite as possible, but also make my intention clear and provide resources. Again, giving this feedback is not the job of folks who have been hurt by our industry’s poor D&I efforts. If you’re reading this article and feel like you’ve benefited from privilege in your career, I hope you will consider it your responsibility, as I do.
The example above was of feedback to a recruiter on first contact, but you may make it further through the process and find that the company’s D&I efforts are lacking. It’s important to let the hiring manager or your other primary contact with the company know that this was an important part of your decision and contributed to you declining their offer.
Positive feedback is important too! If you are in the fortunate situation that you’re considering several companies that have great D&I programs in place, let the companies that you decline know that it was a positive for you and made your decision difficult.
Smart companies will be tracking reasons why candidates choose to join or decline and your input on D&I should hopefully push it to the forefront of important recruiting concerns.
Be prepared to leave
If you’re currently employed but haven’t necessarily considered leaving, please take a close look at the efforts of your company in creating an inclusive culture and addressing diversity issues. If they’re doing badly or not making progress, they’re hurting your career. Not only are you missing out on the benefits of having a great workplace, your company is probably getting a bad reputation.
When you look for a new job, it’s pretty common to be asked why you’re leaving or have left a previous company. If failures in D&I led to your decision, let companies you’re interviewing at know. Omitting this reasoning may lead the hiring team to wonder how you fit into a company with an exclusionary culture. When you resign, give this feedback in your exit interview too.
When starting up, look for funds with a diverse portfolio
A lot of folks in the tech sector end up try to found a company at some point and often do so by looking for angel or VC funding. The choice of investor is yet another power that privileged founders have and a fund’s approach to D&I should be something you consider. Look for investors who fund companies that are founded, hire, and address the concerns of marginalized people. The benefits include:
- Aligning on goals — whether it be product vision, board member choices, D&I executive hiring, or D&I program implementation, you want to have investors who have your back and don’t need to be convinced of the benefits.
- Access to advice — if your investor has a broad, non-homogeneous network, you’re likely to get connected with better advisors. They can help with everything from product choices to recruiting.
- Confidence in yourself and your company — investors who don’t do simple pattern matching on founders or companies are likely to invest based on actual markers of success rather than just following trends. If you are lucky enough to work with an investor who has this insight, it probably means you’ve got something right. :)
Conclusion
If you’re a privileged tech worker who’s been wondering how to make an impact on D&I in our industry, I hope these ideas help you. There are many more ways in which you can be an ally too, so keep up the efforts where ever you land!
Did I get something wrong or suggest something that might hurt D&I efforts in the ideas above? I would love to know so I can correct it! I’d be so appreciative if you messaged me or left a reply. Thank you for your help! ❤❤❤
Special thanks to Dawn Sharifan and Mika Akutsu for reviewing a draft of this post and Sarah-Jane Morris for reviewing and letting me know about http://goodforpocin.tech/!
