Finally Flipping the Script
How to make real change happen for the Black and Hispanic communities in the tech industry
Meet Stephanie Lampkin. She holds a BS in Management Science in Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from MIT Sloan. While at a job interview at a major tech firm in Silicon Valley, Stephanie was told that she didn’t get the position because she wasn’t technical enough. Hard to believe after taking a look at her resume, don’t you think?
Today, she’s the founder of a tech start-up dedicated to enabling businesses to move beyond bias and has important lessons to share with advice for young professionals about “transcending the lottery of birth.” Stephanie’s story, however, is not unique to many African American and Hispanic candidates on the hunt for a job in the tech industry.
Race and Ethnicity in the US’s Tech Sector
The McKinsey report Why Diversity Matters lists that companies in the top quarter for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. Even with this financial incentive, tech is far behind other industries when it comes to racial and ethnic employee representation.
In the Silicon Valley, representation for Black professionals in the tech industry is a mere 1.5% and 3.97% for Hispanics.
According to the 2014 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the proportion of African Americans and Latinos in the tech industry in the United States is significantly less than for the overall private industry — that’s 14.4 percent in the private sector compared to 7.4 percent in tech for African Americans; and 13.9 percent in the private sector compared to just 8 percent in tech for Hispanics. The same report shares these statistics for Silicon Valley, where the representation of African American professionals in the tech industry is a mere 1.5% and 3.97% for Hispanics.
Therefore, it becomes clear that even for those who claim that they
“don’t see color, only people,” these numbers undoubtedly raise some questions.
Color Blind or Color Brave?
The Costs of Racial Color Blindness, a report published by the Harvard Business Review, points to how difficult it can be to talk about race and ethnicity, especially in the workplace. But to affect change, these conversations must happen, and they must happen regularly across every corner of an organization. Catalyst is a leading nonprofit committed to creating workplaces where employees representing every dimension of diversity can thrive. It suggests that in order to “flip the script” on race and ethnicity, leaders and employees should be encouraged to ask other colleagues who have a different racial, ethnic, or cultural background from their own whether they feel their workplace honors their identity and experiences. You might be surprised by the answers.
The case for speaking openly about race — especially when it comes to diversity in hiring — is one that Mellody Hobson has also made in a compelling TEDTalk, Color Blind or Color Brave? Throughout the talk, Mellody argues that creating a diverse workforce leads to better businesses and, in turn, a better society.
With the almost limitless potential we have for creating a better future through diversifying the tech industry, it’s clear that if we don’t talk about it, and we don’t do something about it, the impact can be significant.
Catalyst recently published a study that found evidence of an emotional tax — that’s the heightened experience of being different from peers at work because of gender, race, or ethnicity that can have detrimental effects, on health, well-being, and the ability to thrive at work — that is levied on Black women and men as they try to successfully navigate through their careers. Furthermore, in this report from the Center for Talent Innovation, we learn that the vast majority of Latinos repress certain aspects of their personas in the workplace, making clear that individuals as well as companies pay a price when Latinos cannot bring their full selves to work.
The impact across the board is personal, but it also has an impact on a company’s ability to grow and innovate. If people cannot bring their true selves to the workplace, how can we expect them to be top performers?
Doing Something About It
While no one of us can change the diversity landscape overnight, if we each affect change in conversation and action within our respective spheres of influence, I believe it really does move the needle. For example, just look at the work SAP has been doing.
Last week at SAP Silicon Valley, Stephanie Lampkin spoke about the struggles she’s faced in her career at the Millennial Tech Entrepreneurs breakfast. This was the first day of the third annual Silicon Valley Culture Shifting Weekend. Bringing together more than 200 accomplished African American and Hispanic executives, entrepreneurs, innovators and social impact leaders, the event aimed to open the discussion on how bring greater diversity into the tech industry.
SAP’s sponsorship, support and related work with the event organizer, Culture Shift Labs, is just one of many ongoing efforts and programs aimed at creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace culture — whether that’s in support of gender diversity, neurodiversity, or in this case, racial and ethnic diversity.
SAP signed the White House Tech Inclusion Pledge last year to cement its commitment to build upon existing company goals to create and sustain an inclusive culture, publish progress metrics on the diversity of its workforce, and invest in partnerships to build a diverse pipeline of technology talent. However, it’s important to note that SAP’s commitment to diversity and inclusion began long before taking this pledge and its efforts have been recognized in different areas. In my role as the global lead for culture and identity, I’m extremely proud of these results, but also recognize that we’ve got more work to do — a common theme among all leaders and conversations at the recent Culture Shifting Weekend.
SAP’s sponsorship of the Culture Shifting Weekend was a grassroots initiative brought on by members of the SAP Black Employee Network (BEN), one of several Employee Network Groups (ENG) dedicated to promoting a diverse and inclusive culture. These ENGs create a sense of place and commonality among employees, and they truly give a voice and platform to raise up issues, concerns, and ideas for creating a business beyond bias.
It was also BEN that helped launch SAP’s partnership with the Americas’ SAP User Group and Delaware State University through Project Propel. The program offers Historically Black Colleges and University students valuable training and tech skills development, with the goal of building a pipeline of diverse technical talent.
In Stephanie’s case, and so many others, it’s clear why this early talent development matters.
It is also just one example that illustrates the empowering advice shared by Cheo Coker while at Culture Shifting Weekend as he encouraged young leaders not to wait for others to change things, but to go after it and do it themselves.
Technology Helps Move Businesses Beyond Bias
If I could say some finals words to my peer D&I Executives and HR Professionals:
- Just be brave and address the topic of race, ethnicity and culture at your workplace, same as you are probably looking at other areas like gender diversity and inclusion.
- Talk to your colleagues from underrepresented minorities to understand if there is anything else that could be done to improve their engagement.
- Look at your whole employee life cycle, your HR processes, and analyze how inclusive you are with these communities.
The incredible thing about the world we live in today is that we can leverage technology to help make these changes happen a little faster. The commitment of SAP with Diversity and Inclusion goes beyond the internal perspective and business and social engagements.
To learn more about how SAP helps its customers to build more inclusive organizations and support diversity? Follow these links:
