CompTIA has new research out also focused on diversity – the punchline? Diversity is positively correlated with increased profit.
Sixty-four percent of respondents said they agree that an organization with a heterogeneous employee base is more likely to produce world-class innovation than one with that is largely homogeneous in makeup.
But also citing from the study:
Case in point, a Pew Research report released in January highlights a pervasive problem of racial and gender bias among STEM-oriented workers, especially those working within the high-tech industry. The same study also throws cold water on the often-cited reason for lack of diversity in the tech industry; namely, a “pipeline” problem caused by a dearth of minority and women job candidates. Pew’s African American and Hispanic respondents undercut this argument. A majority of these respondents told Pew they were indeed in the pipeline, seeking high-tech industry jobs. Yet they either weren’t selected for the job after their interview process, or they were hired but left their employment thereafter due to diversity issues in the workplace.
There is a ton of data to parse in the CompTIA study, and I’d encourage you to do so.
We care because in an industry that never seems to have enough staff and always complains about being able to hire qualified people, we have data indicating there IS a pipeline of people that are available – and we’re losing them because of diversity issues in the workplace.
If you’re doing any hiring and complaining you can’t find people – you should be concerned about plugging this hole in the boat. You want to hire these people because you need them – and you need to keep them.
You can’t bemoan “I can’t hire enough” if you aren’t working to solve this problem.