In the context of State CIOs adding diversity to their priorities list, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers started studying the issue and published their first results recently. In a recent poll of its members, NASCIO found that 60% feel they have a diverse workforce, while 93% said their offices offered an inclusive workplace. But “diversity” is very broadly defined, with some demographic breakdowns outpacing others: Gender diversity, for instance, is more widespread than other factors, like race and ethnicity.
Half of all CIOs said they didn’t know what percentage of job applicants can be considered “diverse,” while 31% estimated that 10-40% of applicants are. But there appears to be a concerted effort among CIOs to grasp the data better: While only 23% said their offices currently have an internal position focused on diversity and inclusion in recruitment and retention, many are planning to add those roles.
And in a report from the Talent Board, Women and people of color rated their 2021 candidate experiences more positively than older candidates, male candidates, and white candidates did. This thought to be related to adding more inclusive language and examples of diversity to their career sites, candidate communications, job ads, and other marketing collateral for their employment brands
Talent Board also dove into ratings from candidates who didn’t get hired. This accounted for 87% of the candidates and more than 127,000 individuals in North America alone. It found that Black males who were more likely to refer others had a 120% higher net promoter score rating — which asks respondents to rate the likelihood that they would recommend a company, product, or service — than white males.
The report stated that black women who were more likely to refer others had a 54% higher NPS rating than white women. The results are similar for Hispanic and Asian women and men.
This one from Computer Weekly: It’s not important for men to be involved in integrating women into tech teams, according to 44% of tech workers. The annual Computer Weekly/TechTarget Salary Survey found that the number of people who said men need to be involved in integrating women into IT teams has faced a significant drop over the past few years, from 57% in 2019/20 to 40% in 2020/21, to only 23% this in this year’s figures. Respondents to the IT Salary Survey are predominantly mid-to-senior-level IT managers aged 35 or above, and more than 80% of those who answered the survey this year were men.
Why do we care?
Wonder why there’s a diversity problem in tech – if it’s not prioritized. That last survey is pretty striking, and frankly, I found it a little gross and sad.
Then compare against the positive recruiting data shown by those who invest in programs… and I’ll note that there IS a shift. It may not nearly be as fast as desired, but it’s there.