Today, diversity and inclusion is one of the biggest challenges facing the tech industry. The tech world has been talking about D&I for decades. There are books, podcasts, panels at conferences, and so much more dedicated to the topic.
Yet, the numbers are still quite discouraging. According to studies, only 20 to 25% of entry-level technical jobs are filled by women.
The adverse effects of technology bias are already being seen. Research shows that most facial recognition software can identify white faces quickly, but can’t consistently identify people with other skin tones. This is because those algorithms are trained on data that features primarily white faces.
Companies worldwide are looking to tackle the issue of diversity hiring in tech, but very few have made strides in the right direction. Hence, we have handpicked the following top 4 lessons from global companies to help you promote a diverse and inclusive workforce.
“When communities are underrepresented in our workforce, they can be underserved by our products. Business and product inclusion is the intentional practice of designing products and services for a diverse range of consumers and communities by better understanding their unique needs. The goal is a better user experience and accelerated business growth.” —Google diversity annual report 2019
Diversity and inclusion are business imperatives for Google. The organization believes that D&I improves outcomes for its employees, products, and users. Here are a few D&I lessons that we can learn from the world’s most renowned multinational technology company.
“Technology can empower people to achieve more, help strengthen education opportunities, and make the workplace more inviting and inclusive for people with disabilities. And with more than one billion people with disabilities in the world, Microsoft believes accessibility and inclusion are essential to delivering on our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”—Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft.
Microsoft believes that diverse and inclusive companies are not only more profitable and innovative but also fair well in retaining top talent who can meet the requirements of customers from a wide range of communities. The better organizations represent global diversity internally, the more prepared they are to innovate everywhere, for everyone. Here are a few products that Microsoft built to promote a diverse and inclusive environment, not just internally but around the globe.
“Diverse and inclusive teams have a positive impact on our products and services, and help us better serve customers, selling partners, content creators, employees, and community stakeholders from every background. We are constantly learning and iterating, whether through central programs or work within our business teams, through programs that are local, regional, and global.”—Amazon
Amazon’s mission is to be the world’s most customer-centric organization, with diversity and inclusion being the center of it all. Amazon enables its creators, builders, and sellers from around the globe to follow their passion and find their best future, without extensive capital or networks. Here’s how Amazon helps technologists, entrepreneurs, and authors from around the world through its products and services:
“A rich and diverse ecosystem drives innovation and allows us to better serve our customers. We will leverage technology for inclusion, ensure our tools are accessible, and build a diverse and inclusive tech ecosystem across the entire supply chain of supplier diversity to consumer experience.”—SAP
SAP measures its progress in the areas of supplier diversity statistics, management position data for underrepresented minorities and women, and attrition and retention rates by using technologies such as Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT). Here’s how SAP leverages technology to build a diverse and inclusive workforce:
At HackerEarth, we do not treat diversity and inclusion as a separate to-do list. It is imbibed in everything we do, starting from hiring people with diverse skill sets or having someone from the LGBTQ+ community as a BU head. Not only that—we encourage all employees to speak out and challenge any out-of-date processes or practices. We hire based on skills and not pedigree and transparency is at the forefront of every managerial decision made. Additionally, our platform helps recruiters and hiring managers conduct fair technical assessments by cutting bias out of the process. We enable them to assess candidates solely on their programming abilities. We reduce bias even further by masking candidate information and evaluating them on the one thing that matters—their coding skills. Since our inception, we have implemented more structure, purpose, and impact around these efforts to foster meaningful and valuable employee engagement experiences.
If you care about diversity, we’d love to entertain a conversation. Contact us to learn more about how you can jumpstart your team’s diversity by leveraging our platform. Our email is always open: support@hackerearth.com
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