What does it mean to have a truly inclusive workplace? And how do you cultivate…
Diversity Digest: November 15
At WTIA, we believe diverse representation is crucial to moving the tech industry forward. This roundup of local and national stories will give you an idea of which way the needle is moving.
Linkedin Rolls out New AI-Powered Diversity Tools, Aiming to Tackle Gender Gaps in Recruiting
GeekWire | Nat Levy |October 10, 2018
“LinkedIn today unveiled several new features powered by to help companies better plan for, hire, and develop diverse and inclusive teams.
LinkedIn rolled out the new features across a variety of artificial intelligence-powered tools focused on gender diversity at its annual Talent Connect conference Wednesday. The announcements come as reports surfaced that Amazon previously scrapped an artificial intelligence-powered recruiting tool that showed bias against women.”
A Deep Dive into Diversity Data, and Advice from Women in Tech
Computer Weekly | Clare McDonald |October 19, 2018
“During a 2014 diversity gap analysis in Silicon Valley, it was found that 18% of the people working in tech were women, 50% were white, 41% were Asian, 3% were Hispanic and 2% were black.
More recent statistics from the US National Centre for Women and Information Technology found 26% of people in tech were women, and women made up only 17% of CIOs for fortune 500 companies.
When analysing Google trends and keywords, Balancio found diversity and inclusion has been a trending topic over the last ten years, but this is less so the case if the keywords are changed to women in technology or diversity in technology.”
These Tech Companies Are Leading the Change Needed for Closing the Gender Gap
Fortune | Noshua Watson |October 30, 2018
http://fortune.com/2018/10/30/tech-companies-close-gender-gap/
“Based on employee surveys about what they want at work, Great Place to Work, in partnership with Fortune, has ranked 75 large companies and 25 small to medium-sized companies that have eased the path for women: they have a high representation of women in their workforce, including management and the C-suite, and their employees consistently describe a supportive workplace culture. We paid close attention to the experience of women in comparison to their male colleagues, as well as the quality of their work experience at every level in the company.
The companies that top the lists are perennial Best Workplaces for Women due to a high percentage of women in leadership roles and employees who buy into the company culture.”
Opinion: Technology Companies Must Address School-Name Bias
Puget Sound Business Journal | Michael Schutzler |November 5, 2018
“It is time for the technology industry to extend its recruiting grounds beyond the top go-to universities and begin searching for talent among lesser-known coding schools and community colleges. Seattle companies including Base2, Tableau, Zillow and others are among those paving the way. In a similar vein, Amazon and Microsoft have also been actively recruiting and training veterans.”
Intel Says It’s Reached Diversity Goal Two Years Early
Puget Sound Business Journal | Jennifer Elias |November 7, 2018
“[Intel] first launched a commitment in 2015 to reach ‘full representation,’ which it defines as matching its workforce to reflect the percentage of women and underrepresented minorities available in the skilled labor market in the U.S. The goal for that was originally put in place by former CEO Brian Krzanich and set to be completed by the year 2020.
Women now comprise almost 24 percent of technical roles at Intel — a nearly 4 percent increase over the past four years, the company said in an announcement…The company said it has seen the total number of Hispanic and African American employees in its overall workforce grow to 9.2 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, since 2015. However, those same demographics in technical roles have seen slower progress, with 1.2 percent and 0.9 percent growth, respectively.”
Google Bows to Worker Pressure on Sexual Misconduct Policy
The Spokesman Review | Michael Liedtke |November 8, 2018
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/nov/08/google-reforms-sexual-misconduct-rules/
“Google is promising to be more forceful and open about its handling of sexual misconduct cases, a week after thousands of high-paid engineers and others walked out in protest over its male-dominated culture.
Google bowed to one of the protesters’ main demands by dropping mandatory arbitration of all sexual misconduct cases. That will now be optional, so workers can choose to sue in court and present their case in front of a jury. It mirrors a change made by ride-hailing service Uber after complaints from its female employees prompted an internal investigation. The probe concluded that its ranks had been poisoned by rampant sexual harassment.”
Apprenti Celebrates National Apprenticeship Week
Apprenti | Ellen O’Brien |November 9, 2018
“Apprenti is celebrating National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) by launching two new locations, Massachusetts and Central Ohio, and graduating its first 48 apprentices. NAW, which is November 12th to 18th, is an annual celebration started by the U.S. Department of Labor to highlight opportunities for success and economic growth that registered apprenticeship can provide to people and industries in the United States.”
The Quiet Efforts to Battle Silicon Valley’s Bro Culture
Wall Street Journal | Jo Piazza |November 11, 2018
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-quiet-efforts-to-battle-silicon-valleys-bro-culture-1541943938
“It has been a little over a year since the #MeToo movement made it safer for women to speak out about the toxic aspects of workplaces in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. Since then, many tech companies and venture-capital firms have begun developing internal policies and diversity initiatives that they hope will shake up a culture that was previously defined by the idea that the single white man with no obligations outside of work is the best kind of employee.
But it is becoming increasingly clear that the most profound cultural disruptions are happening in a subtle and less public way, influenced by the women in tech who are fed up with the status quo and want change to happen more quickly.”
Colleges Team to Grow Diversity in Stem Fields
Puget Sound Business Journal |Carley Milligan |November 12, 2018
“Three Baltimore institutions are teaming to bolster the number of minority undergraduates who go onto become professional scientists in a number of STEM fields.
Backed by $2.46 million from the National Institutes of Health, Johns HopkinsUniversity, Coppin State University and Morgan State University will launch the first fellowships for the new ASPIRE program in January. ASPIRE, or Academic Success via Postdoctoral Independence in Research and Education, is aimed at creating a more diverse group of researchers in the growing fields of science, technology, engineering and math which have low numbers of minority professionals.”
Fei-Fei Li’s Quest to Make AI Better for Humanity
Wired | Jessi Hempel |November 13, 2018
https://www.wired.com/story/fei-fei-li-artificial-intelligence-humanity/
“The time between an invention and its impact can be short. With the help of artificial intelligence tools like ImageNet, a computer can be taught to learn a specific task and then act far faster than a person ever could. As this technology becomes more sophisticated, it’s being deputized to filter, sort, and analyze data and make decisions of global and social consequence. Though these tools have been around, in some way or another, for more than 60 years, in the past decade we’ve started using them for tasks that change the trajectory of human lives: Today artificial intelligence helps determine which treatments get used on people with illnesses, who qualifies for life insurance, how much prison time a person serves, which job applicants get interviews.
Those powers, of course, can be dangerous. Amazon had to ditch AI recruiting software that learned to penalize résumés that included the word “women.” And who can forget Google’s 2015 fiasco, when its photo identification software mislabeled black people as gorillas, or Microsoft’s AI-powered social chatbot that started tweeting racial slurs. But those are problems that can be explained and therefore reversed. In the pretty near future, Li believes, we will hit a moment when it will be impossible to course-correct. That’s because the technology is being adopted so fast, and far and wide.”
“If It Scares You, Do It”: How These Women Are Shaping Growth at 6 Seattle Tech Companies
Built In Seattle |Quinten Dol |November 14, 2018
https://www.builtinseattle.com/2018/11/14/seattle-women-in-tech-advice
“Every tech company loves to talk the talk when it comes to gender equality, but what does walking the walk actually look like? How can women in Seattle tech shape the growth trajectory at their companies?
We spoke to women in a range of roles at six area companies about how they take ownership of their organizations’ growth…These Seattle techies are getting past the obstacles in their career path — and getting on with the job.”
Microsoft Sees Modest Upticks in Representation of Women, Minority Employees
The Seattle Times | Rachel Lerman |November 14, 2018
“The Redmond company released a report on its workforce demographics Wednesday, revealing global gender numbers and U.S. ethnicity numbers as of June 30. It increased representation in basically every category of minorities, each by a small bump.
‘We are encouraged,’ said Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Microsoft’s chief diversity officer, who joined the company four months ago. “But we are clear that we are closer to the beginning of this journey than the end.’”
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