Leaders of the tech industry have a lot of work to do to undo exclusionary hiring practices and to transform harmful workplace climates that are preventing women and people of color from entering into and succeeding in this industry. At many leading technology and social media firms, Black people and Latinos comprise low single digit percentages — sometimes only 1% or 2% — of all employees.
Open MIC is working with investors to push tech companies to increase racial and gender diversity across staff and company leadership. Recently, investors have made strides in demonstrating to companies their commitment to creating a tech industry whose workforce and leadership fully reflects the diversity of our country:
A new report released by Open MIC today finds that the lack of racial diversity in the tech industry undermines financial performance, demanding investors’ attention. The report titled, “Breaking the Mold: Investing in Racial Diversity in Tech,” highlights existing data showing that black, Latino, and Native Americans are unrepresented in the tech industry by 16-to-18 percentage points compared to their presence in the U.S. labor force overall. The report provides recommendations intended to address significant shortcomings with respect to workforce data transparency as well as increasing diversity at all levels of the industry.
Shareholders of Apple Inc. are calling on the company to “adopt an accelerated recruitment policy” to increase diversity of its senior management and board of directors. In a proposal intended to be voted on at Apple’s 2017 annual meeting, the investors say the company’s senior management and board “presently fail to adequately represent diversity and inclusion (particularly Hispanic, African American, Native American and other people of color).”
Apple Inc. investors are being asked to approve a shareholder proposal which would require the company to adopt an “accelerated recruitment policy” to increase racial and ethnic diversity among senior executives and its board.
A new report by the Kapor Center for Social Impact puts a $16 billion price tag on widespread systemic bias and mistreatment in the tech industry.