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Feature


WHY ARE ETHNIC MINORITIES STRUGGLING TO REACH THE TOP?




THE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY HAS A REPUTATION FOR STRUGGLING WITH DIVERSITY AND
INCLUSION, ESPECIALLY AT THE C-SUITE – WHAT IS STANDING IN THE WAY OF ETHNIC
MINORITIES MAKING IT TO THE TOP?

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By
 * Cath Everett

Published: 12 Jun 2023

Although members of ethnic minorities make up a higher proportion of the tech
workforce than average across the wider UK labour market, representation at
management level continues to be low.



This situation is reflected even among companies that have signed up to the Tech
Talent Charter (TTC), the aim of which it is to promote greater diversity and
inclusion in the sector. The organisation’s latest research found that people of
colour account for a quarter of all tech professionals among member companies
compared with 18% across the wider tech workforce and 11% among the total
working population.

But in the case of ethnic minority professionals holding senior roles, the TTC
figure almost halved to 13%. Older stats from BCS, the Chartered Institute for
IT, confirmed such findings. They indicated that while just under a third of
people of colour were supervisors or middle managers, a mere 9% had a
director-level role.

This is despite the fact that they are generally better qualified, with 85% of
ethnic minority professionals holding a degree or higher education certificates
compared with only two-thirds of their white colleagues.

So, just what is going on here? What key barriers are people of colour facing,
what is preventing them from reaching the top, and to what extent are tech
employers truly understanding and tackling the issues they face?

Aimee Treasure, marketing director at tech recruitment consultancy Templeton &
Partners, says: “Awareness of the problem is better than it was, and
organisations are investing more as most have realised that diversity, equity
and inclusion (DEI) is important and necessary to improve the bottom line. The
issue that they’re struggling with today is the ‘how’.”


TIME FOR TECH TO FACE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS

Shereen Daniels, founder and managing director of HR Rewired, an HR advisory
firm with specialist expertise in anti-racism, agrees that the tech industry
still has a long way to go to get its DEI house in order.

“Tech is similar to other sectors in that it’s lulled itself into a nice, safe
bubble around DEI,” she says. “No one wants to talk about racism and
discrimination as it’s too uncomfortable, but those are the fundamental issues
that need to be addressed.”

As to how this racism, whether conscious or unconscious, manifests itself,
Daniels provides a clear example. When black employees at a global
telecommunications company were asked why they were struggling to reach
leadership positions, they replied, “you’re asking the wrong people”.

Daniels explains: “They said, ‘Everyone’s asking what life is like for us, but
we’re not the ones making the decisions. We have to apply for a promotion X
number of times, but a white person will just get a tap on the shoulder and
don’t even need an interview, so you need to go to the hiring managers and
leaders and ask them’.”

Treasure agrees that ethnic minority employees face a range of challenges in
career progression terms, one of which relates to what many employers refer to
as “cultural fit”.

“It can be interpreted in many ways, but is often expressed as ‘it’s not that
they’re not qualified, but I don’t see them in my team’,” she says. “So people
base things on the culture they already have and treat people who don’t look
like them differently.”

The situation can be even more problematic for tech workers born outside of the
UK. A recent study by academics at the IESEG School of Management in France,
which was recently published in the International Journal of Conflict
Management, found that individuals with strong foreign accents are often
perceived to be less competent than native speakers, a scenario that can in turn
lead to discrimination and conflict.

“If you’re perceived to be different, even if the bias is unconscious, it’s
harder to prove your worth, especially if you do manage to get into a management
position,” Treasure points out. “Others may not be used to seeing members of
minority groups in positions of power, which can lead to higher barriers to
success.”


SYSTEMIC DEI CHALLENGES

But there are other issues too. Hallam Sargeant, chief diversity officer at
Avanade, a services company set up as a joint venture between Microsoft and
Accenture, believes many of the problems people face are systemic.

“If you picture groundwater in which you see one or two dead fish, you’d ask
yourself, ‘What’s wrong there?’. But if there’s a pool with lots of dead fish,
you’d think, ‘Is something wrong with the water?’,” he says. “If the company
ecosystem isn’t set up for underrepresented groups to thrive, there’s something
wrong with the water, not the fish.”

Another problem is that all too many employers “shine a spotlight” on recruiting
people of colour but fail to put enough effort into retaining those they already
have.

“Most organisations do a good job of getting diverse talent in, but not such a
good job of ensuring the ecosystem works,” says Sargeant. “Getting to a senior
leadership level is generally a pipeline issue and, in most organisations,
there’s a cliff, whether we’re talking about underrepresented groups or women.”

Daniels agrees: “If you’re patting yourself on the back about your diversity
activities, ask yourself how they manifest in your retention rates. It does away
with the excuse that it’s all about the recruitment pipeline because retention
covers cultural and behavioural issues too.”


NOT EVERYONE IS THE SAME

Another important consideration, meanwhile, is although members of ethnic
minorities tend to be discussed as if they fall into a single category, using
such blanket terms masks the complexity beneath.

“In tech, Asian people are almost as equally represented as white people in
terms of the percentage of the population they make up and the sector really
welcomes them,” Treasure says. “But black people are very underrepresented, so
different diversity strands face very different barriers.”

The same situation is true of people who are born in the UK versus first
generation migrants, says Amit Shanker, deputy chief executive and chief digital
officer at the London Borough of Newham and Newham Sparks.

As he points out: “People may look similar but they all have slightly different
contexts and challenges so you can’t just lump everyone together. It’s about
recognising that if you’re employing the colours of the rainbow, you have to
accommodate everyone from an HR policy and visibility view etc.”

This includes trying to ensure appropriate senior role models are in place, not
least to help more junior colleagues understand what is required to get to their
position. “If you don’t see people like yourself, you don’t know which path to
navigate or even think it’s possible, so lack of progression can become a
self-fulfilling prophecy,” Shanker says.

As to why organisations generally start taking action to address these issues,
Daniels says it is usually the result of several factors.

“They’re either trying to attract a new consumer base, they’ve got challenging
employee relations issues due to discrimination or racism, or they’ve been
getting poor PR on things like social media or Glassdoor,” she explains. “So
they’re under pressure to demonstrate they’re doing something and it’s no longer
enough to say, ‘We’re committed’.”


WHAT CAN EMPLOYERS DO?

The first step in taking positive action, says Daniels, is to accept that as in
the rest of society structural barriers exist for ethnic minorities within the
organisation. Next it is important to acknowledge that such barriers must be
addressed at every level of the business rather than simply delegating
responsibility to either HR or the DEI lead. Both leaders and line managers have
a particularly important role to play in this context.

“Typically, organisations say they take racism seriously and refer to policies
indicating they have a zero-tolerance approach,” Daniels says. “But if managers
can’t even engage in a conversation with colleagues about racism, they also
won’t be able to engage in a way that will do something about it.

“Companies have to be braver about articulating the behaviour they want and
don’t want to see, and they also need to hold their leaders to account and think
about how to evaluate their performance to ensure inclusion.”

Another important consideration is understanding colleagues lived experience,
says Sargeant.

“We all show up from different backgrounds and ethnicities, so if we’re all
treated equally it’ll never work as some people have a head-start on the
journey. It’s why having difficult conversations is so important when trying to
make the ecosystem work – it’s part of having a growth mindset.”

A further powerful approach is to introduce mentoring programmes for employees
run by people of a similar background or ethnicity to themselves, whether such
mentors work inside or outside of the company.

“Being mentored by someone who looks like you is very powerful and can make a
significant difference to your life,” Treasure explains. “That kind of
one-to-one dedicated communication to talk about the barriers people are coming
up against and solutions to help them progress their career is key.”

Even more beneficial is being sponsored by a senior leader. “If someone’s
willing to sponsor you, they’re willing to use some of their corporate capital
to vouch for you and say, ‘I think they’ll be successful at a more senior
level’. It makes a big difference,” Sargeant says.

But Treasure believes the tech industry still has a long way before the playing
field will be truly levelled for ethnic minority professionals.

“Things are getting better. Leadership is improving, but it’s very slow –
individual digits-worth of movement over the years. So, there’s still a lot of
work to be done, even if most businesses in Western Europe have realised DEI has
to be done if they want to improve the bottom line,” she concludes.

READ MORE ABOUT DIVERSITY IN TECH

 * No single solution can increase diversity in the STEM sectors, says Science
   and Technology Committee, as it calls on government to take action.
 * At the Computer Weekly diversity in tech event, experts proposed a 15-point
   plan to improve diversity and inclusion across the industry.



READ MORE ON DIVERSITY IN IT

 * DEI INITIATIVES HURT BY BUDGET CUTS, HOSTILE POLITICS
   
   
   By: Patrick Thibodeau

 * DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION (DEI)
   
   
   By: Nick Barney

 * INVESTMENT FIRM TAKES SALESFORCE TO TASK FOR LACK OF RACIAL DIVERSITY
   
   
   By: Brian McKenna

 * TECH DATA ADDS DIVERSITY GROUP TO INCREASE INCLUSION
   
   By: Simon Quicke

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