We should all be aware of the data by now; yes?. Culturally diverse workplaces outperform homogeneous competitors by a whopping 35% with diverse companies generating 19% more earnings than unvaried business cultures.
So it should be to the surprise of no one, companies with teams that accurately reflect their demographics perform better. Yet in industries across the board, especially in the C-suite, women are heavily outnumbered by men named “John”. Seriously people. There are only 26 women CEOs of the S&P 500 companies. How can that be? Last time I checked, women made up half the population on earth. Moreover, without women, men wouldn’t exist. Something doesn’t add up here. I guess we need to ask “John”, huh? He’ll probably have the scoop.😜
Seriously though. It’s completely ridiculous! Women in tech for example (the real tech unicorns!), are so freaking rare that they must be photoshopped in? Photoshopped in… Really? Those ratios don’t make sense when Stanford is graduating comp sci classes that are 30% women. These companies could simply go hire some women instead. Then they may be better suited to address the massive blind spots in the industry. Probably not, though.
It’s exhausting being the ‘only’ at work
In 2018, Google hemorrhaged black staff more than any other employee group at the company. Black men in particular were 36% more likely to leave than other employees. Passing through hallways and seeing “more ‘Black Lives Matter’ posters than actual black people” is a special mix of gaslighting and patronizing that would make anyone flee. It’s understandable why black people and other minorities leave tech workplaces in droves. However, this sucks for the already underrepresented groups using the technology who get to experience: racist soap dispensers, iPhones that can’t differentiate between Asian faces, the Healthkit app that conveniently overlooked women’s menstrual cycles, and other daily microaggressions essentially supported by the lack of diversity at these firms. Everyone loses.
Then there were none
There’s a stunning lack of diversity across a company’s executive team when prominent fashion houses release clothing that’s blatantly racist. Or segregated Instagram accounts to showcase a brand’s “inclusivity.” These decisions don’t happen in a vacuum; they cross many people’s desks for approval before being released for purchase.
The roots are deep and poisonous and I assure you they cannot simply be fixed with some so-called ‘diversity and inclusion workshops’. I can imagine fashion houses struggle to retain non-white employees at similar rates as the tech industry. Then I read data like this and it boggles my mind:
“In the United States there is a linear relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and better financial performance: for every 10% increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior-executive team, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rise 0.8%.” (source)
Americans boast about embracing capitalism and how the numbers support diversity. Still yet, boardrooms and company decision-making remains overwhelming pale, male and stale.
Executives claim they’re desperate to fix their diversity pipeline. If that were true, of course, they’d put their money where their mouth is; tying executive compensation and job retention to diversity targets. Then I’d bet you’d see those diversity numbers soar. Sadly, not because “John” believes in the power of diversity, but because then it’ll be good for business. Ick.
