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People of colour more likely to be hit by tech layoffs

Tech firms quietly cutting back on diversity pledges

People of colour more likely to be hit by tech industry layoffs, experts warn

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People of colour more likely to be hit by tech industry layoffs, experts warn

People striving to enhance diversity in tech are concerned that companies attempting to cuts costs in the face of an impending recession may undermine the small gains they have achieved in diversifying their workforces by recruiting more women and people of colour.

Many senior decision-makers have quietly abandoned their promises to boost diversity and inclusion as economic worries force them to reevaluate their goals and budgets.

Over 145,000 technology workers have been laid off in recent months, and experts say Black and Brown workers were hit particularly hard.

Daniel Oppong, a corporate diversity expert and founder of DEIB consultancy The Courage Collective, says the message is clear.

"It signals that companies are more interested in managing public perception than they are interested and invested in and driving real change," he said.

Oppong told ESSENCE that one company his firm worked with laid off every member of its diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) committee as part of a recent headcount reduction.

"So, what does that signal to the two employees left working on it? It signals that it's not as much of a priority."

Examples like these could and should be avoided, says Errol Pierre, a senior VP in the healthcare sector and author of The Way Up: Climbing the Corporate Mountain as a Professional of Color.

"DEIB leads to employee retention, which means there are actually savings on keeping employees in the company longer versus spending money on recruitment to fill those roles. So that savings now becomes a business imperative as opposed to overhead," he added.

The tech industry's diversity credentials have long been sorely lacking.

Women in general are grossly underrepresented in this growing and profitable industry, and people of colour make up an even smaller percentage of tech workers.

In 2014 some of the largest tech firms, such as Google and Facebook, acknowledged that their diversity was inadequate, and pledged to begin releasing reports to monitor their ongoing efforts at improvement.

In the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd, more than 200 tech firms, including Amazon and Apple, announced historic commitments to address institutional racism within their organisations.

Many promised to amend their mission statements to include Black Lives Matter pledges.

They made a commitment to employ more Black talent and to incorporate DEIB into every aspect of their businesses.

While such commitments were made with good intentions, the figures demonstrate that a meaningful progress on the promised has yet to come.

According to Zippia, as of 2021, white Americans controlled 62% of the positions in the US tech industry. In addition:

Women occupy just 26.7% of US tech employment.
The figures are similar in the UK, where women make up half the labour market but only 25% of tech workers.
Black Americans made up 14% of the population in 2019 but held just 7% of tech employment.
In the UK, 20% of the population is part of the BAME community but only 15.2% of the tech industry - although this is ahead of the wider labour market (11.2%).

For a specific example of how tech firms are failing to prioritise - or even actively scrapping - diversity initiatives, we can look to Twitter.

Between 2014 and 2019, the percentage of Black employees at Twitter rose from 2% to 6%. However, under Elon Musk's leadership the company's DEIB promise of 'becoming the world's most inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible tech company' has taken a back seat.

Within a week of Musk's takeover, Twitter axed its Blackbird resource division for Black employees.

In 2016, a Harvard Business Review study of over 800 companies discovered that when roles are reduced, organisations may lose up to 22% of Black, Hispanic, and Asian males on their management teams.

People of colour more likely to be hit by tech layoffs

Tech firms quietly cutting back on diversity pledges

People striving to enhance diversity in tech are concerned that companies attempting to cuts costs in the face of an impending recession may undermine the small gains they have achieved in diversifying their workforces by recruiting more women and people of colour.

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