In order to have a more successful company that meets the needs of a variety of customers, it is essential to employ talent from multiple minority groups. Essentially, Caucasian people represent the vast majority of this sector. In order to create a change, the majority will need to step up to the plate and advocate for greater representation of minorities. Allyship will need to become a key target for higher-ups. Allies will be able to stimulate change by providing support and helping bring in talent from different minority groups.
There are multiple steps that will be discussed below outlining how companies can create more diversity and improve gender equality as well as support both younger and older generations. Project management software can also help improve collaboration between different groups of employees.
Well-rounded employees are needed for better outcomes in the technology sphere, which means that more minority groups will need to be represented throughout this industry. You will find out more allyship and how to boost diversity from the topics below.
- The Current Groups Missing in the Technology Sector
- The Definitions of Allies and Allyship
- How to Boost Diversity and Become an Ally
- How to Improve Gender Equality in the Workplace
- Creating an Environment for Both Younger and Older Generations
- Online Collaboration Software Improves Performance and Connects Different Groups
The Current Groups Missing in the Technology Sector
Forbes reported that the Caucasian population is represented by as much as 83 percent on the executive level in the tech industry. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission report from 2016 found that African Americans in the executive level represented anywhere from 2% to 5.3%, Hispanics represented 3.1% to 5.3%, and Asian Americans held anywhere from 10.6% to 19.5% of positions. The minority groups of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans are generally missing on the executive level in the tech industry.
In addition, throughout Europe, women are barely represented as technology professionals with only 7 percent of these employees being female. As for women from minority groups, the results are even less favorable. From 2007 to 2015, there has been a 15 percent decline in the number of African-American women professionals.
In order to boost the diversity of companies within the technology sector, it is essential to create allies and potentially train employees on allyship so that more talent is hired from multiple minority groups and more minorities are promoted to the executive level.
The Definitions of Allies and Allyship
An ally is anyone who helps promote and actively advance a more inclusive and diverse workplace culture. An ally works to create positive change that will benefit the workers at a company as a whole. Anyone can be an ally including white women, men, straight people, and wealthier individuals. White women can support women of color while men can work to reduce the gender gap. Straight employees can provide support to the LGBTQ community and the wealthier groups can support those at an economic disadvantage.
Now that the term ally has been defined, it is necessary to understand what allyship means. Allyship includes multiple factors including:
- An opportunity to mature and learn about others and ourselves while also helping boost the self-esteem of others
- Creating relationships among different minority groups and marginalized peoples based on accountability, trust, and consistency
- The various groups you are attempting to align with must recognize the work and effort you put forth
These definitions should help you better understand how to work toward creating a more just, welcoming, and diverse workplace. Below are the first steps you can take to become an ally.
How to Boost Diversity and Become an Ally
There are a number of steps you can take to become an ally. These include: sharing promotional opportunities with your co-workers, recognizing systematic inequalities, speaking with and understanding other people’s life experiences, and listening to, supporting, and changing the workplace environment with regard to diversity.
It is helpful to call out hurtful and unacceptable behavior toward minority groups or marginalized people. This may help others see how their behavior is wrong especially since those who are marginalized may be less likely to speak out due to fear of backlash or fear of harming professional relationships.
As a manager or company leader, it is beneficial to develop diversity and inclusion-based programs and tasks to assign to all employees. Be sure that everyone is involved and not only the minority groups.
Using inclusive language such as spouse or partner can also help include those within the LGBTQ community and make people feel more comfortable within an organization. In addition, managers are also advised to include unconscious bias training frequently, which is meant to help people grow in their understanding their peers and learn more about minority issues.
In addition, in order to hire more diverse groups of people, it is essential to try out different recruitment methods. Partner with different organizations and attend conferences in order to reach out to marginalized people. Ask people of color and other minority groups for their feedback regarding the type of roles they may be interested in. This can help you recruit high quality talent and diverse employees.
Listen to people of different backgrounds and follow experts on the subject of diversity. These steps can all help you become a better ally. Through allyship, you can ensure your company is a more welcoming and diverse workplace for all who come through its doors. In addition, allyship will also need to address ways to improve gender equality in the workplace.
How to Improve Gender Equality in the Workplace
One of the first steps to take in order to create more gender equality in the workplace is to engage the company board, which holds the most power throughout a company. Creating more diversity and gender equality should be one of the main duties of a company board.
“The CEO reports to the board. If the tone at the top isn’t being set by the board, more likely than not it’s not being set further down, and you won’t have the same message or delivery of what the company is about. The board has to be engaged,” Keith Meyer, a consultant at Allegis Partners and president of the Directors Academy, told Quartz at Work.
Board members will need to be more outspoken and communicate their ideas to CEOs and other decision-makers and leaders at the company. These messages from the top will help diversify the staff and ensure more women are being hired throughout the organization.
Some other steps that companies need to embrace in order to boost gender equality is to have fair and meritocratic processes and day-to-day tasks, ensuring the work environment is not hierarchical, creating a respectful environment for women where their voice is heard, and creating a work-life balance and ensuring working remotely is allowed due to global connectivity.
In addition, it is beneficial to have a workplace that hires people from different generations as well as minority groups. Reverse mentoring could be a good place to start when it comes to creating a better connection between younger and older generations.
Creating an Environment for Both Younger and Older Generations
Reverse mentoring is one way to develop a workplace environment where both younger and older generations work well together. Essentially, reverse mentoring means that the older generations are paired up with younger workers who mentor the older employees on topics such as technology, current trends, and social media channels.
When attempting to create a reverse mentoring program, you’ll need to follow the steps below.
- Ensure that the mindset of both employees are aligned when matchmaking the two groups
- Set up a support group for mentors to discuss any doubts or other issues
- Develop clear expectations and goals
- Provide freedom for workers to go at their own pace and use their own style
Following the steps above and employing mentoring programs such as these can help your company by boosting information sharing, which is essential for any knowledge management strategy. When it comes to improving diversity, gender equality, and connecting older and younger generations, online collaboration software may be an essential aspect as well.
Online Collaboration Software Improves Performance and Connects Different Groups
Research has shown that company performance improves when people are working collectively and collaboratively. Therefore, embracing online collaboration software and project management software can help companies boost performance among your team members.
Online collaboration software can help diverse groups of people work more effectively especially through reverse mentoring programs where younger generations may help older groups learn to use new technology. Software such as Runrun.it project management software can promote engagement and collaboration while keeping communication more transparent.
Your employees can find out answers to their questions more quickly. Additionally, workflow will be more streamlined with the addition of project management software. Click here to find out more about Runrun.it software and check out our free trial.
