Avis Yates Rivers, CEO Technology Concepts Group International Director, National Center for Women & IT Unconscious Biases: Addressing Stealth Barriers to Innovation & Productivity

Overview What’s the Problem and Why Does it Matter? Why Does the Problem Persist?: What the Research Says What is unconsious bias? How does unconscious biases affect women, men, and other underrepresented groups? What Can We Do About All This?: Call to Action

Diversity In Tech: The Facts

Diversity in Tech: The Facts Source: U.S. Dept of Labor Statistics, 2012 Current Population Survey Black & Hispanic Professionals Comprise 16% of U.S. Professional Occupations, but 30% of U.S. Population Black & Hispanic Men Hold 9% of U.S. Computing Jobs Black & Hispanic Women Hold 4% of U.S. Computing Jobs

Diversity in Tech: Europe Source: Oxford Economics Global Diversity Database

We’re Losing The Diversity Already There: An Unnecessary Corporate Brain Drain Sources: Corporate Leavers Survey, Level Playing Field Institute 2 million people a year leave U.S. companies due solely to perceived unconscious biases.

We’re Losing The Diversity Already There: An Unnecessary Corporate Brain Drain Sources: Capturing Turnover Costs, Joins, 2000; TalentKeepers, 2010; Athena Factor, % love work 56% leave 75% stay in workforce

Why Diversity Matters

Sources: Workplace Diversity Pays, American Sociological Review (2009), Capitalizing on Thought Diversity, Research- Technology Management (2009), The Difference, Scott Page (2007), Innovative Potential, London Business School (2007), The Bottom Line, Catalyst (2004). Diversity Benefits Innovation & The Bottom Line  Increased sales revenue, more customers, bigger market share  Higher-than-average profitability  Greater return on equity and return to shareholders  Greater potential for creativity, sharing of knowledge, task fulfillment

Scott Page, The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton University Press, Groups with greater diversity solve complex problems better and faster than homogenous groups. Diversity Enhances Teams

A group’s collective intelligence is not predicted by the IQs of its individual members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises. “Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups,” Science October 2010, Woolley, Chabris, Pentland, Hashmi and Malone. Women Improve Innovation

Analysis of more than 20,000 venture-backed companies showed that successful startups have twice as many women in senior positions as unsuccessful companies. Diversity Correlates with Success Dow Jones VentureSource, Analysis of more than 20,000 venture-backed companies showed that successful startups have twice as many women in senior positions as unsuccessful companies.

Tech companies led by women delivered higher revenues using less capital and were more likely to survive the transition from startup to established company Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures: "High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High-Tech," Diversity Helps Companies Grow

Why the Problem Persists : What the Research Says

Intersectionality: Examining the Impact of Multiple Biases Perspectives & experiences shaped by multiple, shifting, identity categories

Let’s Cut to the Chase Minority Groups Aren’t Broken Majority Groups Aren’t The Enemy Culprit = Societal Biases We All Share We Can Take Action Together

And EARLY ON is a particularly good time to start! Culture By Design or By Default

Society is Biased About Gender and Technology

And other biases…..

We all have shortcuts, “schemas” that help us make sense of the world. But our shortcuts sometimes make us misinterpret or miss things. That’s unconscious bias. What Causes Societal Bias?

More on Societal Bias – Hiring & Promotion

White resumes receive 50% more callbacks Black applicants needed 8 years more experience Unconscious Biases: Resume Studies Source: Bertrand et al., Are Emily and Greg More Employable?, 2004; Higher quality resume = larger increase in call backs for Whites

Howard vs. Heidi

Society Organizational Culture Subtle Dynamics Institutional Barriers Schemas/ Unconscious Biases Employees Unconscious Bias Is More Salient in Homogenous Organizations

Example: White male engineering students score lower when told in advance that Asians typically score higher on math tests Source: Aronson, et al., 1999; Steele & Aronson, 1998 Subtle Dynamics Example: Stereotype Threat

Not speak up in meetings Be reluctant to take leadership positions Be overly harsh about their own work Discount their performance How Stereotype Threat Shows Up in Technical Environments

Microinequities: Examining the Impact of Multiple Biases “Oops, I forgot to cc her/him on the about the architecture review.” “Do you think if I invest, people will think that I’m gay?” “You just need to be more ‘professional.’” “Dude, let’s talk about it over a beer!” “Husbands, wives & partners”

Hiring Selecting people “like me” Task Assignment Women find themselves in “low status” jobs Performance Appraisal Men appraised for effort, skill; women for collaboration, luck Promotion Criteria modeled implicitly on existing senior male leaders Institutional Barriers

Institutional Barriers Example: Bias in Hiring “ Blind” orchestra auditions, with musicians behind a curtain, increased the number of female musicians hired by 25% to 46% percent Goldin & Rouse (2000) The American Economic Review, 90(4),

Don’t lower your hiring standards, just make sure you are hiring for the things that matter First, Some Things Not to Do

“Startups and Job Advertisements,” Aaron Kay, PhD: Don’t slap a boilerplate diversity statement on your job ads

Don’t form development teams with just one diverse engineer

Don’t depend on underrepresented employees to advance your diversity goals

Invite Diversity & Actively Recruit

“Startups and Job Advertisements,” Aaron Kay, PhD: AGGRESSIVE; HARD-DRIVING; ROCK STAR; WORLD-CLASS CODER; DOMINANT Remove Biased Language from Job Descriptions

Evaluate Interview Questions and Include Diverse Representation in the Interview

(Cheryan, S., Plaut, V., Davies, P., & Steele, C. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), ; Photo: Audit Your Physical Space for Implicit Biases

Assure inclusive team meetings and social events

Provide Recognition, Credit, Encouragement

Audit Performance Review & Advancement Processes Examine performance reviews for unconscious biases Build accountability metrics into managers’ performance reviews Clarify paths to promotion

Consciously Develop Talent Watch for biases in task assignment/leadership opportunities Watch for biases in career path advice

Be a Male Advocate; Inspire More Male Advocates

Don’t give up: this is a long distance race and not a sprint

Supervisory Program-in-a-Box Series Women & IT – The Facts Top Ten Ways to Be a Male Advocate for Technical Women Top 10 Ways Managers Can Increase the Visibility of Technical Women Keep Going with Research-Backed Resources

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