How do you increase diversity of engineering teams? It depends.
As a tech leader who is also a woman, I’m often asked this question: “How can I improve diversity on my engineering team?” The answer is a solid “it depends.” I recently sat down with Hywel Carver from Skiller Whale to talk through that big “it depends.” We covered everything from diversity vs. inclusion, cold recruiting reachouts, company policy, to neutral vs. inclusive hiring practices. You can listen to the whole podcast here. I’ll touch on three big points here.
First, language matters.
Diversity is a characteristic of a team, and tells whether there is balanced representation among individuals when it comes to certain characteristics, the most common being gender, race or ethnic background, religion, and sexual orientation.
Inclusion means that your company operates in a way that all of those people feel invited to participate. If you invest in hiring a diverse team but have a company monoculture that is dominated by one group, the most likely outcome is that employees outside of the dominant culture will leave, or at least feel disempowered. There are measurable business advantages to having a diverse team, but those go out the window when all individuals can’t participate because your systems and processes are not designed for them.
Diversity of thought is not in the above list for a reason: it’s an excuse to look past a real lack of diversity.
So what’s an inclusive practice? Inclusivity can show up in company policies. For example, ensure that your company has parental leave policies with language that reflects all types of families, not just families with a man and a woman, where the woman gives birth. Same sex couples, adoptive parents, surrogacy, foster parents — there are many ways that families grow. If the parental leave policy only applies to the parent who gives birth, it’s time for an update.
Inclusivity can also be baked into team processes. How does your team give feedback that leads to important decisions? Is it always within the context of a synchronous meeting? Ask yourself who might feel most welcome to participate in that style of discussion, and who might stay quiet despite having something to contribute. A non-native English speaker, someone who grew up with different cultural expectations around discussion, or simply someone who prefers to write out thoughts because they need a bit more time to formulate an opinion might not be getting the same airtime as the extrovert who feels comfortable jumping into a synchronous discussion. Switching up the meeting format can help level the playing field so more folks can have an opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way.
Avoid reachout message pitfalls
Hiring is an obvious way to increase diversity on your team. But don’t give the prospective candidate a reason to pass in your first reachout message.
If your message goes something like “we want to hire women developers and I thought you would be a good fit for our team” in your pitch, don’t be surprised when you don’t hear anything back. This looks past a person’s technical skills and focuses just on their gender. At worst, it’s reductive and insulting, and at best, it can show you haven’t invested a lot of time or thought in messaging.
Try instead: “We are growing our team, and we would really benefit from your years of React experience.” Talk about the opportunity, the company, the perks, and that your company is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. It’s fine and encouraged to mention that you’re building a diverse team. But avoid leading with it. Frame your commitment to diversity and inclusion about the company’s commitment, not about the transaction between you and the other person: they have something (a different background) that you want.
You might be the problem
“I told my recruiting team that I want to increase my team’s diversity but they just keep bringing me white men with a background in Java.” Great — it might be appropriate to fire them as soon as possible. I’d fire my housekeeper if he put dirty dishes back in the cabinet, and this isn’t too different. You’re not getting what you expect, and the old refrain that “there just aren’t women/Black developers” has data that shows otherwise: there are more folks from underrepresented groups studying software engineering than ever before.
But if you can’t get candidates from underrepresented backgrounds in your interview pipeline at all, look at what makes your company attractive to those groups. If you can’t put together a solid list, the problem likely lies with your company and its policies; not with the pipeline or the recruiter.
Does your company have policies that reflect a commitment to diversity and inclusion? Parental leave policies, inclusive healthcare policies, flexible working time, or a diversity clause in customer contracts back up what you share in the recruitment message. If you don’t have any of these to share with your candidates, you run the risk of your hiring tactics being dismissed as deceptive or dishonest, which can have longer term damage to your company’s reputation.
A commitment to diversity and inclusion is a commitment that your company has to make for the long run. The work never stops.
