Beck Bailey, Global Chief Diversity Officer, Managing Director Accenture Charlotte Burrows, Chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Chief Diversity Officer, Corporate Vice President of Talent and Learning, Microsoft Moderator: Indrani Sen, Fortune
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TechTranscript
00:00Welcome, so wonderful to be here with you all.
00:03We're gonna start with some questions that I have
00:04for our esteemed guests, but I wanna just kind of
00:07put the word out that we will be,
00:10we're hoping that you all will ask some questions too.
00:13So start thinking about them.
00:14We're gonna have some mic handlers
00:16coming around a bit later on.
00:19So we're gonna jump right in
00:21and I'm gonna actually start with you, Chair Burrows.
00:25A recent analysis of diversity in the tech industry
00:29from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
00:32had some rather dispiriting conclusions.
00:35It found that racial diversity has only slightly improved
00:38over the last two decades in tech
00:40and that women still make up less than a quarter
00:43of tech workers, which is basically the same as in 2005.
00:48That's far less than their representation
00:51in the workforce at large, which is closer to 50%.
00:55I wonder if I could ask you, Chair Burrows,
00:57to kind of set us up in this conversation.
01:01You've called this like a snapshot of the industry.
01:04That's right.
01:04We had a lot of interest in the tech industry in particular
01:09because it has been growing jobs, that's great news,
01:12and we had done in 2016 a snapshot of the industry
01:18and diversity therein.
01:20So unfortunately, what we found when we came back
01:24and did this going up to 2022 data
01:28and the report's title kind of tells you the bottom line,
01:31high tech, low inclusion.
01:33So while there was a lot of growth and a lot of hiring,
01:37what you saw was that the needle moved only a little bit
01:40since 2005 to 2022.
01:44So women, although they are almost half of the workforce
01:48in the United States, are only about 22 to 23%
01:52of those who are working in the high tech workforce
01:55and also in the high tech sector.
01:58And by that, I mean industries that have
01:59a fairly large concentration of tech workers.
02:04At the same time, we did see some,
02:06unfortunately, very modest, but some improvement
02:10for people of color, vastly underrepresented
02:14for Latinos and for African Americans.
02:18African Americans are about 12% of the workforce,
02:22right around just under 7% is what we found
02:26with respect to the workforce and the tech sector,
02:30the tech workforce and the tech company sector
02:33of the industries as well.
02:35With Latinos, we saw some more progress
02:38over the last two decades, but still very underrepresented.
02:41We're talking about 9.9% of tech workers
02:45and in the tech workforce and then there, of course,
02:48something like 18.7% of the entire US workforce.
02:53So there's still some work to do.
02:55And because we are the primary agency charged
03:00with looking for discrimination,
03:02we are thinking about this in a whole host
03:04of different ways and to really understand
03:09what is going on with the industry.
03:11What I will say is that we're 60 years on
03:13since the Civil Rights Act of 1964
03:17and since our agency was created.
03:19Our anniversary is next year.
03:20And so we see this as there has been progress
03:24and I mean that very sincerely,
03:25but we have a long way to go and I'll stop there
03:28because I'm excited for the conversation.
03:31So I'm gonna actually turn now to Lindsay, Ray and Beck.
03:33You guys have been both working on this issue
03:36and kind of living it for many years now.
03:39I wonder if you could add some nuance
03:41to these pretty stark numbers
03:44that we're hearing from Chabarro's.
03:47Are you seeing differences across tech
03:49in different sectors?
03:52Are there any outliers or success stories
03:55that you could point to and what can we learn from those?
03:58Yeah, I think if I pick up where Chabarro's
04:01sort of started the conversation.
04:03You know, at Microsoft, we're gonna be 50 next year, right?
04:06And if we look at sort of the example of women in tech,
04:11we have not yet published our recent report
04:14that will come out later this month,
04:16but women representation in tech roles alone is at 27%,
04:20which is above the averages that were just mentioned
04:23and women for the company are over 31%.
04:27And that's on purpose, right?
04:28That we've been able to slowly grow year over year
04:33for at least the last five years,
04:35but it's as a result of a holistic strategy
04:39and in partnership with many partners, customers,
04:44not-for-profit organizations
04:46that are in our broader ecosystem
04:48so that we can grow the workforce,
04:51not only sort of bringing people into tech,
04:53inviting folks into the technology profession
04:55who maybe wouldn't have considered tech otherwise,
04:58but then making sure that once they arrive in tech,
05:00we are growing them intentionally
05:02and investing in their careers and their mentorship
05:04and their sponsorship so they can stay and thrive in tech.
05:08And I would just add that it's part of our business, right?
05:13That having representation in the technology industry
05:17allows us to create products that people love.
05:20And so when you look at sort of Microsoft's evolution
05:23from software to hardware to cloud to now AI,
05:26being able to advance representation
05:29along the way through those industry shifts
05:31has been really bolted to the fact that for Microsoft,
05:36we have this huge inclusive mission
05:37that calls on us to empower the people
05:41and organizations on the planet,
05:43and we can't do that without representation
05:44inside Microsoft, too.
05:47Do you want to weigh in on this one?
05:49I will.
05:50I think similarly to our friends at Microsoft,
05:54our commitment to inclusion and diversity
05:55is central to the business strategy,
05:57and I think that's a key takeaway for all of us
06:00that we have to be thinking of
06:03how does this tie to our business results.
06:06For us, thinking about just 10 years ago,
06:10really moving to a skills-driven organization
06:12because we wanted to be the leading provider
06:15of digital-related services,
06:17that meant we would have to recruit differently
06:20and build our workforce differently
06:21in order to achieve that.
06:23So we set alongside that ambition,
06:25the ambition to be the most inclusive
06:27and diverse company in the world.
06:29Now, a great example of that is in India
06:32where we were in hyper-growth,
06:35breaking through the myth
06:36that there weren't women available
06:38for those tech-driven roles.
06:40And at that time, maybe 31% women in our workforce
06:44to today, over 49%.
06:47And just this year, we reached 50-50 parity
06:50in our Accenture technology centers for women.
06:52And that required thinking differently about recruiting,
06:57measuring the recruitment process
06:59and our performance achievement process for equity,
07:02for people experiencing an equitable outcome.
07:05And then really focusing on our culture
07:07and the ways that we support people to be successful,
07:11listening to them, what do they need in order to thrive?
07:14If it's return ships for women
07:16coming back into the workforce,
07:19better parental policies, better flex work policies,
07:22whatever's going to actually help them thrive in that role.
07:27Yeah, I mean, hearing both of you talk,
07:31this is such difficult work.
07:32It's difficult work to do
07:34and it's difficult work to express, to explain.
07:37Sometimes success can be kind of incremental
07:40and yet, it's still important.
07:44One of the big questions swirling around today,
07:45not just on this panel, in the whole country
07:48and the panel previous to us is, do these efforts work?
07:54Does being intentional about DEI and ESG more broadly
07:58make any difference?
08:01I wonder if you could talk about
08:03some of the biggest challenges,
08:04both in doing and in showing this work
08:07and I would love for Chair Burroughs as well
08:09to weigh in on this.
08:11You want me to start?
08:12Sure. Yeah, sure.
08:13So what I would say is,
08:15the federal government obviously is a national employer.
08:19We're, I think, the biggest employer in the United States
08:22and we also believe that this is important to our mission.
08:26So what does work?
08:28And I want to be clear,
08:29even though I gave you some not happy news at the beginning,
08:33that this does work.
08:35And one of the things that particularly,
08:38and intuitively you know this,
08:40but what we have also found and what research has found
08:43is that everybody does better
08:45if they feel respected and valued in the workplace
08:49and they're given those tools to really contribute.
08:52And that's how, as an employer,
08:54and I'm speaking both as someone
08:56who has been working in civil rights
08:58and employment for a long time,
08:59but also as the head of a roughly 2,300 person organization,
09:04that that gets people able to contribute and do well.
09:08And we have seen that over and over.
09:10Our mission makes it easy to bring people in
09:13for a diverse group of folks really interested in our work,
09:17but to keep them there and keep them feeling
09:19like they are valued and contributing, that takes more.
09:24And so I do want to make sure that notwithstanding
09:27that I think that there are some difficulties
09:30that this does work and it's really important,
09:33I think, in this moment.
09:34I know there's a lot of pushback to understand that
09:37and to stay the course,
09:39whether it be a diversity, equity, inclusion,
09:41accessibility program or whatever one is calling it,
09:44to be intentional about making sure
09:47every, you get the best talent in the door
09:48and make sure that they all feel included
09:51and able to contribute.
09:54I would add that it does work,
09:57but it does require strategic patience
09:59and operational urgency, right?
10:01That making sure that,
10:03at least when I look at Microsoft's journey,
10:06the work that we do in partnership with schools
10:09as early as middle school,
10:11up through high school and university,
10:13and then reimagining those on-ramps to tech for adults
10:16who want to have a career change,
10:18all of those pieces of the puzzle really matter.
10:24And it is the totality of the system,
10:27as well as the many things that sort of you and Beck
10:30both pointed to that allow progress to be made, right?
10:35And I think it's, at least for us,
10:38it is about really learning and listening
10:41to sort of the employee experience
10:44and the ways in which people are feeling
10:47like they do have access and opportunity or not,
10:50and then really thinking creatively and collaboratively.
10:53I mean, the beautiful thing about this work
10:55is that we all partner with so many of our peers
10:59and our colleagues across industries,
11:01across small companies, large companies,
11:04to try and make progress together.
11:07And I think it's something that's really special
11:10about sort of this work,
11:11because it does require all of us.
11:14Absolutely.
11:15Yeah, I think, you know, I'll add just that
11:17I think it is important to be evidence-based, right?
11:21To have the receipts.
11:22And for us, that's thinking about
11:25the measurement of our progress.
11:28And I know that this works because I can measure it.
11:31And we think really holistically
11:34about the quantitative and qualitative data we need
11:37to know whether what we're doing is working or not
11:40and adjust our approach accordingly.
11:42The only thing I would add is, you know,
11:44Accenture and other companies, Microsoft,
11:47we do release our data, right?
11:49And so the transparency and accountability
11:52to point on places where we are making progress,
11:54but also to be accountable where we know we have more to do,
11:57I think is really important.
11:59You know, as I said, we're about to publish for,
12:01you know, the sixth year, our D&I report,
12:03but 11 years, you know, consistently.
12:06And I think that that's part of the rhythm
12:08of being able to keep the conversation moving.
12:10Right, right.
12:11And as you say, it's the areas for improvement
12:15as well as the successes, right?
12:16And the learnings from failures sometimes too.
12:19For sure.
12:20I wonder if we could open this up.
12:23We have some mic handlers here.
12:25And if anyone has a question for our esteemed panelists,
12:28we would love to hear from the rest of you.
12:33If we don't have any questions, I also have more questions.
12:39Lindsay Ray, you touched on the need
12:41for kind of a collective,
12:43or at least like collaboration across industries.
12:45I know that Beck, this is something
12:47that you've thought a lot about also.
12:51When we're facing these kind of,
12:52these huge intractable problems,
12:55do you see potential for collaboration across industries
12:59or for sharing of some of those learnings
13:01that we've been talking about?
13:03I mean, I would say absolutely, right?
13:05As a company who's been doing this work for four decades,
13:07I often look to smaller organizations
13:10to see how they're innovating
13:11with sort of less of a legacy or less history
13:14because they can do innovative, creative things
13:17that big companies can't.
13:20And then I have the opportunity to also share
13:24decades of learning and best practices
13:26that would benefit smaller companies
13:28or places to start around data or learning
13:31or sort of transparency motions,
13:33engagement of senior leadership and grassroots.
13:36And so it really is that sharing of information
13:40and sort of wisdom and creativity
13:45that I think keeps the conversation fresh.
13:47Well, and Lindsay Rae is on the top of my text chain,
13:50so, but I would say it is that collaboration.
13:55It's a space where the natural competition of companies
13:58can be suppressed a little bit
14:00because we are invested in what is societal good
14:04as well as good for our businesses.
14:06And we look at things like what you've done at Microsoft,
14:10Lindsay Rae with accessibility
14:12and how widely you share that so that all of us can learn.
14:16That's really appreciated, that leadership role
14:18and that sharing and collaboration.
14:20Or a project that our companies undertook
14:23together with the Prince's Trust.
14:25Like we have to think about NGOs and governments
14:27and how we partner together.
14:29In the UK, we looked at how is generative AI
14:33gonna impact the youth population?
14:36And from that, we've been able to create a project
14:39that's going to skill up one million folks in the UK
14:44from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities
14:48to use gen AI to build their skills, to have mentorship,
14:52but also to use those tools to get their jobs.
14:55And so it's that collaborative energy
14:57that allows us to do that.
14:58Singularity, we wouldn't be able to do that on our own.
15:01I love that you brought up skill upping.
15:03It's obviously an issue not just for the next generation
15:05but for those of us already decades into our careers
15:11who might need some retraining or upskilling.
15:14How do you think about that challenge
15:16for this AI driven era?
15:20Well for us, I think the first question we ask anybody
15:23coming to Accenture is what was the last thing you learned?
15:26And we do that because learning is so critical
15:29to staying relevant in our field
15:32and we want people who have both an appetite
15:36and an ambition for learning.
15:37It doesn't matter if what you learned was Python
15:39or generative AI or how to play Chapel Rhone on the guitar.
15:43It just really doesn't matter.
15:44What is important is that appetite for learning
15:48because we know that the talent market is constrained
15:52as Chair Burroughs' research shows,
15:55but we're not constrained.
15:56We can invest, we can skill, we can grow the skills
16:00that we need to drive the business forward
16:02and keep everyone skill relevant.
16:03And at the pace of change we're in,
16:06that's just, it's hypercritical.
16:08You can't allow people to lag in their skills.
16:12Well and to add on to Beck's point,
16:13I would say it's not only important
16:15that tech workers get upskilled and reskilled
16:19on the new era of AI, but we will only be successful
16:23if everybody has access and benefits from that technology.
16:26It's part of why we need representation
16:28in the engineering of AI, but also access too.
16:34And so you see corporate partnerships on making sure
16:37that we continue to invest in broadband
16:39and access to devices and access to digital skilling
16:43beyond the workplace through LinkedIn Learning
16:46and other platforms because I think like Accenture,
16:50there are lots of companies who are deeply committed
16:52to making sure that this next era of tech
16:55really does leapfrog inclusion so more people benefit.
16:59Absolutely.
17:00And if I could just add on that,
17:01the EEOC has had, I launched in 2021,
17:05an initiative looking at artificial intelligence
17:08and how that is affecting employment,
17:11both in terms of recruitment, et cetera,
17:13but also this question of the entire lifeline
17:16and making sure that as AI becomes more important
17:22and to how we work, the people who get the opportunity
17:27to learn how to use these new tools in their jobs
17:31will have a running start.
17:34So as those opportunities, who gets trained
17:36in an institution, in an organization,
17:38really matters to the future of their ability to succeed,
17:42to being able to contribute and for the organization
17:46to get that talent from everybody.
17:47And so that's another thing that we're looking at
17:50and reminding people about, but we've also done
17:53a couple of quick documents that are on our website,
17:55EEOC.gov, on disabilities, and I'm so glad you raised that,
18:00and how to make sure that as you use AI,
18:02particularly for recruitment,
18:04that you don't leave people out,
18:06don't leave talent on the table unintentionally
18:09with disability issues, and then also for race,
18:12gender, national origin, religion, under Title VII,
18:17as well as color, I guess.
18:20I love that note to end on,
18:22don't leave talent on the table.
18:25So I would like to thank so much our esteemed panelists
18:28and the audience for your engagement
18:30with these super important issues going forward.
18:33Thanks for having us.
18:33Thank you, so grateful for you.