Quarter of U.S. tech workers perceive
discrimination: survey
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[February 08, 2017]
By Deborah M. Todd
(Reuters) - About a quarter of U.S. workers
in the technology sector, which has faced criticism for a lack of
diversity, said they felt discrimination at their workplace in a survey
released on Tuesday by job site Indeed.com.
The survey of 1,002 U.S. tech sector workers, conducted in December,
found that 24 percent said they felt they had been discriminated against
at their current companies due to their race, gender, age, religion or
sexual orientation.
The national survey was conducted online by survey consulting firm
Censuswide, which invited participants to opt in through an online
newsletter. This was the first such survey by Indeed.
Some 29 percent of female respondents said they experienced
discrimination compared with 21 percent of men. Some 32 percent of Asian
and nonwhite employees said they were discriminated against, versus 22
percent of white employees.
The survey did not provide details surrounding the nature of the
discrimination.
"These results should be seen as a wake-up call to the industry that
simply striving to hire diverse talent is not enough: culture and
attitude need to be addressed," said Raj Mukherjee, senior vice
president of product at Indeed.
Over the last three years Alphabet Inc's Google, Facebook Inc, Apple Inc
and other major tech companies have released employee demographic data,
adjusted recruiting strategies and offered training on unconscious bias.
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Mukherjee added that companies should make greater efforts to
include current employees in its diversity initiative, since 57
percent of respondents said they did not know what actions their
company is taking to address the issue.
An additional 25 percent did not believe their companies were taking
any action.
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"With so many people disengaged it's hard for real change to occur,"
said Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose Rainbow Push Coalition led a campaign
in 2014 urging tech companies to release employee demographic data
and diversify, in a statement.
(Reporting by Deborah M. Todd, editing by Peter Henderson and Lisa
Shumaker)
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