Channel missing out on 'talent and financial rewards'

Why 'rigid cultures' are harming channel firms

IT organisations are struggling to achieve diverse workforces, which means the channel is missing out on opportunity to grow capital and revenue and thousands of potential skilled workers, delegates of CompTIA ChannelCon 2017 heard in Texas, US, this week.

During a keynote at the event, Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA, pointed to data finding that minorities who enter the technology industry leave the field at more than 3.5 times the rate of white males, calling this number "alarming".

"We're seeing that there are some systemic problems we have to address," Thibodeaux said of the issue's cause.

He added that 80 percent of females working in STEM fields say they love their job, but 32 percent plan to quit in a year. The executive pointed to "disturbing" issues such females are pointing to within their work environments.

Part of the "systemic problem", Thibodeaux told solution providers in attendance, is in the industry's approach to assimilation.

"In my research it became pretty clear that part of our issue is there are a lot of rigid cultures out there," Thibodeaux said.

"Most aren't flexible enough to allow for thriving subcultures to exist. New individuals are expected to assimilate to the exciting culture, and those who don't increasingly feel isolated and penalised within the companies."

The problem with IT's lack of diversity is underscored when looking at the advantages perceived to be gained when a company has a diverse workforce. These include better customer insight, more productive teams, lower turnover and a better use of available talent, according to Thibodeaux.

A lack of diversity can also impact the channel's pockets, Thibodeaux noted. Diverse companies are said to see greater financial returns and market share, he said.

"Private equity firms and other [organisations] are more likely to provide capital today to companies that have good diversity numbers," Thibodeaux said.

Thibodeaux also suggested that increased diversity would help the channel fill more jobs, saying that ethnic minority workers are underrepresented in the tech sector by a two to one margin, while the proportional gap for women is about 70 percent.

"If women and [minorities] were represented in the tech sector as they are in the labor force, we'd have one million more women working in tech than we do today," he said.

Encouraging attendees to also consider diversity to include a variety of socioeconomic, work, geographic and education experiences, Thibodeaux urged the channel to approach diversity by eliminating biases they may hold subconsciously, prioritising diversity and inclusion as a market issue with set measurable goals and filling their pipelines with non-traditional candidates.

He also discussed considering things like diversity training and being a "mentor" and connecting with people with different experiences on social media.