Yet another diversity program is not enough

For the last 50 years companies have been trying to close diversity gaps in the workplace with various training programs.
But real change can only come with real innovation to create opportunities to reach more diverse people but also standard, objective methods of evaluating candidates. Today, companies say that diversity is important when using biased recruitment proxies like resumes from top universities.

Yet another diversity program is not enough. The only way we will begin to achieve change is if we make changes in recruitment and focus on what matters: skills to do the job well.

Hiring diversity roots:

The diversity of employment traces back to the form of the First World War, when the government tasked a committee of psychologists to assess the skills of more than 1.7 million men in less than 2 years. His job was to work quickly and efficiently on a large scale of people - a feeling that feels unfamiliar to corporations today. So he created an IQ test for screening people for their skills.

Shifting Mindset: The True Value of Diversity

While civil rights investment in diversity arises from lawsuits, recent studies in the value of diversity prove that diversity is effective for business. Two of the many benefits of diversity in the workplace are important:
Diversity of thought
Even a slight background difference on the table can improve your team's decisions while solving complex problems.

The theory comes from Scott Page in the early 2000s, a professor at the University of Michigan, who researches how teams work together. To prove his theory, he created a mathematical model to test whether the diversity of thought is pure ability. They divided the algorithm into two teams:

Team 1: made up of experts who thought very similar

Team 2: Composed of randomized algorithms with different approaches, Team 2 solved problems faster than experts. Diverse teams benefit from different approaches that homogenous teams would never have imagined.
Attract more talent
Another reason to invest in diversity is to attract more people, period. We need more people in STEM jobs than in any other occupation.

According to the new Burning Glass report, programming jobs are growing 12% faster than the market average, analyzing 25 million job listings.

But what is even more interesting is that programming is no longer limited to the tech industry alone. Technical skills (such as coding) are increasingly important to other professionals, such as business analysts who work with data, designers, and marketers, who create websites, with engineers who build products and technologies.

For example, more than half of the set designers are expected to use 3D modeling software such as AutoCAD, the same tools used to design the iPhone or new car, ”Burning Glass reports

If we continue sourcing people from the same homogeneous locations, the gap between the talent of companies will widen further. If we do not diversify those spaces for talent, who will fill these jobs?
Each business is run by its own people, and - without diversity - homogeneous parties are limited in approach. And, therefore, is limited in its effect. This is why tech companies are investing millions to improve diversity:
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2016: Different Mindset, Same Program

Companies understand the value of diversity and are clearly investing heavily in diversity programs, but they are still having a hard time closing the diversity gap.

Despite the fact that sociologists have not found any positive impact of short-term diversity training programs, some versions of these programs persist even after 50 years.
Dismantling some of these programs exposes elements that remind and learn of the diverse programs of the 1960s that are important to our team today:

Diversity policies are backfiring.

New research from the Harvard Business Review suggests that mandatory diversity programs fail. This force is against the fact that social scientists are aware of what changes people make in their behavior. People will not change their mindset just because they have been asked to do so.

Adding incentives for recruits is not enough. Recruiters may push for different candidates, but hiring managers are the ones who ultimately decide. Incentive-based programs for recruits are a band-aid to the problem.

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