Survey finds tech workers aren’t impressed by their employers’ DE&I efforts

Despite years of attention to the issue, discrimination in the tech world remains widespread—and workers are increasingly wary that their employers aren’t doing enough to fight it, according to a recent Dice survey.

Dice polled nearly 2,500 registered job-seekers and others who self-identified as tech workers for the 2023 edition of its annual diversity, equality, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) survey. The results show that the tech world has seen limited improvements on various DEIB metrics.

For example, Dice found that 24% of tech professionals reported experiencing racial discrimination in 2022, up from 18% in 2021. With gender discrimination, that number rose from 21% in 2021 to 26% in 2022.

Around 22% of respondents said they had witnessed racial discrimination in salary and benefits, while 30% said they had witnessed similar discrimination on the basis of gender. Underrepresented groups in tech collectively reported racial discrimination in the arenas of leadership selection (27%) and promotions (26%).

Art Zeile, CEO of Dice, told IT Brew that the results were particularly stark because the tech sector tends to have a low unemployment rate and a shortage of talent.

“Yet we’re still discriminating at some high, at least unacceptable rate for this cohort within our total population, which is a shame,” Zeile said. 48% of respondents identifying as women reported experiencing gender discrimination in the workplace. “If half the women believe that they are being unfairly compensated compared to men, that’s kind of a big problem.”

Zeile said that while reports of discrimination jumped significantly in the most recent version of the survey, that was likely due to variations in sampling or awareness rather than a surge in actual discrimination. Dice’s surveys have shown a “long-term decline” in discrimination, he added, but not one that places the industry on a path to dramatic change in the foreseeable future.

While 47% of respondents said an organization’s reputation for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is an influence in their decision to work there, Dice found that fewer respondents were impressed with their employer’s DEIB efforts in 2022 than 2021.

The percentage of those who said they were not at all or only slightly impressed by their company’s actions on racism and gender discrimination rose from 20% in 2021 to 30% in 2022. The number of those moderately or extremely impressed fell from 42% to 36%. According to the report, “Black tech professionals, along with…women, drove this dip.”

“A lot of companies have adjusted and are creating training programs, not only for their management to reduce bias in their hiring practices, but also training programs across their entire population to speak to issues like microaggressions, and allyship, and other really important topics in DEIB,” Zeile said. “But I think that most people think that those training programs and efforts in general fall flat.”

Zeile said DEIB efforts are most effective when senior management takes a serious interest in reducing discrimination, with board involvement having “the most impact”—particularly when the board itself is diverse. Change from below faces extraordinary difficulty when senior management is hostile to DEIB efforts, or only engages in performative action, he added.

“It has to come from above,” Zeile told IT Brew. “I think that’s just legitimately how it works.”