Co-authored with Sepi Biddle

Software engineering teams solve complex problems. This requires creativity, focus, a breadth and depth of expertise, and the ability to work as a team. There is a lot of scientific evidence that demonstrates diverse teams make better decisions, create better products, are more attractive to top talent, have longer retention period, and have higher job satisfaction. These factors all directly contribute to the company bottom line, and more diverse teams are shown to perform better financially. That means CEOs and other executives have a fiduciary responsibility towards shareholders to increase the diversity of their teams. 

But how can engineering teams hire and retain diverse talent? It starts with a clear definition of diversity, followed by setting actionable targets, and revisiting every stage of the hiring process to make sure the objectives are being met. 

What is diversity in engineering teams, and how to measure it?

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a culture, not a program. It means creating an environment where diversity of gender, background, sexual orientation, abilities, age, education, and level of experience is celebrated, pursued, and does not impact individuals’ career advancement. To measure diversity, make sure to create granular metrics to cover multiple diversity dimensions. Also, measure and report diversity metrics across different levels of the organization, including leadership roles. Lastly, remember that there are no hard-and-fast numbers to use as a goal for any single metric. Instead, use the metrics to measure your progress towards your diversity goals.

How to encourage diversity in the hiring process?

DEI is not about lowering the hiring bar. Instead, increasing diversity means removing the implicit and explicit biases in the hiring process, in order to hire a team that is reflective of the available pool of talent and is representative of the diversity of ideas and backgrounds of its user base. 

Teams cannot just “trust the process” to hire the right engineers, since the same process that most companies have used to hire their engineers has resulted in biased and less diverse teams. Instead, increasing diversity requires intentional planning in all stages of recruiting, starting with writing an inclusive job description. 

Writing inclusive job descriptions

The language and wording used in a job posting could be disparaging to a minority group, resulting in a biased recruiting funnel. To prevent this pitfall, do not use gendered wording, such as “confident” or “considerate”,  or coded ageism using words such as “fast-moving” or “fast-paced”. Also, avoid corporate jargons such as “KPI” or “OKR”, that may alienate a large group of people from different backgrounds who have the qualifications for the position, but are not familiar with the exact phrases that are used in the corporate world. 

To help with identifying biased wording in job postings, you can use Kat Matfield’s free gender decoder tool, or a service like Textio. 

Avoiding unnecessary requirements such as “a bachelor’s degree” would eliminate a potential source of discrimination againts under-privileged populations. It is understood that certain positions require formal education in relevant fields. But, for most positions, a boot camp or associate degree gives the candidates the skills and tools they need to meet the requirements of the job just as well. 

Similarly, do not unnecessarily raise the minimum required qualifications to filter out candidates who pad their resume or are over-confident. Previous studies show that candidates from more represented gender and racial backgrounds tend to be more overconfident in their qualifications, and would apply to the role anyway. The end result of this practice is simply to discourage a more diverse recruiting funnel.

How to be more inclusive in screening candidates

The first step in being more inclusive when screening candidates is to change the mindset from “weeding out bad candidates” to “finding the best candidates, inclusive of all backgrounds”. It is tempting to look at the screening process as a process of elimination, especially given how overwhelming the sheer number of candidates for some roles is. But, this mindset often results in “playing it safe” by finding candidates that are similar to the “tried and tested” current team members. Instead, by looking at the screening process as a “process of inclusion”, we open the gate to candidates who are not necessarily similar to the existing team members, but improve the team by bringing a different perspective and creativity to the table. 

One tactic during the screening process is to pay less attention to names, or even use platforms that anonymize the candidates. Research shows that candidates with hard-to-pronounce names or names that sound like a minority have a much lower chance of getting a callback after applying to jobs. 

There are other traditional screening techniques that need to be revisited. For instance, rejecting candidates with resume gaps tends to disproportionately impact minorities such as candidates who had to take a few years off to help their families in times of financial or medical hardship, as well as mothers and older candidates. 

Similarly, job-hopping (changing one’s company too often) is usually regarded as a red flag. Some common reasons for changing one’s company that disproportionately impacts minorities are: relocating to a new city to take care of elder family members, relocating to a less cost-of-living, lack of cultural fit and sense of belonging due to a toxic work environment. 

The nuances in candidates’ work history are the reason why using automated resume screening services (bots, AI, etc.) are known to contribute to lack of diversity and why there are even calls to abolish the use of resumes in job applications. At the very least, recruiters and hiring managers should keep an open mind and ask questions from candidates when they have reservations about a resume red flag. 

And lastly, remember that the image and brand of a company is the biggest draw for a diverse, strong talent funnel. That image is built over a long time by consistent action and an authentic attention to diversity. That requires being respectful and empathetic to candidates even when their application is rejected. Recruiters should read all the resumes, and write back to candidates with a short feedback. This will give the notion to the candidates that the company cares about individuals, and provides an opportunity for everyone to not just submit a resume but receive feedback. 

Promoting diversity throughout the interview process

It is important to recognize that all individuals have some level of unconscious bias based on their past experiences, environment, and upbringing. These experiences create the individual’s criteria of what “good” looks like. This means individuals with similar backgrounds tend to favor similar individuals, which creates a bias in the selection process. To compensate for that unconscious bias, companies should create a diverse interview panel. 

A diverse interview panel also creates a positive feedback loop by appealing to a more diverse talent pool. When candidates see someone on the panel that they can relate to, it helps them imagine themselves on the team. When Candidates see someone similar to them taking part in the decision making process, it reassures them that their opinion will also be taken into consideration if they choose to work there.

Another way to promote diversity during the interview process is to create well thought out interview processes that allow for some flexibility. For Example, offering different interview times to candidates to accommodate different schedules and personal commitments can level the playing field for more diverse candidates. Similarly, avoiding unrealistic expectations for time commitment to the interview process from candidates (e.g., time-consuming take-home exams with a short deadline). Companies who have changed their expectations and allowed candidates to be more flexible in their timing to go through the interview process have observed improved diversity on their teams.

Building a lasting impact: encouraging diverse candidates to join the team (and to stay!)

The last step in the recruiting process (extending the offer and following up to ensure a candidate accepts the offer) may be the most consequential step. Even after implementing a holistic approach to diverse recruiting, companies still need to make sure minority candidates would accept their offer to join the team. 

Improving diversity at the company level is a cultural shift, rather than a program or a set of tactical steps, and it requires its own conversation. Still, the following actionable items have shown to contribute to an improved sense of psychological safety and diversity on teams:

• Develop an employer brand that showcases your diversity.
• Create company policies that appeal to diverse candidates, such as health benefits for the family members, and parental leave.
• Offer flexible working hours and work from home, when possible.
• Allow working from another location for a stretch of time. This is especially important for candidates who have families in other countries, and want to spend a few weeks a year with their extended family in their home country.
• Offer home office or co-working space allowance for fully remote employees.
• Create an opportunity for everyone to meet face to face during the year for an offsite. The frequency would depend on how distributed the teams are and how able everyone is to travel.
• Provide stipend for certification exams or any form of learning to help employees grow in their field.
• Implement fair and transparent performance review, bonus structure, and salaries across the board.
• Offer floating holidays to acknowledge team members with different religious and cultural backgrounds.
• When possible, establish flexible weekly schedules, such as 4-day work weeks, or 9-hour days with one day off every other week.
• Encourage employee groups and channels for employees to share things they think might be interesting to their teams and get to know them beyond their job (pets, children, traditions, travels, etc).
• Sponsor employee support groups to encourage conversation, presentation, and advocacy for minority groups within the company. For instance, consider creating separate employee support groups for gender, ethnic, sexual orientation, mental health, disabilities, families (parents and care-takers). Make sure these groups have a say in making decisions that impact employees at the highest level.
• Build a culture that promotes diversity. Such culture will be based on:
  • Trust
  • Community and the feeling like you belong
  • Equality and fairness
  • Transparency
• In online presence, signal attention to diversity: candidates pay more attention to social media and public pages of the companies and how they choose to showcase their company culture. Some specific recommendations are:
  • include a diversity statement on your careers page
  • include your pronouns on your signature and your LinkedIn page
  • signal commitment to representation by sharing demographic stats and diversity goals
  • showcase a diverse range of employees in your social spotlights
  • give representation to a diverse range of employees when presenting on the company behalf in conferences, events, and blog posts.
• At the end, we need to plan, execute, and measure our progress towards a more diverse team. Make sure to keep track of your diversity metrics, share them at the company level, and keep the organization leaders accountable towards achieving their diversity goals. Make sure you measure diversity metrics in every level of the organization, including leadership.