The Changing Workforce: Embracing DEI [video]

Author:

Precious McKoy
Women in Technology Advocate
Guilford College

My name is Precious McKoy, I am a web developer at Guilford College. Guilford College is in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Graphic: In what ways is diversity, equity, and inclusion an IT issue?
I'm so excited to be a part of the conversation of diversity, equity and inclusion and of course as it is entering into the IT space, we know that it's been a long time issue in America, throughout many professions so it's really just a great time to talk about why this is an issue in our field, and it's an issue because it really creates a problem for the workforce, which will be majority minority by 2045. And then knowing that we have to think about how we're going to provide a workplace that's suitable for our children and in years to come. What we know by the National Center of Women in Technology is that 26% are women in total, but also that 3% are women of color and we also know that according to the data that 63% of men who work in the same industry, maybe on the same job, same title are making considerably more than women in the workplace. So that's what we already know about the industry. And on my campus, we are already doing many things to help alleviate this problem within our workplace. We actually have a DEI office that's working extremely hard to diversify how we hire our employees, so we're looking at our interviewing process. We're looking at the questions that we may ask candidates. We're also thinking about job boards where we can place and advertise for our employment opportunities, and in doing that I'm already seeing progress that's being made on our campus to be inclusive and really think about others who could fit into the culture of our campus. And we have a strong focus on being a culture of care, really thinking about others, being considerate. And those things are incredibly important for the workplace.