“Diversity and inclusion efforts have failed miserably.” This is how Freada Kapor Klein started her talk at the IAB Education Foundation’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force meeting on October 18.
Speaking to a packed room at the Oath Build Studios in Manhattan, Freada Kapor Klein shared the results of the Kapor Center for Social Impact’s Tech Leavers Study, a first-of-its-kind national study examining why people voluntarily left their jobs in tech.
Four key takeaways from the study were shared. These included:
- Unfairness drives turnover
- Experiences differ dramatically across groups
- Unfairness costs billions each year
- Diversity and Inclusion initiatives can improve culture and reduce turnover – if they are done right.
So, what does it take to do it right? Klein outlined 5 initiatives that can make a difference as long as they are all implemented together.
These initiatives include:
- Hiring a Diversity and Inclusion Officer
- Explicit diversity goals
- Bonuses for employee referrals of members of under-represented groups
- Unconscious bias training
- Employee Resource Groups
Following Klein’s presentation, two graduates of the IAB Education Foundations’ iDiverse Digital Marketing and Media Program were interviewed by Tim Armstrong, the CEO of Oath.
Elizabeth Vializ and Rafiki Sinclair were part of the inaugural class of the iDiverse program at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. The program prepares students for entry-level jobs in digital advertising and media.
For more information on the IAB Education Foundation’s programs, contact info@idiverse.org.
