Making resolutions as you enter a new year is an exciting prospect to better yourself and forge beneficial opportunities going forward. Career advancement, prioritizing reading and embracing healthier habits are added to vision boards and daily agendas. However, by the time February rolls around, those once sought-after goals often wither into good intentions that fell by the wayside.
One resolution the tech industry can no longer afford to let slip away as we head into 2022? Committing to the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
“If you have a 500-person company that is 5-percent diverse with little representation in management, strong DEI candidates might not want to join the company at all,” Mythic CEO Mike Henry said. “At a startup, it’s tempting to focus solely on company execution and push off DEI initiatives for later, but the point of no return can approach quickly.”
It’s no secret that tech companies have previously struggled to diversify their workforces, but major events like the pandemic and The Great Resignation have forced people teams to address their company cultures and hiring processes head-on — and it’s proved worthwhile. According to Built In’s research, more than three out of four workers prefer diverse companies which has been a key factor to employee retention. Research also revealed that diverse companies enjoy more than two-times higher cash flow per employee.
The takeaway? DEI efforts should be more than just a resolution — they’re worthy investments to become stronger as a company and make a greater impact in an increasingly diverse world. That’s why Built In San Francisco sat down with Henry to discuss Mythic’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in 2022 and how he plans to keep those initiatives rolling into the new years beyond.
What’s one way you’re committing to improving diversity, equity and inclusion at your company in 2022?
We have a company metric that 15 percent of hires in each department in 2022 must further our diversity and inclusion goals. I see 15 percent as a low number, but we are just getting started on setting these types of goals and reconfiguring our hiring process to expand our candidate pool. There are also two important things to keep in mind.
First, the percentage of hires is a lagging indicator so we also wanted to set a goal for a leading indicator. Leading indicators are items that we have more control over, and therefore it’s easier to hold people accountable. In this case, we said that 75 percent of roles within each department must have interviewed at least two DEI candidates before making an offer.
Second, these goals are on a department-by-department basis. This means that we avoid the situation where the majority of the DEI hires come from just a couple of departments. In a semiconductor company, that’s typically general and administrative.
Recruiting is a resource to help land great candidates, but it’s not the only accountable party for meeting our hiring or DEI goals.”
What do you plan to do to fulfill this commitment? And how is leadership supporting these efforts?
At the leadership and management level, it comes down to how we prioritize this in terms of commitment, frequent discussion of our goals and even performance reviews. We also spend a lot of time talking about and reminding people why DEI is important and why we picked these goals.
We plan on giving our recruiters enough resources and breathing room to source diverse candidates, but we also want to make it clear that this is a leadership commitment. Recruiting is a resource to help land great candidates, but it’s not the only accountable party for meeting our hiring or DEI goals.
Why have you decided to make this commitment a priority this year? And how are you holding yourself accountable to it?
Overall, we strongly believe that having a strong DEI program and a diverse and inclusive workforce is the right thing to do, and that it has many positive benefits to both society and company results. From a timing perspective of when to build up DEI initiatives, it gets harder and harder to instill in a company as time goes on.
