Ask any business their thoughts on having a diverse workforce and nearly everyone will say promoting diversity is one of their top priorities. Putting that idea into practice, however, has proven to be very difficult. Despite some notable efforts, many workforces remain relatively the same, dominated by white men, especially in leadership positions.
Laws intended to address the issue have made some impact, but the results still seem to be lacking. This may lead some to believe there is no silver bullet that will solve the problem, but the true answer may lie in an unlikely place. Big data, already a prominent tool within many businesses, could be the missing ingredient needed to truly promote diversity at every level. How this happens will still depend on what businesses choose to focus on, but big data analytics may be the key so many people have been searching for.
Many organizations have already utilized big data solutions for their employees in one fashion. HR analytics is steadily growing in popularity have been used to find the right additions for the right positions in a company. Thats merely scratching the surface of what big data can do for human resources, however. Part of HR analytics strength is determining which employees are at the biggest risk of leaving the company. Normally this is simply used to decrease the turnover rate across the organization as a whole, but when specifically targeting minorities, this can be an invaluable way to ensure the workforce is diverse. After all, hiring diverse employees is only part of the equation; making sure they stay with the company is the other half of the battle. Big data is instrumental in finding out what could lead to some people leaving a business while others are more willing to stay.
As just one example of this put into practice, take the rate at which pay raises are given. Businesses may strive to ensure all employees are treated equally, but a certain pay raise bias may still exist unintentionally. With big datas help, organizations are able to identify pay raise bias if it exists, essentially determining if ethnicity or gender actually does play a big role in how pay raises are handed out. Big data also can help businesses ensure that the same performance standards are used for everyone within the company regardless of background or appearance. In a sense, this levels the playing field and improves the overall work experience for everyone. As a result, the workforce can remain diverse.
These are simply applications of big data toward a common goal, but data science may in fact encourage more diversity in less direct ways. For decades, many have lamented the lack of women in tech careers. One study discovered that even though women now make up a majority of the labor force in the U.S., less than one in five people in the tech industry are women. Many women simply feel outnumbered, underrepresented, and pushed out of tech jobs.
Big data, however, may signify a major shift within the tech industry. Since data science is such a new field, many women are turning to it for their careers. New opportunities have opened up, giving women a new path which they can flourish in. Also worth noting is that women also bring a valuable skill set to the data science field. Beyond the tech skills needed, communication and problem solving are vital components of being successful with big data, skills that women employ in abundance (generally speaking, of course).
These big data capabilities are not outside of businesses reach either. In much the same way weve seen an increase in software defined storage vendors, the number of companies offering platforms and tools that take advantage of big data in this way is on the rise as well. For example, Katapult is a big data platform aimed at helping companies develop strategies revolving around data that will help promote diversity. This could mean changing the companys culture or evolving the behavioral compatibility with minorities. Organizations that are serious about diversity would be best suited by adopting a platform designed with this goal in mind.
Embracing a diverse workforce is much easier said than done. A lot of factors can exist outside of leaderships immediate vision which affect whom they hire and what keeps people at the company. Big data may be the key to unlocking that potential and helping a business truly become diverse. Through direct and indirect means, big data analytics can reveal patterns and insights needed to overcome these problems while ensuring organizations have the right strategy in place to guarantee the growth of diversity.
