What one start-up did when it got called out for being too white

[TexasTowelie]

Anyone in the tech world can tell you those group staff photos — the kind where everyone’s white and mostly male — are the norm.

So it was kind of radical when Technically Philly reporter Roberto Torres called out a local start-up in December 2016 for its very typical team photo.

“Now, as you may have noticed from that staff picture up there, Stitch seems to have a diversity challenge,” Torres wrote, after listing a few job openings at the Center City data company, which was only a few months old at the time.

For Stitch leadership, the article was hard to read. CEO Jake Stein acknowledges he was “a little pissed off.” But then, he took a step back and couldn’t deny it was a fair critique.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/diversity-tech-unconscious-bias-training-stitch-20180528.html

[bobbieinok]

1. Read article. The problem is real. Don't think they've figured out solution.

[MichMan]

2. There is no solution

Looks like qualified minority candidates aren't being passed over but not ever applying in the first place

Why not?


"For example, Stitch committed to interviewing for each job at least two candidates, in-person, from groups underrepresented in their company, known as the “Rooney Rule.” But its commitment to that rule meant sitting on a qualified engineer for a month as managers worked on finding another candidate, hopefully a nonwhite male. In the end, they did bring someone else in, but he was a young, white guy, too, effectively breaking the Rooney Rule. They eventually hired the first candidate."


I work in the STEM field and in my experience there just aren't enough POC that ever apply for these well paying positions that aren't either Indian or Asian. Like it or not, some occupations appeal differently to different subsets of our population.

What if the first guy got tired of waiting and accepted another job?