IT Executives Struggle with Workforce Diversity
Youth-oriented technology programs seen as the most promising way to interest minorities in IT.
Thu, March 20, 2008
Computerworld — A shrinking pool of entry-level IT workers and the difficulty of finding business-savvy technology pros are two of the more highly publicized pain points faced by CIOs as they try to build up their staffs. But another big challenge for IT leaders is establishing more diverse IT teams.
For instance, the Information Technology Association of America said in a report issued in 2005 (download PDF) that the percentage of women in the U.S. IT workforce fell from 41 percent in 1996 to 32.4 percent in 2004. The ITAA said that the representation of African-Americans in IT also dropped during those years, from 9.1 percent of the workforce in 1996 to 8.3 percent in 2004.
The diversity issue is a multifaceted problem for CIOs and other high-level IT managers, according to Kristen Lamoreaux, a senior director at The Jarvis Walker Group, an IT executive recruiting firm in Florham Park, N.J. Lamoreaux also is the founder of SIM Women, a networking group for female members of the Society for Information Management.
During a panel discussion on IT hiring issues at Computerworld 's Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference in Orlando last week, Lamoreaux said that women with families often require flexible work schedules. But, she added, some employers fear that if they make special accommodations to meet the needs of working mothers, others in the IT department will expect the same kinds of considerations.
Nonetheless, if work-life balance issues aren't a concern among IT supervisors, "there's a deeper problem" within the culture of their organizations, Lamoreaux said.
She and other panelists said that one way to encourage more women to work in IT is to get girls interested in technology when they're young. For instance, Cora Carmody, CIO at Science Applications International Corp., helps run a Technology Goddesses program featuring workshops and a day camp for Girl Scouts in San Diego. The campers include six-year-olds "who are doing things with PowerPoint that some IT executives can't do," Carmody said.
But she added that the real mission of the day camp is to enlighten girls at an early age about career opportunities in the IT field. "Targeting them in high school is too late," Carmody said.
Meanwhile, the panelists said that the lack of African-American IT workers in the U.S. labor pool has made it particularly difficult for CIOs and IT hiring managers to recruit and groom them for higher-level positions.
