Across the Canadian technology industry, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities are significantly underrepresented and face compounded barriers to both job market entry, and career advancement opportunities.
Despite glaring disparities, next to no data is available that pertains to queer experiences across the sector. QueerTech – a national nonprofit on a mission to queer the tech ecosystem – is working to fix that.
In May of 2024, the organization released the Queering the Tech Ecosystem: Barriers and Opportunities Research Report – a mixed-method research initiative three years in the making, involving more than 10 research institutions and ecosystem partners.
The first-of-its-kind report documents the lived experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals within the Canadian tech space, outlines the unique barriers associated with the recruitment and retention of queer individuals within the sector, and uncovers the harmful elements of workplace culture that hinder queer inclusion.
To learn more about the report’s findings, and to discuss the need for improved 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion in the Canadian tech industry, we sat down with Naoufel Testaouni, Co-Founder and CEO of QueerTech.
Why is research, like the Queering the Tech Ecosystem Report, needed? What value do these initiatives bring to the sector?
NT: To solve a problem, you need to have data that helps you understand the problem intimately. Until now companies, governments, support ecosystem players and other decision making groups have not been able to truly understand the depths, and nuances, of queer underrepresentation and exclusion across the technology sector. With no data, we have no context – and without context, we cannot develop informed and tailored programs and policies to address this problem.
Really, the value of this report is three-fold: it allows QueerTech and other support organizations to holistically address the complexities of this problem in our programming and advocacy efforts, it assists the government in seeing the scale of the problem and equitably allocating resources to this community, and it provides the 2SLGBTQIA+ tech community with a safe, secure channel to share their stories. Stories are powerful, but can’t be quantified – this report has changed that.
Where do we stand with meaningful DEI progress in the tech industry when it comes to the queer community?
NT: Technology is one of the only industries in Canada that is consistently, and substantially, decreasing its meaningful diversity metrics. Overall queer representation in the tech workforce is between 6-8%, and leadership representation ranges from 0.6-3%, dependent on the sub-sector. The number of women in leadership has only ever reached 33% in tech – close to 10% lower than the average of all industries – but we are seeing this trend even further down, currently sitting at 28%.
The pipeline of diverse talent to senior management is even worse. The rate of women set for senior management positions in Canada decreased by 12 percentage points in a single year from 2022 to 2023; so while only 42.9% of straight, cisgender women are in line for leadership positions, only 1% of 2SLGBTQIA+ women can say the same.
There are visible and non-visible progress markers for DEI within the tech space, and the industry has a lot of work to do in both categories. We clearly lack in our desired outcome of funnelling more underrepresented communities into tech employment, retaining said employees, and seeing equitable career advancement for this talent. However, the sector is also failing in areas of qualitative, non-visible elements of DEI efforts – particularly in terms of workplace culture and actualized inclusion.
To assist readers in visualizing just how much work we have to do as an ecosystem, our research found that only 40% of all survey respondents – queer and not queer – feel that 2SLGBTQIA+ employees at their workplace are consistently treated with respect. We also inquired into DEI initiatives, and their effectiveness, directly. While 70% of respondents indicated their workplace does have DEI initiatives in place, less than 25% found them to be effective.
Is recruitment and successful placement of 2SLGBTQIA+ employees the central hurdle in this equation? Will improving workforce diversity organically lead to improved equity, and inclusion, in tech workplaces?
NT: Historical and contemporary discrimination against 2SLGBTQIA+ people has led to inequitable socio-economic outcomes for this community, in addition to persistent bias against this community as a whole. We, therefore, need to think of this problem and the prevalent barriers queer communities face at work, with this context in mind. The damage has been done. And this damage, by design, impacts every single element of a queer person’s employment journey.
Our research found that over 35% of respondents have experienced blatant discrimination in at least one job interview, with another 9.5% indicating they think they have, but can’t be sure. So yes, recruitment of queer employees in tech is a large hurdle and addressing this issue would help in cultivating a more diverse, informed workforce. However, our research also found rampant rates of harassment and exclusive practices targeting existing queer employees – with nearly 35% of respondents indicating they had been targeted at work due to their sexual orientation, and over 56% due to their gender or gender identity.
The current system, and status quo we operate within at work, was never designed with queer people in mind, or our lived realities considered. So, in short, the barriers facing 2SLGBTQIA+ communities at work are symptoms of a failing system as a whole, versus standalone, siloed challenges that can be addressed individually. Humans are nuanced, layered and evolving. We must do the work to ensure our solutions for workplace equity and inclusion are the same.
How can technology companies improve hiring processes to better recruit and retain queer employees?
NT: A few things for technology companies to consider when attempting to improve their hiring processes to better recruit and retain queer talent include:
- Ensure job postings, marketing materials, and employer brand elements are culturally competent, inclusive and free of bias.
- Mandate representational balance on your interview team.
- Establish yourself as an equal opportunity employer, and establish effective systems to operationalize this.
- Partner with specialized organizations, like QueerTech, to help in diversifying your talent pipeline.
- Utilize anonymous CV sorting to mitigate human bias. If AI candidate sorting systems are utilized, ensure responsible data sets and models are integrated to encourage equitable, diverse outputs.
- Restructure hiring criteria, in collaboration with experts, to incorporate intersectional frameworks and systems to quantify the value of diverse candidates.
- Provide constructive feedback to all unsuccessful diverse candidates – contribute to a greater influx of underrepresented individuals into the sector over time.
- Establish mentor matching systems to foster connection, career advancement, and skill development.
- Engage with ecosystem leaders frequently – share best practices and proposed solutions related to the recruitment and retainment of diverse employees.
- Establish concrete diversity goals, robust metric tracking channels, and systems for continuous iteration and improvement.
- Ensure DEI-focused elements are listed as a key performance indicator across your hiring team. Recognize and compensate your high performing team members within these categories.
Culture is hard to quantify, and is therefore difficult to address meaningfully. What recommendations does QueerTech have to address culture in the workplace?
NT: The top terms used by respondents in our research when describing the tech industry in Canada were “homogenous”, “white”, “hyper-masculine” and “cisgender”. This sentiment, in addition to the report’s other findings surrounding culture, hints at a dire need for pointed, resourced intervention. At a bare minimum, we know queer employees have to worry about their identity, microaggressions, and disparities of equitable career progression at work – all while balancing their regular job responsibilities. More severe, we now know as a result of this report that a substantial percentage of queer tech workers have to balance their regular job responsibilities, while also worrying about blatant discrimination, personal safety, and the fear of being wrongly dismissed as a result of them speaking up.
Each element of a workplace – from recruitment and hiring, to compensation and culture – are symbiotic in nature. Recommendations, therefore, need to consider all working parts of this complicated ecosystem of workplace inclusion: EDI & HR policies, cultural intervention work, and improved hiring and onboarding processes.
QueerTech recommends several measures to improve workplace culture for queer employees:
- The development of dedicated corrective action systems for misconduct.
- Mandated diversity trainings, with an emphasis on genuine curiosity and learning.
- Top-down modelling of expected organizational behaviours, with a focus on transparency and accountability.
- Involve queer employees and, if applicable, external experts when approaching the iteration or development of net-new staff initiatives.
- Plan thoughtful team building activities that are cognizant of the historical and contemporary barriers experienced by underrepresented communities (i.e. avoid intoxicants, the need for personal spending, etc.).
- Across all employee-facing initiatives and/or channels, the most urgent measures and targeted interventions need to be built and implemented to tackle issues that arise for multiply oppressed employees, with dedicated priority.
As an industry, does the tech space have any advantages or disadvantages when approaching holistic DEI strategies?
NT: From our perspective, Canada’s technology industry likely has the most obvious advantages of any industry when approaching holistic DEI strategies.
The tech space is largely geographically dispersed in both its workforce and operations – meaning ease of flexible work options and integrations of accommodation needs into existing logistical and employee support channels. The industry also relies heavily on quantifiable skills, posing a unique opportunity to directly mitigate bias in hiring and performance tracking. Generally speaking, the sector also embraces a culture of innovation and transformation; strategically redirected, this ethos could be used to motivate leadership for the purposes of internal inclusion efforts.
Compared to other industries, the tech sector also has heightened access to capital, healthy margins and elevated compensation – allowing for companies to sustainably invest in DEI initiatives, while also directly addressing wage gaps in marginalized communities.
Technology itself can also be seen as a strong advantage when approaching inclusion. For example, companies can intentionally develop multi-use cases and applications for their products or services that help to reduce barriers for underrepresented communities.
Why should we take the findings of this report, and the underrepresentation of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities within the tech sector, seriously? Why is addressing these challenges essential?
NT: Beyond inclusion and everyone being treated with dignity and respect at work, addressing these disparities is essential for the overall success of this industry and the companies that operate within it. It has been proven that diverse workforces are more innovative, are better at problem solving, and are more profitable than homogenous groups.
Diversity, equity and inclusion isn’t charity work – improved inclusion, and the elimination of core barriers to success for underrepresented communities at work, is a benefit to everyone. Not to mention a benefit for a company’s long term profit and growth.
Before we go, do you have any hard-hitting lessons for employers or HR professionals in the technology industry?
NT: Within demanding and high-growth industries like tech, it is easy to swim with the current as opposed to against it. If corporate priorities centre around sales and profit, exclusively, inclusion work can quickly be pushed aside. This is not the legacy any individual employee, or company, should be leaving. Instead of asking yourself if your organization can afford to do DEI work, candidly ask yourself if you can afford not to.
We all have a shared responsibility in making everyone feel seen, respected and appreciated in our workplaces – and this responsibility needs to be taken seriously. Tech is not doing nearly enough, and the data now proves it.
To access the Queering the Tech Ecosystem: Barriers and Opportunities Research Report, visit www.queertech.info/QueeringTechReport.