Diversity at IBM - It's Part of the Program

Today, the IBM Black Executive Task Force helps hire and support future black leaders within the organization. [3] It’s one of eight task forces that do the same for their constituents.* And one tool they use is the online survey. With over 400,000 employees in 170 countries, these surveys identify issues solved – and areas to work on. Crucially, they gather data about the buying decisions of groups too. Steps to improve the lives of employees are also opportunities to make better products and boost profits. [4] Since 2001, IBM task forces have developed relationships with the largest women and minority-owned businesses in the US and beyond. They’re not just following growing business sectors, but targeting future role models, whose IT needs will grow and become more sophisticated. [5]

A Helping Hand from AI

When it comes to recruitment, unconscious bias can hinder candidates and hiring managers. But IBM’s artificial intelligence (AI) – Watson – can look beyond bias. Trained in interviewing legality and bias, Watson 'listens' to each interview (over the phone or in person) and provides a color-blind rating on each candidate. This neutral score is then compared with the rating of the human interviewer. If there’s a spike in scoring, Watson can identify and remove bias, then track every successful hire and improve the process through ‘cognitive technology’. [6]

Women Who Excel

In 2018, IBM won the Catalyst Award for 'Leading the Cognitive Era Powered by the Global Advancement of Women'. (Its fourth consecutive Catalyst award.) Initiatives to bring women into traditionally male-dominated tech and leadership roles include:

• Let Girls Learn – IBM teams up with the Peace Corps, Let Girls Learn Initiative and TECHAiDE to provide smartphone technology that lets African girls access classroom resources. [7]
• IBM Brighter Blue Program – In developing countries, women can access web lectures and take courses, surveys and tests offline where Wi-Fi's scarce.
• EXITE (Exploring Interests in Technology & Engineering) – Run by IBM women engineers, these camps bring female students together for hands-on maths and science lessons.

IBM runs schemes inside the organization too, such as the Tech Re-Entry Program, which supports women back into IT after a career break to raise children. Projects like this have helped IBM promote 300 women technologists to senior positions since 2016. [8]

Recognizing Ability

IBM has a history of unlocking people’s potential with technology. Advances include: the pocket-sized Braille printer (1946), speech recognition software (1971) and the Home Page Reader (1999). Significantly, IBM provided computer training for staff with disabilities way back in 1972. And today, IBM innovates through its own workforce. Team Able – a group of 80 global staff with a range of disabilities – helps developers create inclusive products. [9] Advances include:

• Mobile Accessibility Checker – automated captioning and editing software that improves mobile app usability and ensures content adheres to accessibility regulations.
• Content Clarifier – analyzes and makes content easier to understand for people with cognitive disabilities, the aging population and people learning English as a second language.
• AI robot Watson – translates speech to text to help break language barriers and assist deaf and hard-of-hearing colleagues. [10]
• Cognitive mobile app – NavCog helps the visually impaired find their location within buildings.

Open Source

One way IBM fights bias is with code. Harriet Green, Chairman and CEO, IBM Asia Pacific, believes that a diverse group of coders – and the right datasets – can engineer bias out of our personal and professional lives. She says, “Data has no gender and no agenda. Data does not lie; it does not discriminate or cling to the powers of the past.” [11] That’s why IBM continues to actively recruit minorities into coding roles. Just look at its Business Resource Groups for LGBT+, Asian, Black, Cross-Cultural, Cross-Generational, Hispanic, Men, Native Americans, New Hires, People with Disabilities, Veterans and Women. Input from diverse employees into computer code helps engineer out bias. But with women and minorities representing a $1.3 trillion market, driving diversity offers a competitive advantage too. [12]

The End Game

From Watson’s Policy Letter #4 to recruiting diverse coders, IBM is open in its pursuit of diversity and inclusion as the right thing to do – morally, and for business. As IBM Chairman President & CEO Ginni Rometty says, “IBM thinks about diversity the way we think about innovation — both are essential to the success of our business. When we innovate, technology becomes smarter for clients and creates new opportunities for growth. When we incorporate diversity into our business, we create better innovations and outcomes. IBM has embraced diversity, and it gives opportunities for IBMers and our clients to achieve their full potential.” [13]

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