Digital leaders were surprised and saddened to learn of the closure of the UK Tech Talent Charter. Founded in 2015, the organisation sought to increase diversity in the tech sector and has received the support of the current UK government, as well as more than 700 industry signatures.
In a note to the industry, the Tech Talent Charter said improving diversity was being sidelined:
Just three years ago, companies were openly committing to improving equality, posting black squares on their social media and investing in their action plans to improve D&I. Today, the trend has changed.
Tech Talent Charter agrees with the World Economic Forum’s findings last year that diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives in the US are under threat, and its own report, which surveyed 700 UK tech employers, found a similar shift as it describes the situation.
The organisation was founded and is closing at a time of significant economic change. In 2015, the UK had the fastest growing economy in Europe as the country recovered from the banking crisis. However, since 2016, the UK economy has been one of the worst performing on the continent.
Created to show how to achieve greater diversity and explain why it matters, the Tech Talent Charter aimed to ensure that the fastest-growing sector in the economy represents the whole of society. In its closing note, it said:
We believed the best way to make real progress was to work with the industry at scale, facilitate collaboration, not competition, and build a community of industry leaders to amplify issues, ideas, and trends across the sector. It was about focusing on the how, not just the why, of inclusion.
Far from improving, diversity has, or is, decreasing, according to the Tech Talent Charter:
The problem has not gone away, but fueled by economic, political and social pressures, too many organizations are silently abandoning their D&I strategies, putting at risk all that has been accomplished.
Many members of our networks report that their organizations’ D&I strategies are becoming increasingly isolated, with initiatives being abandoned to prioritize other business objectives. We’re hearing more and more stories of D&I practitioners and advocates struggling to gain support as their teams are dismantled, their processes eliminated or absorbed, or forced to withdraw from voluntary efforts due to changing business attitudes and work overload.
Tech Talent Charter hopes the closure of its organization will serve as a wake-up call:
We hope that our closing will be a rallying call and a catalyst for reflection, as well as renewed and greater engagement from the sector, and that it will energize deeper action in the space.
Our decision to close is motivated by the hope that it will amplify the need for a new direction. We believe this inflection point is critical to refocus efforts, refine methods, and drive greater commitment and investment at the systemic, sectoral, and regional levels.
The techUK trade association will ensure that the research and resources created by Tech Talent Charter continue to be available.
Concerns about digital leadership
UK CIOs were concerned to hear that Tech Talent Charter was closing its doors. Conor Whelan, CIO of UK-based The Access Group, said:
This is so sad and frustrating to read! This remains a priority in the last two organizations I have worked for.
Mary O Callaghan, Director of Technology at charity The British Heart Foundation, said:
I really hope that a new collective effort will emerge because it is too important.
David Henderson, chief technology and product officer at media company Global, said:
We need to scale up our efforts within our teams as much as possible and share best practices with our other networks. Tech Talent Charter helped us immensely at the time, and the team was passionate about improving diversity and inclusion.
Global was a charter signatory and lead partner alongside Sky, Lloyds Bank, PWC and HP. Whelan agrees with Henderson on the need to maintain momentum despite the lockdown:
This is a complex problem to solve, which must be debated throughout society, because we cannot solve it alone. However, we can defend this debate.
The CTO of a major medical nonprofit organization highlights the challenge facing digital leaders:
I have just spent over 12 months recruiting a new management team, all but one of the candidates have been non-women. At every stage, for every role, the candidates have overestimated themselves by £20,000-£30,000. They have simply become out of reach of our budget. Conversely, at every stage I have sought to train myself. The gap has simply been too great – I still have targets to hit and only so many hours in the day. It has been incredibly difficult.
I have tried every recruiting angle, every approach, every style, and every targeted effort, but it is not for lack of desire or will. Today, our statistics are skewed because I hired older men. I truly believe in time; we can make things happen together and we will find a solution.
Whelan responds:
Diverse candidates are sometimes priced out of the market. So whose fault is it? I don’t blame anyone too harshly. Candidates (provided they have the right skills and aren’t overpromoted) are winning with a higher salary! That said, companies and budgets are struggling to keep up, a trend that is unlikely to improve in the short to medium term.
This is a classic supply and demand problem: there is not enough supply in our industry. So to solve this problem, we need to start recruiting talent at all levels for these types of roles and career paths and make our industry much more attractive to a wider audience. This is just one aspect of a much larger debate.
Despite the major challenges facing the UK economy, Laura Dawson, former CIO and Chair of the Charity IT Leaders Forum, says:
We can’t let the good work of Debbie (co-founder Debbie Forster) and her team go to waste. Diversity in the workforce, and especially in technology, is essential.
In 2015, when the Tech Talent Charter was founded, women held less than 15% of roles in the UK tech sector. The founders were and remain concerned that the lack of diversity will negatively impact the success of the UK tech sector and its ability to attract, retain and develop talent. As sad as this closure is, the Tech Talent Charter has had some notable successes.
The number of women in tech roles has doubled, a community outreach has connected many women in tech, and a wealth of diversity and inclusion information has been produced for digital leaders.
Role changes in June
Exhibition group IMEX has appointed CIO Gary Coombs as Chief Operating Officer, a new role for the UK-based company. Mr Coombs joined IMEX in 2021 as CIO and will continue to lead IT and transformation. As COO, Mr Coombs will also be responsible for operations and marketing.
In the cruise industry, Tracy Aldhouse Gold has become Director of Technology Engineering at Carnival UK, operator of the Cunard and P&O Cruises brands. Aldhouse Gold joins from publishing house Informa, where she was Chief Technology Officer for two years.
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has recruited experienced media CIO Paul Dale as Chief Technology and Product Officer, in an executive leadership role that will include leading the BBFC’s response to artificial intelligence. Dale will lead an AI development and product team; he has been working with the BBFC as a consultant since September 2023.
In the United States, Texas Woman’s University has hired Henry G Torres as its new CIO. Torres joins the team from Arkansas State University System.
Automaker Mazda has hired Neeru Arora as CIO of Mazda North American Operations, its business unit for this vital market for automakers. Arora will join the company on July 8, 2024, and will be responsible for providing analytics for cyber governance and protection.
