A new report from the Tech Talent Charter (TTC) has revealed that tech employers “massively” underestimate neurodivergent talent in their workforce.
The study from the UK’s leading non-profit for diversity in tech reveals shockingly low levels of diversity in the tech industry for neurodivergent people (just 3% versus 15-20% estimates of the wider population), according to employers. Yet a separate poll of UK tech workers, also conducted by TTC, found that more than half of tech workers identify as neurodivergent when asked directly, highlighting significant failings in the diversity Self ID process across the industry.
“68% of our employers are measuring neurodiversity in their workforce, and whilst it’s promising to see increasing awareness of neurodiversity in business, this progress is only meaningful if we are also creating work environments that actually support – not just publicise – neurodivergence,” shared Karen Blake, Co-CEO of the Tech Talent Charter. “Only 69% of neurodivergent men and just 50% of neurodivergent women have told their line managers about their neurodivergence, so companies clearly need to work on building trust with employees that enable them to disclose their neurodivergence and receive the adjustments and support to which they are entitled.”
NEURODIVERSITY IN TECH
In addition to this new insight on neurodiversity in tech, TTC’s Diversity in Tech report also revealed uncomfortable statistics on several other diversity-related areas, indicating that the tech industry is not representative of the wider UK working population. This includes other diversity spectrums such as disability in tech (represented by just 6% compared to 23% of the working population); socioeconomic (working class) diversity (just 9% compared to 39% of the UK population); as well as trans representation in tech (0.17%); gender and ethnic diversity in software engineering (20% and 22% respectively); and gender and ethnic diversity in senior tech roles (21% and 14% respectively).
All measures of diversity in tech lag behind other UK benchmarks, noted the report. The TTC is concerned that companies are defunding their D&I efforts, a trend which will only make these problems worse, noted the report.
Blake believes that companies are abandoning D&I initiatives, citing the tough economic climate as the reason. “The unfortunate fact of the matter is that ditching D&I is only going to hurt their productivity and performance in the long run,” noted Blake. “More concerningly, we’re observing a trend of businesses with deeper pockets stepping away from areas of D&I which could create troublesome headlines. Unfortunately, the truth of the issue is that businesses are using the economic climate as a convenient excuse to bin any D&I initiatives that could expose them to criticism in the public eye – something that is impossible to avoid in our highly polarised society. It signals a failure in leadership to step up to our biggest challenges.”
DIVERSITY IN TECH
Representation of women in tech, which has been tracked by the TTC for the last four years, has reached a new high of 29%. However, this meagre progress is set to backslide as companies defund their D&I work and the proportion of women in senior tech roles falls compared to last year.
“The UK’s tech sector does not reflect the UK as a whole, something we must work together to solve,” stated the UK’s Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Saqib Bhatti. “I’m proud to be the UK’s first Muslim Technology Minister, and I understand that this is not just the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do to unlock the full potential of innovation across Britain.”
Bhatti pointed out that the UK was the third country to achieve a $1 trillion tech sector valuation and since 2000, it has created 152 unicorns. “Tech plays a vital role in driving growth and generating jobs nationwide. This report is a call to action to cement the UK’s role as a science and tech superpower,” concluded Bhatti.
As well as highlighting the ongoing lack of diversity in tech, the report provides practical insights on how companies can support D&I in tech. TTC’s annual report, backed by the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT), is a collaboration between over 700 UK organisations sharing their diversity data to provide candid insights into the UK tech economy. Click here to access the full report.
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