Diversity and inclusion have become buzzwords, especially in the tech industry over the past years, but what do they mean? How can we shape a diverse and inclusive environment at our workplace? And how does it feel to work in a diverse environment?
With this event series, our passionate colleagues share their experience and learnings from building more inclusive places to workplaces from around the globe.
ThoughtWorks is a leading global IT-consultancy and a community of passionate, purpose-led individuals. Our mission is to create an extraordinary impact on the world through our culture and technology excellence.
A primary goal of ThoughtWorks’ events is to be inclusive to a diverse group of people from all walks of life. Therefore, we are dedicated to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, appearance, disability, marital status, socioeconomic status, and religion (or lack thereof). Our code of conduct outlines our expectations for all those who participate in our events, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behaviour.
Globally, women and other underrepresented gender minorities are paid less than men for doing the same job. Current trends show it will take almost 100 years to close the gap. In 2018, The Australian Government Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) reported that Australia’s full-time gender pay gap is currently 14.6% after hovering between 15% and 19% for the last two decades.
It’s an even sadder story in the tech industry, with the gap still sitting at 18.5%, (0.5% higher than last year), and according to the Honeypot 2018 women in tech index, Australia is yet to make it into the top 20 countries offering best opportunities for women in tech.
Let’s look at it from three perspectives (organisations, managers, and individuals) and the steps we can take to ensure women and other underrepresented gender minorities are not only paid fairly but given adequate support to progress in their careers.
Head of Diversity & Inclusion, ThoughtWorks UK
Amy has been working with technology teams for over a decade and currently heads up diversity & inclusion (D&I) for ThoughtWorks, a global software consultancy. A curious and adaptable leader, Amy advocates passionately for social justice and is committed to amplifying those who often go unheard and underserved. She was included on Northern Power Women's 2019 Future List and champions for a more equitable future for all.
Lead for Social Change, ThoughtWorks DE
Christoph is a UX Consultant and Lead for Social and Economic Justice at Thoughtworks Germany, working in the field of design since the early 2000s, active in the struggle against racism and capitalist exploitation since the 90s. Thinking a lot about the future of work and the role technology might take to free or condemn society.
Software Developer, ThoughtWorks ES
Originally from Peru, Susan is part of the Race and Ethnicity Group in the ThoughtWorks Barcelona office. Outside work she started to participate in Catarsia, an antiracist, feminist and anticapitalist organization for asian descendants. She is still in the learning and deconstruction process and actively participates and supports antiracist organisations in Barcelona.
Lead Office Operations, ThoughtWorks ES
Miquel is currently leading ThoughtWorks' office operations from Spain, and collaborating on a remarkable Employee Experience where Diversity plays a key element by mixing his background in Marketing, Polítics, and Social Change. During his time at ThoughtWorks, Miquel has promoted the creation of an alliance for LGBTQIA+ employees, worked alongside Barcelona's city hall to develop corporate policies and programs and lead the growth of the local LGBT+ in Tech Meetup community.
Lead Business Analyst,
ThoughtWorks UK
Out as Non-Binary GenderQueer for over 10 years, Dr J has been bringing queer theory (with a slice of humour) into the tech space, building on ThoughtWorks' dedication to inclusivity and intersectionality. Dr J takes a strategic view of cultural change in Technology through a few lenses, notably queer theory. This combines well with their years of experience using agile processes to build software and a talent for really understanding clients - looking at the problems they are solving and how to make great teams to deliver real value. Their passion? How you can do things better with just simple changes - bringing their Service Design thinking into both the Technology and the Diversity and Inclusion spaces. Troublemaker. #queernuisance
Recruiter,
ThoughtWorks DE
Amy, originally from Ireland, moved to Berlin last year after spending six years in London. She is extremely passionate about equality and believes that everyone should have access to information to not only inform but empower them in their job search. On the other side, Amy believes that the right processes must be in place if companies actually want to increase diversity efforts and take this topic seriously. To be impactful, it has to be deliberate. Earlier this year alongside a friend from London, Amy co-founded CWE Network, a nonprofit created to empower women from marginalised backgrounds in their career and on their job search. This is done through hosting free quarterly workshops, providing insightful content and connecting them to mentors.
Global Head – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, ThoughtWorks
A feminist at heart with a strong belief that an inclusive organisational culture brings about the best in teams and individuals. Tina drives the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) charter at ThoughtWorks and is part of the global Social Change Group.
In her 20+ years of experience, Tina has had the opportunity to play various strategic & leadership roles. She is passionate about Gender Inclusion, Support and Solidarity to the LGBTQI community, Disability Inclusion, Organisational Culture and its impact. An advocate
of Mental health and Wellness, Equity & Social Change, Tina is actively involved in contributing to non-profits supporting marginalised communities.
Developer,
ThoughtWorks UK
Masha is from Moscow, Russia and moved to the UK in 2011. She received a bachelor's degree in Nutrition from a British University and then freelanced as a health journalist for Russian media and worked in non-tech positions in education and science startups. In 2019 she swiftly changed careers, and after attending a coding bootcamp, secured her place at ThoughtWorks London. Alongside working on client projects as a software developer Masha is an active member of the Intertwined (combined D&I affinity groups) community and passionately contributes to other initiatives around Diversity & Inclusion.
Lead Consultant,
ThoughtWorks Australia
Jaksha Shah is a mum and Lead consultant at ThoughtWorks and has over 10 years of industry experience. She has had diverse experiences by working in over 5 different locations in the past 8 years and wearing different hats and executive coaching, organisational change, lean portfolio management and Product Management. She has worked in Pune, Singapore, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland. She has been a trainer at ThoughtWorks and coached incoming grads and many of our clients working in Agile teams to deliver valuable software applications. She has experience in coaching and leading engagement to deliver software products for our clients using agile and lean principles across different industries.
Diversity challenges faced in the tech industry have long been a topic of conversation, but how do we move beyond that to see positive results? This talk will explore common barriers to inclusion, offering practical tips and actionable outcomes that will help us all make tech a more inclusive place for everyone.
Race is a social construct. This then means that there must be a reason for it's construction. In this talk I would like to shed a light on the relatively young history of race and its purpose. Where it came from and why it still has a major impact on our lives today. Hopefully we will be able to see that race might not be real, but racism and its effects certainly still are, so that we can find a way to deconstruct these harmful power dynamics in our daily life.
Using real life examples as our starting point, together we will reflect on how we as individuals and as organisations can contribute to making our workplace more diverse and inclusive. We will have a look on how we can identify racist situations at our place of work or organisation and discuss what we should do as individuals or as organisations in order to contribute to a diverse and inclusive workplace.
Most of the organizations want to do good with Inclusion as a goal, but most of the times they don't even know where to start. Help your organization to identify in which stage is on LGBTQIA+ inclusion and which following steps can be taken to make it even better.
It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that agile teams produce better outcomes. But is that really as true as we think? Is it working to an agile format, or something else that makes these teams really work. When we look back over almost 20 years since the Agile Manifesto was launched, how it changed, and is the way forward about what we do, how our teams look or how we think? Presenting a way forward, intertwined with the Agile Manifesto, we give a vision for the future that builds on what the best teams already do - but often do unknowingly. By making this conscious and thoughtful - we can have huge impacts.
More than ever before, we are aware of the disparity in opportunities for many people across the world, especially Black People and People of Colour. Amy, a Recruiter at Thoughtworks believes that in order to make change we must be deliberate in our actions. What we have been doing to date has not been enough and Recruiters have a huge influence, more than we often realise. With her talk, Amy will talk us through her experience with hiring from diverse backgrounds and will offer some useful hacks for any recruiter who wants to start on this journey. She feels there are many creative ways to broaden and diversify your talent pool, even if you have limited resources. Amy will also share her perspective on the importance of inclusion and why representation on all levels matters, beyond it being the 'right thing' to do.
Inclusive "Ways of Working" is the need of the hour! The pandemic has forced us to revisit our old practices in more ways than one. The ThoughtWorks DEI team partnered with ThoughtWorkers to design the 'Inclusive Teams Social Contract' - an exercise for teams to re-look at their old ways, to arrive at an aspirational set of behaviours and social norms for inclusive ways of working at both the team and individual level. In this edition Tina will share more details of the Inclusive Teams Social Contract and why it's important for us to reflect, regroup and reassess our old ways of working to create a more equitable and empowered future for all.
Language is one of the main tools for almost everyone at work and also a crucial part of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. It can empower and it can exclude, it’s impact can be intentional or accidental. We will explore how words can bring change or hinder it, why collaboration does not mean inclusion by default, and what are the practical steps every one of us can take to be better allies.