In recent years, tech companies have invested billions into beefing up diversity and equity efforts, claiming they wanted to address long-standing demographic inequities.
But as tens of thousands of tech workers have been laid off over the past several months, research suggests that women and people of color have been disproportionately affected.
WHEN HALF ISN’T EVEN
According to Layoffs.FYI, which tracks tech industry cuts, an estimated 45% of those who lost their jobs in the recent wave of layoffs were women. While the dismissals split almost evenly across gender lines, women account for less than a third of tech industry workers and occupy less than a quarter of technical and leadership roles, according to a 2022 study by Deloitte.
“A close to 50-50 split is actually pretty notable because generally the workforce is not 50-50,” explains Layoffs.FYI’s creator, Roger Lee. The online database cataloged over 150,000 layoffs in 2022, but according to Lee half occurred in just the last two months of the year. “The pace definitely picked up at the end of the year,” he says, adding that the numbers continue to rise. As of January 23, the website had tracked more than 56,500 layoffs this month—more than a third the total number of layoffs in all of 2022.
Lee says he ran the names of 1,258 recently laid off tech workers, who voluntarily provided them to industry recruiters, through a gender analyzer, which categorized 44.8% as “likely female.”
A separate study conducted by Revelio Labs that used data from Layoffs.FYI found that female staff accounted for 47% of dismissals between September and December of 2022, and another study conducted by Paychex found that nearly three quarters of female tech workers fear being targeted for layoffs.
A recent lawsuit launched by two former employees also accuses Twitter of disproportionately targeting female staff, claiming the company cut 57% of the women in its workforce, compared to just 47% of men.
Continue reading: https://www.fastcompany.com/90837794/recent-tech-layoffs-affect-women-poc
But as tens of thousands of tech workers have been laid off over the past several months, research suggests that women and people of color have been disproportionately affected.
WHEN HALF ISN’T EVEN
According to Layoffs.FYI, which tracks tech industry cuts, an estimated 45% of those who lost their jobs in the recent wave of layoffs were women. While the dismissals split almost evenly across gender lines, women account for less than a third of tech industry workers and occupy less than a quarter of technical and leadership roles, according to a 2022 study by Deloitte.
“A close to 50-50 split is actually pretty notable because generally the workforce is not 50-50,” explains Layoffs.FYI’s creator, Roger Lee. The online database cataloged over 150,000 layoffs in 2022, but according to Lee half occurred in just the last two months of the year. “The pace definitely picked up at the end of the year,” he says, adding that the numbers continue to rise. As of January 23, the website had tracked more than 56,500 layoffs this month—more than a third the total number of layoffs in all of 2022.
Lee says he ran the names of 1,258 recently laid off tech workers, who voluntarily provided them to industry recruiters, through a gender analyzer, which categorized 44.8% as “likely female.”
A separate study conducted by Revelio Labs that used data from Layoffs.FYI found that female staff accounted for 47% of dismissals between September and December of 2022, and another study conducted by Paychex found that nearly three quarters of female tech workers fear being targeted for layoffs.
A recent lawsuit launched by two former employees also accuses Twitter of disproportionately targeting female staff, claiming the company cut 57% of the women in its workforce, compared to just 47% of men.
Continue reading: https://www.fastcompany.com/90837794/recent-tech-layoffs-affect-women-poc
