While data shows that companies with diverse executive teams consistently outperform their less diverse counterparts, adoption across industries has been slow.
A 2018 McKinsey & Company report found that companies with the most ethnically diverse executive teams are 33 percent more likely to outperform their peers on profitability. The impact is mirrored with gender diversity, as companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21 percent more likely to experience above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile.
That same report shows that only 19 percent of U.S. executive roles are filled by women and only 12 percent of companies have minority representation on their executive teams.
As companies make a push for diversity in hiring, Boulder’s Dave Mayer is looking to be a resource, matching companies with diverse, qualified candidates.
In 2010, Mayer and his wife Jaelin launched Technical Integrity, a boutique recruiting firm with a culture-first approach to building engineering teams.
Since launching, the company has made nearly thirty hires for Techstars and Foundry Group startups, among a host of other placements across industries. Mayer said all of the company’s largest placements to date have been females.
While they initially launched as a recruiting firm focused on community-building, Technical Integrity has grown to be a champion for diversity in the workforce.
“We don’t proclaim to be experts in diversity and inclusion, but it’s at our core,” Mayer said. “We double down to make sure our clients understand the importance of diverse and inclusive teams.”
At Boulder Startup Week in May, Mayer hosted a panel discussion focused on diversity and inclusion that featured Pipeline Equity’s Katica Roy, Derek Johnson of Prologis, Halp’s Julie Penner and Name.com’s Joseph Benavidez.
Earlier this year, Technical Integrity furthered its diversity and inclusion push as it acquired the recruiting arm of Colorado’s Find My Flock, originally founded as a non-profit organization that matched women in tech with mentors. The company had evolved into a placement service and job search engine for technology professionals before it was acquired by Technical Integrity.
With decades of experience in recruiting to lean on, Mayer said he’s hopeful for the future of diversity in hiring and will continue to push his clients to make it a priority.
“I don’t think it’s a terribly hard argument to make, the data is there, but we’re pushing back on organizations that are in a rush and encouraging them to look at the long run,” he said.
Mayer pointed to the abundance of coding schools as a reason for hope in the hiring field but cautioned how quickly the impact would be felt.
“I think in five to 10 years we’ll be in a much better place because these coding schools are bringing more females and persons of color into the workforce,” he said, acknowledging that his clients aren’t typically hiring new graduates.
Mayer stressed the importance for the startup and technology ecosystem to continue having conversations around diverse hiring as companies strive for inclusion.
“We’re optimistic,” he said. “Being around Boulder Startup Week and having half a dozen panels around diversity and inclusion shows that people are taking it seriously.”
