One Year On — Lessons from the murder of George Floyd
Makers CEO Claudia Harris discusses our lessons from the tragic events of last year.
It’s a year since the murder of George Floyd. Like many organisations, we’ve been reflecting on whether we’re really doing our part to build a more inclusive society, starting with our own organisation and with the tech sector we support. Our vision at Makers is of a tech sector that reflects the society that it serves, and in which everyone can find a job that they love.
When I joined as CEO in September last year I felt proud of the impact we had had in changing the gender complexion of the UK tech industry. We’ve graduated 2000 alumni, 35% female, that’s twice the industry average and a quantifiable impact on our local tech economy. Our progress on inclusion of female software engineers had been achieved by making sure we were well understood as an inclusive brand for women, with our Women in Software awards and our discount for women. We recruit those with an aptitude and passion for coding, rather than those with the pre-requisite qualifications which screened so many people out. 50% of our students are referred by alumni creating a positive, reinforcing circle.
But as we reflected on this impact, we asked ourselves whether our impact had been commensurate in terms of Black software engineers. We knew there was more we could and should do.
Our students
Partnerships are core to achieving tangible change. We’re working with Generation, an organisation that supports individuals from underrepresented communities into tech employment to take some of their brilliant students onto our bootcamp and then place them with our clients. We’re doing the same with the fantastic organisation NPower.
This year we launched our Represent Scholarship Programme, offering twelve free places onto our course for members of our partner groups codebar and Coding Black Females. Twelve places won’t change the world but through supporting these individuals, we hope to platform role models who will pave the way for the next generation.
Our team
A different question was whether we were making progress internally. A few weeks ago we hosted an online event with Simply Business, centred around how to be a better ally. As the practice of emphasising social justice, inclusion, and human rights on behalf of marginalised groups, the term “Allyship” has found its way into everyone’s daily lexicon over the past year, but is it truly understood? This event aimed to address that. Facilitated by Jaz Broughton, consultant for Hustle Crew and founder of Just Jaz, we used the session to unpack the anatomy of allyship, both authentic and performative, and delve deep into the different ways both individuals and organisations can use their privilege to speak out against discrimination.
Among the myriad of powerful takeaways from the event was the discussion around just how uncomfortable allyship can be. Real allyship takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to acknowledge how you may be complicit in the systemic oppression of a certain group. For those who may feel that they’ve always championed diversity, sitting with that realisation can be uncomfortable; but it’s vital to not be frozen by guilt. Good allyship is about tangible, proactive action — and setting the intention of constant and continued learning. We pledge to take action at Makers.
With the learnings from this event, Haylee, Head of Diversity Initiatives along with our People team have developed a plan to foster allyship among our team. This internal roadmap will start with discovery and education and facilitate action and change. We’ll empower our team to learn, start conversations, share knowledge and challenge assumptions. We aim to normalise allyship and break down discomfort around discussing racism. We’ll keep you updated with our progress and welcome your feedback, learnings and insight as we go.
What’s next?
Despite the positive action catalysed by last year’s tragic events, we know there’s still so much work to be done. It’s no secret that tech has a rampant diversity problem. The statistics speak for themselves; according to the UK Tech Workplace Equality Report, Black people comprise only 3% of the UK tech workforce, and 38% of non-white people have felt discriminated against in the workplace because of their ethnicity. To reflect, we believe that everyone deserves a job they love and they should feel safe thriving there. Everyone across the tech industry has a responsibility to do better, including us.
