Despite overwhelming evidence, some companies remain surprised by this simple revelation: Diverse workforces and leadership teams are good for business. Companies that cultivate diverse hiring practices and maintain a diverse and broadly representative leadership team achieve better financial performance, make better decisions, generate more innovation, and compete more effectively, regardless of their market.

According to a McKinsey & Company report, the business case for diverse representation at the executive and board levels “not only holds but grows even stronger” over time. Consider these points from the 2023 report, which encompasses research and interviews spanning 1,265 companies in 23 countries across six global regions:

• Financial outperformance by companies with greater gender diversity at the leadership level has doubled since 2015, based on a decade of tracking and analysis.
• Companies with the top quartile of ethnic representation on leadership teams are 39% more likely to outperform those in the bottom quartile.
• The penalties for low diversity on executive teams are intensifying, affecting performance in 2023 even more strongly than just three years before.

On a practical level, companies need a diverse workforce to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives. Increasingly, a hiring company’s attitude and commitment toward building a diverse talent pool is necessary to attract millennial and younger workers.

Reaching Diversity Goals

It’s one thing to accept the evidence that diversity is good for business and to set goals at the executive and employee levels. It’s another challenge entirely to achieve those goals.

Questions of how to arise. How do companies achieve the diverse workforce they need? How can they be sure that while committing to diversity, they are also filling their ranks with people qualified to do their jobs? These concerns are significant when talking about computer-related and other technical positions.

Representation aside, many companies struggle to find qualified people to fill computer science positions. For example, the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative reported that by 2026, the U.S. is projected to experience a deficit of 1.2 million software engineers.

What if corporate and industrial tech teams could be populated with skilled, qualified people who also represent more diverse populations?

The Students & Technology in Academia, Research & Service (STARS) Computing Corps, an NSF Broadening Participation in Computing Alliance and non-profit organization, is one example of a viable engine for boosting diversity among technical staff. Since 2006, STARS has been dedicated to building and preparing a larger, more diverse national computing workforce for the 21st century.

Operating as an NSF-funded alliance of nearly 80 colleges and universities, the STARS organization provides training, resources, and community for addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in computing, working with private and public companies as well as academic institutions.

How STARS Prepares Students for Computing Careers

People being left out and left behind in computing, especially with AI, is an issue of social justice, economic mobility, product quality, and national competitiveness.

Underrepresented groups face systemic and social barriers to participation in computing. These barriers cause many students from marginalized groups to miss out on the career and financial opportunities associated with computer science education and career paths. And companies with tech positions to fill miss out on the contributions of people held back by those barriers.

Underrepresentation in computing and tech jobs is a complex issue. STARS addresses it using an integrated, multifaceted approach — developing leaders and leadership opportunities in academia, outreach, research, peer mentorship, and community service to help students become well-rounded professionals ready to contribute to society through technology.

Industry Participation is Welcome

STARS sponsors a wide array of programs for university students, faculty, and STARS alumni, all of which welcome industry participation. Programs include:

• STARS Leadership Corps: A proven flagship program for igniting action toward broader participation in computing.
• INTuitN: S-STEM Research Hub: A research project exploring how low-income community college students navigate non-tuition expenses in STEM disciplines.
• Inclusive Workforce Prep: A workshop series designed to equip computer science faculty at 4-year institutions to help students prepare for the challenges associated with software developer technical interviews.
• HBCU Success: A quarterly webinar series offering grant-writing support to computer science faculty at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU).
• STARS BPC Research Scholars: A national research program providing an online toolkit of tools and resources to help new researchers build participation in computing (BPC).
• STARS Launch: A program supporting the development, adoption, and propagation of evidence-based approaches for broadening participation in computing.

How STARS Works with Industry

In addition to recruiting, retaining, and advancing women, Black, Latiné, Native American, LGBTQIA+, and students with disabilities in computing degree programs at colleges and universities, STARS ensures they are prepared to interview for and work in tech positions at companies nationwide.

Industrial partners can support STARS in a number of ways, including:

• Donations to support STARS programs and research.
• Sponsorships at the student, university, or program level, or for events such as the annual STARS celebration, co-located with the CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference (ACM is the Association for Computing Machinery; CMD-IT is the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT), or the Conference for Research on Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT) conference.
• Mentoring of university students in computer science.
• Volunteering as DEI advocate guest speakers at local, regional, and national conferences.

A diverse workforce is the foundation of a diverse and successful culture, benefitting employees and employers.

Job seekers interested in learning about STARS or participating in specific STARS activities should contact Audrey Rorrer, Director of STARS BPC Research Scholars Program, at [email protected].

Employers interested in learning more about how your organization can work with STARS to enhance a diverse, productive technical computing workforce should contact Ebe Randeree, Director of STARS Alumni & Industry Partner Network, at [email protected].