This Summit sought to further last year’s talking points on the subject of inclusion in the technology workplace. More than just talking though, the WTC and its business partners are also proactively driving awareness and action on more diversity in the tech industries. Cydni Tetro, co-founder/executive director, and fellow WTC members announced the recent launch of a new WTC program, the Inclusion Best Practices Forum.

As Tetro explained, the Inclusion Best Practices Forum’s work is to partner with local companies who are leaders in workplace diversity. Forum organizer’s plan to break down these companies’ best practices so they can be duplicated and adopted within other companies. Through this, they will be building data – in the form of doing case studies, outlining benchmarks and gathering a knowledge resource base. This will ultimately “drive adoption of an inclusion framework.”

 “One of the things we want to create are these environments where we’re identifying what people are great at, and we’re helping them on their paths to success,” Tetro said of the Forum’s purpose. “We’re looking at what are those things that help us systematically provide that, and then drive the performance of our entire community so we get the benefits we want along the way.”

Utah is improving when it comes to women in tech, Tetro said, but it has a long way to go. She displayed a slide that stated that since 2005, women in managerial and/or professional occupations has risen from 30 percent to 38 percent, measured in 2015. While that is good, that only puts the state at 36th out of 50 comparatively. Tetro and Forum members believe business in Utah can do better.

“Having this environment where we support each other and we help you navigate those paths is super important,” Tetro said of the Forum’s purpose. “We’re excited to create this program and watch its impact.”

(See full article here)

By Karissa Neely, Daily Herald