Why we believe the tech industry is leading the way in creating diversity

I often hear that discrimination in Norway is less of an issue than in other countries. True nor not, does it really matter how good we are in comparison to other countries? Surely it should be a matter of zero tolerance?

Well! Thankfully we have many companies setting the standard for diversity. A lot of these within the technology sector. Just in Oslo, we are privileged enough to have companies such as Kahoot, Airthings, Cognite, Allente, Arundo and many more who leads from the front and shows how it should be. They are all building teams where gender, age, sex, religion, ethnicity, name and more does not matter whatsoever.

But we still have a problem and a long way to go. Below you will see some direct quotes from hiring processes or internal promotion processes within more traditional and conservative industries. All from people who have contacted me via LinkedIn about their experiences / story.

“We can`t risk hiring someone who is likely to have 2-4 kids the next 5 years”

“We request that you drop your afro when attending client meetings and events”

“We prefer cowboys to Indians”

"We prefer cowboys to Nigerians"

“They specifically told me that they would not consider me for management positions now that I was pregnant”

 We hear things like this far to often and guess what doubters? It happens every day.

Thankfully, AvantGarde Search work within a space (technology sector) where there is a great focus on diversity. We do believe however that other sectors need to follow suit. They have everything to gain and everything to lose if they don’t. 

So therefore….

Thursday this week (4th March @21:00) we will be hosting a Clubhouse session to discuss diversity and discrimination in the workplace. We will discuss why AvantGarde Search believe that other industries should learn from the technology sector, why diversity is important to secure growth in today`s society and share opinions, experiences and ideas on the topic of diversity and discrimination. I am also confident we will hear different views on things, both from the panel and participants.

We have a great panel with us…..

Raja Skogland – Founder @ The Visionary Company and previous CEO at TheFactory Academy

Lauren Alkire Lauren Alkire – Brand and Product Marketing Manager at Airthings

Sania Akthar – Senior Consultant at SOCO

Chisom Udeze – Founder of Herspace and Diversify

Thursday evenings topic should be relevant for everyone from top level management to recruiters, job seekers, entrepreneurs and more. We would be honoured if you would join us and everyone will of course be able to voice their opinions and share experiences. We won`t all agree on this topic, but debate is always healthy when it comes to important topics such as this.

You can join via the below link.

Is the tech sector better at not discriminating??? - Clubhouse (joinclubhouse.com)