Tech Companies Need to ‘Genuinely Give a F–K’ About Diversity, Says New Startup

Stephanie Lampkin’s new startup seeks to hold tech companies accountable for their lack of diversity. And it’s about time.

Blendoor measures a company’s percentage of diverse candidates actually screened for a job, hired and promoted, as well as what type of environment the company is creating.

The goal is to shine a light on “fake” diversity efforts to try and instigate real change in the industry. For example, the startup hopes to reveal if a company puts up a front, such as touting a chief diversity officer and donations to charity while still failing to place underrepresented people in positions of power.

So what’s the key to diversifying Silicon Valley? “CXO’s and Board Members that genuinely give a f—k,” Lampkin tells Axios. She says companies are missing out on talented problem solvers who could be making a difference in the world, were they not overlooked or treated poorly by employers.

“Hiring and rewarding talented people equally is more important than driverless cars, AI, and virtual reality and it has to be regarded as such…” Lampkin says. Hear that, Uber?

Blendoor’s rankings – also known as the Blendscore – rate “companies’ equity, diversity and inclusion based on the demographics of the leadership team, retention statistics and strategies, recruiting practices, bias and social impact initiatives.” They found HP, PayPal, Cisco, Apple and Yelp to be the most inclusive, diverse environments.

For this data, Blendoor interpreted diversity as relating to gender, race, ability and sexual orientation. And for those imagining Lampkin’s requirements are too rigid, she assures Axios that she created her algorithm so that attaining a score of 100 doesn’t take “extreme” measures.

“Most of these companies have zero underrepresented minorities on their board or executive teams….diversity for them is often White, occasionally Asian, cis-gender straight women which is why I put photos up there too,” she says. Hm, wonder if we could get this guide seen by someone at the White House.

Blendoor also allows for “The Voice”-style job hunting. Applicants may upload their resumes, while hiding their name and photo from employers. Lampkin hopes this will help deter unconscious bias by initially removing gender and ethnicity from the equation.

With her impressive app and rankings, it’s pretty clear what Lamkpin is doing to try and improve diversity in tech companies. Now, what about everyone else?