Given the sheer awesomeness of digital technology, and the incredible advances in the sector that have taken place even in the last few years, it’s easier than ever to think that all our problems, from social injustice to the climate crisis, can be solved by technology. It’s a tempting thought. It would mean that all we had to do was sit back and wait for the local tech genius to have her eureka moment.

But we know it’s not that simple. For starters, there are very few forms of technology that can run completely autonomously. There’s always a human being who has to be on hand to guide it, maintain it, or give it the appropriate inputs. Another reason is that some of the challenges we face are better thought of as made up of lots of smaller, connected challenges which add up to what looks like one big challenge. And a third reason is that some problems are so completely human that they can only really be solved by humans, who alone are gifted with the empathy, the creativity, the compassion, and the ability to see things in context that the challenge needs to be solved.

 

Diversity is complex

This is the case with diversity. It’s a disarmingly simple way of describing something nuanced, complex, far-ranging, and very human. Because diversity is not reducible to gender, race or sexuality, which are probably the kinds of difference you hear about most often. Diversity also encompasses religion, background, education, bodiedness, age, culture, geography, and neurology. And it doesn’t start and end in the workplace. It’s mixed up with the rest of society and the shape of the whole global community.

And that’s why the human side of addressing diversity remains the most important thing. We need to be able to make distinctions between different human communities, recognise their different wants and needs, and then work to accommodate them. And we need to have the sensitivity to understand how the world ‘out there’, beyond the (virtual or physical) office walls can be marginalising, and the effect that can have on all of us.

 

But tech can help

But just because technology can’t solve the diversity challenge all by itself doesn’t mean it can’t help to solve it. The opposite is true. Tech is in fact an incredibly powerful tool for addressing diversity challenges. For example, the widespread adoption of video meeting software gives people with chronic illnesses and certain disabilities a means to collaborate and communicate easily without having to come into an office. The same is true of other kinds of communication software, which can empower people with social anxiety to get their points across in a way that might be tough for them in a busy in-person meeting space. It can also help people who don’t speak English as a first language.

And then there’s the measurement aspect of technology. ‘We measure what we treasure,’ as the saying goes; which means anyone serious about diversity should be taking a data-driven approach to increasing it. Technology is so important here: due to unconscious bias, we often bring our preconceptions to bear on our diversity strategies. We can use technology to rule out the possibility that we’re interpreting information in a way that satisfies our prejudices – and yes, we all have some prejudices, whether we know it or not.

There are even more innovative ways to use technology to help boost diversity. As explored in this World Economic Forum article, the shipping company Maersk has used online games to highlight to hiring managers where their biases might lie, and to encourage them to stop and reflect on those biases before they proceed. The game was the result of a partnership Maersk formed with a gaming company. This illustrates that companies can pursue tailored technological solutions to addressing challenges in diversity.
 

… just be aware of bias 

As I’ve written elsewhere, AI has a bias problem. Despite the extraordinary efforts that OpenAI went to to create safeguards in ChatGPT, it’s now widely agreed that even that’s not immune from putting out hateful and intolerant text when given certain inputs. What this means is that whenever technology is called upon to help us boost diversity, we have to be really careful that we’re not accidentally entrenching the very biases that we’re fighting against, and undoing (or limiting) our hard work.

But technology does have a role to play in helping us to address diversity issues and create workplaces that serve everyone, not just the members of one group. From facilitating communication to giving data-driven insights and providing innovative solutions to problems of bias, it can be a powerful tool in the hands of hiring managers, DEI consultants, People professionals, and anyone in work who cares about diversity.