55% India Inc companies struggle to find skilled LGBTQ+ developers: TechGig study

Highest attrition among developers from the Rainbow group

FPJ Web Desk Updated: Friday, June 10, 2022, 01:54 PM IST
Tech deployment brings with itself a plethora of benefits ranging from improved efficiency, reduction in human errors, reduced reliance on human labour, and greater conversions. | Photo: Pexels

Tech deployment brings with itself a plethora of benefits ranging from improved efficiency, reduction in human errors, reduced reliance on human labour, and greater conversions. | Photo: Pexels

About 55 percent India Inc. recruiters struggle to find skilled developers from the LGBTQ+ work group and the attrition rate among this group is higher when compared to their male and female counterparts. Both these statistics indicate that the basic indices have moved when it comes to the career progression of queer developers at Indian tech workplaces.

Key highlights

Highest attrition among developers from the Rainbow group

The TechGig survey asked about the attrition trends among the LGBTQ+ developers v/s the job drop-out among other genders. Most (41 percent) respondents said that attrition is higher among the LGBTQ+ developers as compared to the male and female programmers.

Highest attrition for | TechGig survey

About 33 percent respondents found no difference in the attrition levels based on genders, and the remaining 26 percent said that more men and women developers tend to leave jobs more often than the LGBTQ+ developers.

77% tech firms go out of way to retain LGBTQ+ developers

The survey further probed if the tech companies were putting in extra efforts to retain developers from the queer group, and the unanimous answer was ‘yes’ with 77 percent votes. Only 23 percent respondents answered ‘no’ to this question.

Hiring Trends | TechGig survey

Most firms offer company-sponsored upskilling opportunities to retain queer talent

When asked about the popular measures to retain developers from the LGBTQ+ group, company-sponsored upskilling opportunities (49 percent votes) emerged as the most popular offering by companies. Other popular retention tools were offering career growth chances (35 percent votes) and financial aid for wellbeing (16 percent votes).

Job sites preferred medium to hire LGBTQ+ developers; provide concrete employment data points v/s pride communities

Despite the availability of a plethora of LGBTQ+ communities, recruiters still prefer job sites for hiring queer developers. The survey asked about the popular mediums to hire queer developers, and most (52 percent respondents) said that they turn to regular job boards and sites to hire LGBTQ+ developers. About 19 percent respondents said they scouted pride communities, and an equal fraction of respondents said that they ask for referrals when hiring LGBTQ+ developers. The rest 10 percent of respondents said they launched special advertisements for hiring these developers.

When asked why recruiters prefer job boards over pride communities, most (48 percent) respondents said that job sites provide detailed employment and skill-related data that other channels lack. About 32 percent respondents said that job boards provided credible candidates v/s other mediums.

55 percent tech firms have active Rainbow groups, most groups offer emotional support as top priority

The TechGig survey inquired about how active their firm’s queer support groups were, and most (55 percent) defined their groups as ‘very active, holding meetings and proceedings regularly’. About 35 percent said that their pride groups were inactive. The rest, 10 percent said that pride groups at their firm were moderately active, holding meetings and proceedings periodically.

TechGig - studied the hiring and employee engagement patterns for LGBTQ+ developers at tech companies. It surveyed 568 tech recruiters from India Inc. firms for the ‘Gender Diversity Survey 2022’. Among the respondents, most (69 percent) were working in the IT/Telecom sector.

Published on: Friday, June 10, 2022, 01:54 PM IST

RECENT STORIES