Specifically, the report indicates that just 3% of tech employees are neurodivergent versus 15-20% estimates of the wider population, according to employers.
Conversely, separate poll of UK tech workers, also conducted by TTC and published in the report, found that more than half of tech workers identify as neurodivergent when asked directly, indicating flaws in the diversity Self ID process in the tech industry.
“68% of our employers are measuring neurodiversity in their workforce, and whilst it’s promising to see increasing awareness of neurodiversity in business, this progress is only meaningful if we are also creating work environments that actually support - not just publicise – neurodivergence,” said Karen Blake, co-CEO of the Tech Talent Charter.
“Only 69% of neurodivergent men and just 50% of neurodivergent women have told their line managers about their neurodivergence, so companies clearly need to work on building trust with employees that enables them to disclose their neurodivergence and receive the adjustments and support to which they are entitled.”
TTC’s annual report features over 700 UK organisations sharing their diversity data to provide candid insights into the UK tech economy. It features companies including sponsors: Global, HP, Lloyds Banking Group, Nominet, PwC, Sky and BAE Systems Digital Intelligence, drawing on a sample of 230,000 UK tech employees, and is also backed by the Department for Science Innovation and Technology.
The report also reveals additional statistics on several other diversity areas such disability in tech which is 6% compared to 23% of the working population; socioeconomic diversity which is 9% compared to 39% of the UK population; as well as trans representation in tech which stands at 0.17%; gender and ethnic diversity in software engineering which is 20% and 22% respectively; and gender and ethnic diversity in senior tech roles which is 21% and 14% respectively.
Despite this significantly low diversity indicators TTC warns that companies are defunding their D&I efforts, a trend it says will only make these problems worse.
“Companies are abandoning D&I initiatives, citing the tough economic climate as the reason. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that ditching D&I is only going to hurt their productivity and performance in the long run,” added Blake.
“More concerningly, we’re observing a trend of businesses with deeper pockets stepping away from areas of D&I which could create troublesome headlines. Unfortunately, the truth of the issue is that businesses are using the economic climate as a convenient excuse to bin any D&I initiatives that could expose them to criticism in the public eye - something that is impossible to avoid in our highly-polarised society. It signals a failure in leadership to step up to our biggest challenges.”
In more positive new, representation of women in tech, which has been tracked by the TTC for the last four years, has reached a new high of 29%, but this progress is expected to decline as companies defund their D&I work and the proportion of women in senior tech roles falls compared to last year.
“Tech plays a vital role in driving growth and generating jobs nationwide. However, as this important report makes clear, our tech sector does not reflect the UK as a whole – something we must work together to solve,” commented Saqib Bhatti, Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy.
