Quantum Matters: Dystopia or utopia? Action needed on D&I in quantum
Diversity and Inclusion in the quantum ecosphere is abysmal.
The numbers speak for themselves. In the private sector, only 1 in 54 of all applicants for female roles are female, while almost 80% of quantum companies do not have a senior female figure. There is no data on sexual orientation or ethnicity.
In an industry that is forecast to be worth $8.6bn in 2027, we cannot afford to miss out on talent. Especially when that industry is going to help solve some of the world’s most intractable environmental and medical problems. D&I is key to accelerating innovation and creativity, and avoiding group think, as evidenced in a report from The Inclusion Initiative at the London School of Economics.
Diversity and Inclusion in the quantum ecosphere is abysmal.
The numbers speak for themselves. In the private sector, only 1 in 54 of all applicants for female roles are female, while almost 80% of quantum companies do not have a senior female figure. There is no data on sexual orientation or ethnicity.
In an industry that is forecast to be worth $8.6bn in 2027, we cannot afford to miss out on talent. Especially when that industry is going to help solve some of the world’s most intractable environmental and medical problems. D&I is key to accelerating innovation and creativity, and avoiding group think, as evidenced in a report from The Inclusion Initiative at the London School of Economics.
Is there cause for hope? Definitely. Firstly, 62% of current employees in quantum want their employers to do more to increase diversity, according to recruitment firm Quantum Futures.
Secondly, two new organisations are focused on change. DiviQ was formed a few months ago, with industry luminaries like whurley and Denise Ruffner on board. Its mission is to foster a diverse quantum workforce through supporting those from underrepresented backgrounds with education, networking opportunities and mentorship. In an earlier incarnation, it paired over 400 quantum students, graduates and young professionals with mentors in the quantum space.
Meanwhile, The Inclusion Initiative at the London School of Economics, an institute that specialises in creating inclusive workplaces in financial and professional services through behavioural science and data, now has a new Deep Tech hub with a focus on quantum.
Thirdly, the quantum industry can learn from the finance industry, which is far from perfection, but has taken great strides in recruiting, retaining and promoting diverse staff, and changing the composition of its Boards.
In The City Quantum Summit Briefing on D&I, published earlier this month by The Inclusion Initiative (TII), participants in a brainstorming lunch at the Summit shared their advice from a lifetime of seeking to change their respective industries.
“Collecting data on diversity, benchmarking and fair hiring processes is crucial to ensure equal representation early in the hiring pipeline,” said Connor Teague, Founder of Quantum Futures. “Companies need to focus on unbiased job descriptions and interview processes.”
Cecily Josten, the researcher from TII who authored the report, noted that relying less on an applicant’s background and more on task-based assessments would aid recruiters in promoting a more diverse talent pool.
Bringing in leaders from other industries is helpful, pointed out Teague. “Hiring non-traditional quantum leaders to the business – when the co-founders step to the side and bring in a leader from a different industry – the business tends to stop hiring versions of themselves! I’ve seen great success with quantum businesses that have done this.”
Denise Wilson OBE, a leader who has transformed the composition of FTSE-350 Boards – 40% are women, compared to only a decade ago when 152 of the companies had no women on boards at all – was clear that “the power of publication should not be underestimated, and transparency drives change.”
Armed only with a target to increase the number of women on Boards, as CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review Wilson used embarrassment and peer pressure as a tool, publishing a list of Boards that were falling behind the new norm – as well as a barrage of social media highlighting the best and the worst performers, and supportive government guidance.
“Improving diversity means a multi-year, multi-layered approach, it requires systemic change and taking on a system that has worked very well for some but excludes others. D&I must be owned and held accountable at the Board level and talked about like any other business-critical issue,” she said.
Wilson noted the need to “lift the lid on every people process, pay, bonus allocations, retention, performance evaluations and the like.” A recent study of Gen Z by consultancy Oliver Wyman found that 30% of women looking to switch jobs cited better advancement and growth opportunities as a reason to leave a job, and wanted greater clarity about internal promotions, suggesting they see the current processes as unfair.
For Denise Ruffner, the President of Women in Quantum, a Founder at DiviQ, and a long-standing campaigner for a more diverse Deep Tech sector, culture is key. “Organisations need to pay attention to their culture and cultivate an environment where different voices and viewpoints are not only heard but encouraged and considered,” she said, pointing out that retention of highly skilled employees is a big issue in the industry.
The Oliver Wyman study noted that Gen Z (of all genders) expect fair pay, inclusive policies and transparency, or they quit. More than 60% of the 10,000 respondents in the US and the UK are looking to job hop despite an uncertain economy – they view work as transactional and “want to control their career paths, pushing hard or slowing down as needed to accommodate family, reduce stress, or pursue outside interests.”
Incorporating a degree of flexibility at work is another factor useful to encourage D&I. The average number of days worked from home or remotely is currently stabilising at around 25% of total working days. Flexible work policies can reduce quitting rates by 35%, according to recent work by Professor Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University.
LSE Professor Grace Lordan, Founder of TII, called for fair opportunities, visibility and voice, which depends on inclusive leaders who do not hire based on their own affinity, but hire for diversity and for perspectives that they do not yet have. “That really requires a change in ego in our leaders and a change of perspective towards a diversity mindset.”
Industry legend whurley was adamant that commitment and culture are crucial: “Commitment because hiring for DEI isn’t without its challenges and you can’t give up if you face a few along the way. Culture because that’s the #1 key to DEI in a company. Without a culture that embraces and celebrates differences you simply won’t succeed. DEI has to be built into your company’s DNA.”
Ultimately, D&I is much more than just a ‘nice to have’ in a transformational industry like quantum technology. A warning lies in what is currently happening with AI, and what happened with social media.
Whurley put it very clearly. “Quantum will change computing more in the next ten years than it has changed in the last century. Providing equal access and equal opportunities will make the difference between humanity’s future being diverse or dystopian.”
Karina Robinson is Senior Adviser to Multiverse Computing, Co-Founder of The Inclusion Initiative, and Founder of The City Quantum and AI Summit
The City’s New Face
Does it matter what the chattering classes are talking about? From the 1970s, column inches and speeches were dominated by Chicago economist Milton Friedman and the principle that companies should focus on shareholder returns and forget about suppliers, customers and community – they would benefit tangentially.
Marrying public and private ethics
Does it matter what the chattering classes are talking about? From the 1970s, column inches and speeches were dominated by Chicago economist Milton Friedman and the principle that companies should focus on shareholder returns and forget about suppliers, customers and community – they would benefit tangentially. This was famously encapsulated by legendary American CEO Al Dunlap´s 1990s outburst: “The most ridiculous term heard in boardrooms today is stakeholders. How much did they pay for their stake?”
Shareholder primacy and the Washington Consensus on economic growth had their time in the sun. Today, a couple of years after the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum, we see an avalanche of books with titles like “Democracy and Prosperity – the Reinvention of Capitalism in a Turbulent Century” and articles in the mainstream press headlined “Populists have a point, the system has to change.”
At the end of last month Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF, quoted Aristotle on the need for a personal sense of purpose to be linked to a social purpose. Speaking in the heart of the City at the annual World Traders’ Tacitus lecture she called for the financial sector to develop “broader social responsibility.”
She noted that Fintech is producing cheaper and more accessible products to drive an inclusion revolution; that a higher share of women on boards is correlated to more financial stability and sustainable growth; that the younger generations prefer to invest in financial instruments with social impact.
Today, achieving social cohesion in our societies is key. The widening of the net of financial and societal gains of the last forty years is essential to underpin democracy and sensible government.
How should the corporate and financial sector react? Here are four suggestions for companies already on this journey, and for those who are being left behind.
Add a dollop of emotion to any policy changes. Making the world a better place is no longer the monopoly of charitable bodies and starry-eyed university students. Company actions need to be marketed emotionally as well as financially, not least because so many experts have been found wanting and ‘facts’ are under attack from the echo
chamber of news.The audience is both internal and external. Millennials and Generation Z – those who are working for your company, those you want to be working for your company. Politicians – who after the financial crisis dare not mention the financial sector as a source of growth or responsible capitalism. Investors – often cited as a barrier to change, because of their short time horizons. They are altering as well, ranging from Black Rock Chief Executive Larry Fink’s 2018 letter to CEOs calling on them to make positive contributions to society, to a family office that handed nearly a billion dollars to a Swiss private bank with the proviso that the bank itself must have a sustainable culture or the money would be withdrawn.
Be ahead of the curve by making clear that the costs involved in becoming sustainable are investments in growth opportunities. And that change cannot be immediate. Unilever is a much-cited and much-deserved, case in point. The consumer goods company proudly notes that on average it pays 27% corporate tax worldwide. It is very open about its shortcomings. For example, they overcame the innate contradiction in producing Vaseline, an extract of crude oil, by setting up a health initiative to send the crucial product plus health kits to disaster zones.
Diversity & Inclusion may sound like politically correct balderdash. Not true. Inclusion means creating an atmosphere where all can thrive and be themselves. This includes Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME), older workers and the white middle-aged men who form the backbone of the City and are wondering where they belong in this new world. Don’t leave them out.
Measure the impact of changes in diverse ways, such as lowering company risk, increasing well-being (an OECD-approved policy), helping achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosting employee loyalty. Stakeholders will all have a specific measure that engages them more than others.
To reach middle age and find yourself and your peers veering leftwards politically is a shock, not least because of that well-known phrase about a young person who isn’t a socialist hasn’t got a heart; an old person who is a socialist hasn’t got a head. But this isn’t socialism. It doesn’t mean voting for Jeremy Corbyn in the UK or Bernie Sanders in the US. It doesn’t mean throwing profits and return on equity out the window.
It does mean marrying private and public ethics. The divide in the moral codes between home and business is over. In the words of Christine Lagarde, the financial industry can be economically rewarding and ethically right.