Welcome to The ACT Report’s DEI Initiative
The ACT Report’s peer-reviewed recommendations offer solutions for CEOs, C-Suite leaders, and other business executives or equity advocates. It provides a path forward so that business leaders can take action now! Historically, the tech industry’s approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has been dispersed, individual, and short-term. The Action to Catalyze Tech Report (ACT Report) is calling for a new DEI paradigm, one that is holistic, collective, and sustainable. Making the industry more inclusive requires a systemic response to a systemic problem, where companies bring a business approach to inclusion, and an inclusive approach to business. In other words, DEI and business strategies can no longer be separate.
The tech sector in the U.S. is a microcosm of this country’s broader dichotomy: America is a land of opportunity, yet it continues to grapple with systemic racism.
Tech companies did not create the underlying racial and social inequities that have been revealed by their own workforce data and compounded by a global pandemic. But, with the increasingly important role technology plays in people’s lives, the companies that make these products have a unique capacity and responsibility to drive real change.
The ACT Report does not set out to make the business case for DEI. We take that as a given. Widening the talent pool, reducing the skills gap, and creating a diverse workforce to engage the global economy are all prerequisites for a successful 21st-century business. Instead, we call for a radical paradigm shift, based on values, that makes DEI strategy and business strategy indivisible.
DEI in tech cannot be achieved by any one leader or company alone. It is an industry-wide challenge that must be tackled together. That’s why we’re asking you to join this effort by becoming a signatory to the ACT Report. If you’re in a leadership position (and you don’t necessarily need a title to be a leader!) ask your company to become a signatory of the ACT Report. While the ACT Report is a DEI initiative focused on the tech sector, most of it is universally applicable to all companies. Signatories are not limited to the tech sector. To learn more about the requirements for signatories to The ACT Report please see this FAQ.
