Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through technological solutions
A master’s thesis in cooperation with the Chair of Strategy and Organization at the Technical University Munich.
Supervisor: Dr. Theresa Treffers
Chair of Strategy & Organization: Prof. Dr. Isabell Welpe
Student: Britta Felzmann
- Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through technological solutions
- ⭐ Key Findings
- ℹ️ About
- 🖼️ Infographic on the Topic
- 🌍 The DEI Tech Market
- 👩💻 Technologies for DEI Tech
- 🧩 Areas of DEI Tech
- 🤿 Deep Dives
- 📚 Further reads
- 💽 Full Database with respective categories
- 🗞️ Sources
⭐ Key Findings
📌 For most issues identified by the literature where individuals from underrepresented groups face adversity in the workplace exist tech tools that aim at solving them
📌 The area of employee assessment and performance management is a space with a lack of tech solutions
📌 Future research is needed to identify the long term effectiveness of bias interventions that are supported by Virtual Reality
📌 Trackers for diversity representation in societal fields like media and business should be extended to include more underrepresented groups
📌 DEI tech still very focused on the recruiting area, since inclusion and equity are gaining importance, this is expected to change in the future
ℹ️ About
The topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion is increasingly discussed in society and the workplace. Global movements like MeToo and Black Lives Matter, in particular, have driven this development and DEI also simply makes sense for companies. It is proven that diverse teams are more creative and can be more effective and performant than teams of people with the same background. However, to reap these benefits, inclusion and equitable practices are considered prerequisites.
Unfortunately, companies are not progressing as much in this area as hoped for. A 2020 McKinsey study found that 15% of leadership teams in 2019 were made up of women, while just 13% of leaders were from ethnic minorities in the U.S. and UK in the same year [1]. Furthermore, employees lack inclusive business environments [2].
To address the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion, technologies have come up that bypass the negative impact of (un-)conscious biases and structural inequities. These technological tools - or in the following called DEI tech - are explored on this page.
🖼️ Infographic on the Topic
🌍 The DEI Tech Market
Over 60% of the DEI Tech market is located in the United States, followed by 13% in the UK. The remainder of the companies and tools is distributed over Canada, Australia, Singapore, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, Iceland, and Greece.
This picture is also reflected in the worldwide funding amounts for DEI Tech. The total funding amounts add up to around 2.9 billion US Dollars, of which 77% flow into companies in the US. Nine percent of the funding is located in Australia, where 
Company Size
Companies operating in the DEI tech market are mostly classified as micro or small enterprises (70%). This indicates a market with many startups, which are also younger, as more than half of the companies were founded after 2016.
Market areas
The market areas where DEI Tech vendors operate fall into 6 categories (Click here for an in-depth explanation of these areas in a DEI context. The largest percentage of companies (37%) provide recruitment solutions, followed by 25% of firms operating in the employee engagement & retention space. The next most saturated area is attraction of employees, where 18% of companies offer a solution. Next up are mentoring & career development (10%), technology-supported DEI learning (8%), and employee assessment & performance management (1%).
👩💻 Technologies for DEI Tech
Scientific papers mention six technologies that are used to solve problems related to DEI. These technologies are Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Virtual Reality (VR), Computer Vision, and Analytics. The sample collected for this thesis reflects these findings.
🧩 Areas of DEI Tech
Six areas have been identified that are related to the workplace, where the scientific literature lists problems that people from underrepresented groups are facing, or where traditional approaches to improving DEI are not sufficient.
Categories