Toby Mildon, Diversity and Inclusion Lead at BBC, talks to us about his vision for the future of tech, and the business benefits and challenges of increasing D&I.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the tech industry?
One of the main reasons I went into tech is the difference it can make in peoples lives. I used to work in health care tech before the BBC, in this environment tech enables doctors and nurses to spend more time with patients and less time on admin.
What is your day-to-day role and is increasing D&I a big part of that?
My day job is wholly dedicated to increasing the diversity of the workforce.
What are the biggest challenges the tech sector face in creating a diverse and inclusive workforce?
Some of the biggest challenges are around the number of girls that are choosing to go into STEM careers. Within education technology isn’t positioned as an attractive career path, this, combined with the all to common brogramming culture, is having a huge impact on the diversity of our talent pool.
What is your vision for the future of the tech sector?
Given that technology is accessible to everybody, everybody should be able to work in the sector. My vision is for our industry to be a completely barrier free environment, where everyone is welcomed with arms wide open.
If the audience came away with only one action point from your involvement in the event, what do you think it should be?
Everybody in a team can do something about increasing D&I, so take ownership of the power you have to make positive change. Don’t leave it all up to your HR department or D&I lead. For example, if your team is hiring, everybody can reach out to personal connections with diversity in mind.
What business benefits do you see as a result of increasing D&I?
Greater creatively, better problem solving, building products that meet the audience needs, improved financial performance, to name just a few!
Who would you like to sit down to dinner with?
I would invite Barack and Michelle Obama, to learn how to bring about change and resilience. And Elon Musk, just to talk about innovation and technology!
Thanks Toby!
