A recent study conducted by Oakland non-profit Kapor Center for Social Impact, titled the Tech Leavers Study, has found that discrimination in the tech industry is responsible for an annual loss in the sector of about $16 billion. The study conducted a national survey of over 2,000 adults who left a job in a technology-related industry or function within the last three years in search of these answers. They found that nearly 40 percent of those who left cited unfairness and mistreatment as their primary reasons for leaving. Even still, $16 billion seems like an outrageously high number. But when you consider the fact that the study focused on current estimates of average costs for replacing professional employees, the numbers are sound. Each person who leaves a tech job will cost companies an average of $144,000 per employee for full replacement costs, including lost productivity, recruiting costs, and salary. And with 40 percent leaving for this reason, that $16 billion sounds about right.

It’s easy for startup founders and business owners to write this off as a global problem that doesn’t effect individual companies. However, the study did a great job of putting this staggeringly huge number in context for companies that might have a discrimination problem of their own: As much as this study should effect the global diversity problem in tech, the likely response will be one of apathy. However, if one startup founder, business decision maker, or general manager takes the time to consider the benefits of diversity and the downfalls of discrimination, the world will be better for it. So be that startup founder, decision maker, or general manager; it could change someone’s life. Read more about discrimination in tech here on Tech.Co

Study  The Cost of Discrimination in Tech Is  16 Billion Per Year - 70