Shopify believes that effective organizational culture is created from blending great people, diversity and inclusion, and a

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Shopify believes that effective organizational culture is created from blending great people, diversity and inclusion, and a clear set of articulated values. As part of its commitment to people, for example, it offers self-directed budgets for learning and provides catering and house cleaning. Shopify recognizes the need for diversity as its merchant base is 50 percent women across 175 countries. Shopify was recognized in 2018 as a best place to work by Glassdoor and as a top Canadian company by G2 Crowd. Even so, Shopify has been criticized for its lack of diversity in its board; it is overwhelmingly white and male. At its 2018 annual shareholders' meeting, one of Shopify's shareholders questioned the diversity of the board's composition. Meriel Bradford, a shareholder and a former vicepresident of Teleglobe and senior bureaucrat at Global Affairs and other federal departments, commented, "diversity was important for any company aspiring to be global. ...This board doesn't have it." In response, one of the board members said the board was looking for talent. Bradford then commented that "I suggest your search technique is poor." Shopify's lack of diversity is emblematic of the tech industry in North America. There are several possible explanations. Computer science departments are still overwhelming male. As well, and most interestingly, a study from Stanford suggests that the actual recruiting processes may alienate women. The researchers observed 75 recruiting sessions for 60 companies and found, for example, that sexist jokes were told, and presentation decks had only images of men. Maledominated industries tend to use masculine language and therefore may alienate and exclude women. Further, women in STEM continue to make less money than men and individuals of racialized colour make less than their white peers. Even so, some in the tech sector consider the lack of diversity as a false issue. James Damore, a former Google engineer, wrote an anti-diversity memo that soon became viral. He commented that men and women were biologically different and were suited to different types of work, e.g., men were better engineers than women. The email caused a firestorm and Damore was fired from Google; Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, said the memo violated its policies.

Apply Your Understanding:

1. Why are tech firms still not very diverse?

2. What can Shopify do to become more diverse?

3. What are the risks to Shopify if it does not become more diverse and inclusive?