Caste In The Silicon Valley Workplace

Caste In The Silicon Valley Workplace

In late October, the Washington Post published a piece regarding the legacy of discrimination from the Indian caste system in Silicon Valley. The piece referenced recent discussion threads about the Cisco case on the anonymous app Blind show tech workers raising the same questions about Dalit engineers in 2020.

In response, Blind, the largest anonymous professional community with 4.1M users from big tech, unicorns, and startups; asked the platform the following questions:

  1. If you identify as Indian or Indian-American, have you discussed caste with US colleagues?
  2. If you identify as Indian or Indian-American, have you experienced caste-based discrimination at work in the US?
  3. If you have experienced caste-based discrimination at work in the US, have you reported it through official company channels, i.e. human resources? 

Key learnings:

  • Overall, 15% of professionals who identify as Indian or Indian-American have discussed caste with US colleagues
    • 18% of Indian or Indian-American Google professionals have discussed caste with US colleagues
    • 26% of Indian or Indian-American Facebook professionals have discussed caste with US colleagues
    • 19% of Indian or Indian-American Uber professionals have discussed caste with US colleagues
    • 44% of Indian or Indian-American Netflix professionals have discussed caste with US colleagues
  • 81% of professionals who identify as Indian or Indian-American have NOT experienced caste-based discrimination at work in the US
    • 86% of Indian or Indian-American Google professionals have NOT experienced caste-based discrimination at work
    • 76% of Indian or Indian-American Facebook professionals have NOT experienced caste-based discrimination at work
    • However, 29% of Indian or Indian-American E-bay professionals HAVE experienced caste-based discrimination at work
  • The overwhelming majority, 95%, of professionals who identify as Indian or Indian-American have not reported caste-based discrimination through official company channels, i.e. human resources

You can see a breakdown of the study here.

A user at Microsoft asked, “Washington Post story today on anti-Dalit bias in tech. Have you experienced or seen anti-Dalit bias and discrimination in your workplace?”

A different user at Intel asked “How Caste systems impact work life?”  A user at LinkedIn responded “The caste system was started in ancient India to be purely based on capability and occupation. Anyone who was capable and learned was higher caste. Unfortunately, it became hereditary a few centuries later.” 

We believe anonymity is a powerful tool to safely highlight the unsaid, amplify the unheard, and understand the unknown. We feel a tremendous responsibility to accommodate dialogs from different voices. This is just one part of the complex diversity and inclusion conversation.