PositiveHire Inc.

By studying employee/people data via a diversity, inclusion and equity lens, companies are able to improve retention, recruitment and the employee life cycle of Black, Latinx and Indigenouse women. Current HR analytics software utilizes just the employers data to make recommendations on recruitment, employee engagement and other employee life cycle activities. 

By focusing on issues or barriers Black, Latinx and Indigenous women especially in STEM wherein they are few in number, retention will increase. PositiveHire will create a predictive analytics feature by analyzing racial and gender issues data. 

PositiveHire differs from competitors in that first it provides a baseline of data from external data sources. Many employers don’t collect sufficient employee data to fully understand the employee life cycle of Black, Latinx & Indigenous women. This will help employers make preliminary goals and strategies for retaining the Black, Latinx & Indigenous women professionals in their organizations. 

PositiveHire aims to reduce the number of women of color (WoC) leaving their STEM careers. According to the National Science Foundation, from 2005 to 2015 nearly 1 million women of color have received bachelor’s degrees in STEM. In 2014–2015, women of color earned 11.3%of bachelor’s degrees in STEM. African American women earned 2.9%, Latina women earned 3.6% and Asian women earned 4.8% of all STEM degrees. Globally, women make up only 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Nearly 25% of women engineers in the US leave the field after age 30 years old according to theSociety of Women Engineers. Nearly half of women in STEM leave because of work conditions including, but not limited to, frequent travel, lack of advancement and low salary. But this rate is higher for women of color as 1 in 3 of them leave their STEM careers for good.

The major factors which impact the STEM careers of Black, Latinx and Indigenous women is the discrimination they encounter during recruitment, hiring and promotions process. The People Analytics software PositiveHire is developing will address all of these issues by implementing a diversity, equity and inclusion framework.

I created a 3-part solution. When I launched PositiveHire I started with building a community of “Onlys”.  I've created a Facebook group just for latina, African American and Indigenous women STEM professionals. These women have different needs  and encounter more barriers in the workplace than their white counterparts. In the Fall of 2021 this community will transition off of Facebook to a domain solely owned by PositiveHire.

The next part of the solution is recruitment. This is done via traditional recruitment services and a job board. PositiveHire only recruits for middle management and higher roles. These roles require technical skills and experience. To prepare the PositiveHire community for these roles we offer professional development training via monthly webinars and in our annual Women of Color in STEM virtual summit. We’ve been doing this for more than 3 years now.

Last part of the solution is People Analytics software that focuses on employee data for employers to see where they have issues in attrition rates, time to promotion, salary gaps, performance review bias and recruitment bias. Utilizing a proprietary framework the data is analyzed using intersectionality of gender, race, age and other factors as it impacts career progression, compensation and salary.  

PositiveHire focuses solely on Black, Latinx and Indigenous women STEM professionals who have 10 or more years of experience. I've created a formal community for them on Facebook. 

Too often they are passed over for promotions. When they inquire why or what they need to do for a promotion no specific information is provided. To prepare the PositiveHire community for promotions, we offer professional development training via monthly webinars, online courses and career coaching. 

In addition, I host an annual Women of Color in STEM virtual summit. This week-long summit provides additional professional development training from other Black, Latinx and Indigenous women.  During the sessions, I encourage the women to network, connect offline and build 1-on-1 relationships. I’ve been hosting this virtual summit since January 2017.

The next area to support the Black, Latinx and Indigenous women STEM professionals is content. I provide blogs and podcasts with professional development. I highlight  Black, Latinx and Indigenous women STEM professionals on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Lastly, we provide videos on YouTube for more education and inspiration.

The last area of support I provide is 1-on-1 calls with women. These are career strategy calls where I help women overcome barriers in their careers or it’s a venting session. Because they are often the only i.e. Latina electrical engineer on the team, the only black woman scientist in the division or the only Indigenous woman in the company, they feel ignored, invisible and overlooked. Being able to talk to someone who identifies with their struggles, supports them and encourages them to remain in their STEM careers. The 1-on-1 calls provide me the opportunity to get to know them better and learn about their career goals and struggles. It has helped some women get new jobs and find their love for STEM again. 

Because this population of women in STEM is small, their experiences are often seen as outliers. In reality their experiences are unique and should be addressed in organizations to create equitable, inclusive workplaces where they feel they belong. 

Employers don’t focus on this small dataset very often, if at all. However, to improve organizations changes must be made in culture, pay gaps or promotions. PositiveHire’s People Analytics software analyzes this data via a diversity, equity and inclusion framework. It focuses on “outliers” because these women matter. Also there is a prevalent business case on how inclusive, diverse workplaces increase productivity, innovation and revenue. This data is tracked in the software as well.

PositiveHire's solution aligns with the challenge in three ways to minimize human and algorithmic biases in the workplace. First it focuses on removing bias in data analysis within People Analytics software by infusing a diversity, equity and inclusion framework. Next, because employers do not collect sufficient employee data to avoid being sued for discriminatory practices, PositiveHire provides data sets. Lastly, People Analytics software reduces bias in promotions for Black, Latinx and Indigenous women.

I selected Prototype as I’ve rolled out different areas of PositiveHire to employers and Black, Latinx and Indigneous women. Only services are being provided to gain a better understanding of the People Analytics software to be developed.

By engaging with employers, People Analytics professionals and others in the Human Capital Management field, we’ve gathered data. This data has been by offering recruiting services and professional development training. But I have not proven that companies will pay for software which address workplace issues for Black, Latinx and Indigenous women.

PositiveHire People Analytics tool is to help employers understand how to effectively recruit and retain Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM. In addition, it will help these women determine the best employers for them.

Through the use of machine learning, the software has a predictive features to identify the best job opportunities. This predictive feature works for underrepresented women employees, job candidates and employers. PositiveHire will enable marginalized women to remain in their STEM careers.

I anticipate a broader positive impact in People analytics. The PositiveHire People Analytics software will be available to competitors to integrate into their People Analytics software. Some competitors have a “diversity & inclusion” feature which will be enriched with our predictive analytics ability.

The PositiveHire People Analytics software has not been developed so it currently serves no people. In a year, I estimate the software will serve 3000 to 15,000 employees or 3 employers. In five years, I estimate the software to service 30,0000 to 150,000 employees or 30 employers. 

As for the number of Black, Latinx and Indigenous women it will impact in year one, I estimate 200 to 1000. In five years, I estimate it will impact 2,000 to 10,000 Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM and out of STEM.

PositiveHire current serves over 5,000 Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM. In addition it serves nearly 1,000 Human Resources and talent acquisition professionals. In a year, I anticipate serving over 10,000 Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM and 2,000 Human Resources and talent acquisition professionals. Within 5 years, I estimate PositiveHire services will serve over 100,000 Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM and non-STEM careers. In addition to serving over 15,000 Human Resources and talent acquisition professionals.

There are several measurable indicators to measure progress with PositiveHire’s work. To measure progress, I’ll be utilizing five metrics now and in 3-5 years add two additional metrics. They are as follows:

• Diversity Rate of C-suite and Executive Teams

• Diversity Rate of Middle Management

• Diversity Rate of Board of Directors

• Succession Planning Data in the PositiveHire People Analytics Software

• Recruitment Data  in the PositiveHire People Analytics Software

Data sources will be company websites, press releases and LinkedIn. PositiveHire will collect data from its community of Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM about their most recent promotions with a current or new employer.

In 3-5 years, I’ll be adding metrics for:

• Graduation rates of Black, Latinx & Indigenous women with 4-year STEM degrees

• Early Career Exit rates of Black, Latinx & Indigenous women with 0-5 years of experience

This data can be obtained from the United States Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

Full-time staff - 1 

Part-time staff - 2

Contractors - 3

Other workers - 5

Computer Engineer - Hayley McKinney is a recent Claflin University (HBCU) graduate with a degree in Computer Engineering. She has experience coding in C++, Python and Java. She has completed a software development project with Intel. Hayley will be a data analyst for the People Analytics software.

Senior Software Engineer (Lead) - Dr. Deidra Morrison has a Bachelor of Science degree awarded from Spelman College (HBCU) in 2002, as well as a Master of Science and Doctoral degree in Computer Science from Northwestern University. She will be the lead software developer for the People Analytics software.

Digital marketer- Rita Sinischalchi has nearly 10 years of experience in social media marketing and community building. She was the community manager for the largest Latina professional online community for over 5 years. During her tenure with the Latinx community she grew it to nearly 22,000 members. She proudly boasts her Latinx heritage and being a native New Yorker who proudly represents East Harlem.

Founder - Michele Heyward is the founder of PositiveHire is a tech company which helps to recruit and retain experienced Latinx, Black and Indigenous women STEM professionals into management positions. She is an experienced project manager in the energy sector who has managed +$1billion budget capital construction projects. She is armed with technical sales and technology transfer experience. She holds a B.S. degree in civil engineering and M.S. degree in industrial management, both from Clemson University. Michele is the project & product manager for People Analytics software.

PositiveHire was created with diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as belonging in mind. Our leadership team embodies DEIB in three ways. First in its leadership style which empathetic, allows for failure, encourages growth and expands the professional abilities of all of its employees.

PositiveHire is built of the 3C’s underrepresented women require to thrive in their STEM careers. The lack of diversity in your organization’s STEM professionals requires a different and new approach. Our approach is using our 3C’s methodology which includes: 

• communication

• culture and 

• community. 

When creating content, programming, training and software we keep the 3C's in mind. The cultures of Black, Latinx and Indigenous people are not always respected or acknowledged. We acknowledge them all in various ways.

Activating each of the 3C’s not only helps improve recruiting efforts, it also improves retention of Black, Latinx and Indigenous women.

When recruiting talent for roles, PositiveHire goes where others will not to find great talent. Our a computer scientist and computer engineer are both black women and HBCU graduates. Our recruiter is part of the LGBTQ community. 

Even with contractors they've been mostly women and all have been of color i.e. Black, Latina and Middle Eastern. 

I'm applying to Solve for three main reasons. First is exposure to a broader audience who values the work I'm doing to solve inequality in the workplace. Oftentimes applying to thought provoking and socially driven competitions garners new partnerships, champions and customers. The end prize is not always the only win. Exposure in media and at conferences have provided me with sales leads, referrals and new clients.

Access to non-dilutive funding is the next reason I'm applying. As a founder, one of my most value assets in my equity. I'd prefer to utilize equity only as I scale PositiveHire. In this current early stage, it's important that I focus on product-market fit and not investor returns.

The last reason I applying to Solve is access to resources. These resources include subject matter experts and experienced startup founders. Those who can advise on pitfalls to avoid, strategies to gain marketplace momentum and how to grow my startup. Also access to legal services and other software to reduce my overhead costs will provide a longer runway for PositiveHire.

I’d like partner support in three areas. The two areas are data collection/usage and data analysis. It is common knowledge that bias exists in data, data collection and analysis. While I have already identified areas and subject matter experts to help eliminate or reduce bias, I’d like additional assistance. Partners who’ve been successful in developing processes and frameworks to remove bias would be helpful.

The other area of support is my go to market strategy. I’ve already selected industries to target, created a marketing strategy,  and identified initial service/product offerings to provide. However, I have a few gaps.

I’d like assistance with brand positioning, identifying most relevant channels, identifying decision makers willing to test new software and methods to engage targeted leads which have a high response rate. Lastly, assistance with pricing services/product offerings will be invaluable as well.

There are several partners I'd like to work with to solve the retention problem of Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM. The potential partners on the user sides will be focused on race, gender and ethnicity of people. Potential partners include:

1. Historically Black Colleges and Universities

2. Hispanic Serving Institutions

3. National Society of Black Engineers

4. Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

5. American Indian Science and Engineering Society

6. National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers

7. Society of Women Engineers

8. National Black MBA Association 

9. Black Data Processing Associates

10. Association of Latino Professionals for America 

11. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute 

12. Council for Latino Workplace Equity

13. Hispanic Alliance for Career Advancement 

14. Women Who Code

Each of these organizations will provide women whose work experience data to be included in the PositiveHire People Analytics data model. In addition, we can partner with these organizations to share resources, reduce costs and influence the diversity of STEM careers.

CEO Action was founded on a shared belief that diversity, equity and inclusion is a societal issue which it is. In order to create it collaboration and bold action is required from CEOs in order to drive change at scale. 

While the CEO Action focuses on strategy, organizationals will need resources such as PositiveHire to reach their DEI goals. Their goal is to drive measurable action and meaningful change in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. This is where PositiveHire can help.

Nearly 25% of women engineers in the US leave the field after age 30 years old according to theSociety of Women Engineers. Nearly half of women in STEM leave because of work conditions including, but not limited to, frequent travel, lack of advancement and low salary. But this rate is higher for women of color as 1 in 3 of them leave their STEM careers for good.

PositiveHire’s mission is to retain Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM. To do this we’ll utilize machine learning to identify best job opportunities for underrepresented women professionals. Because the workplace experiences of Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in STEM are unique, collecting, analyzing and studying this data is imperative to retain experienced talent currently in STEM careers.

But to retain this talent, organizations must make cultural changes. By developing People Analytics software with a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion framework, PositiveHire helps organizations identify diverse talent which is often overlooked because of bias - in people and data. Creating a predictive feature in the software will help employers identify diverse talent who may be preparing to exit the organization or their STEM careers. 

As the number of Black, Latinx and Indigenous women in organizations’ management levels and STEM majors increase, it’ll provide girls in middle and high school with role models. Mentors will be available at all levels to share their internship/work experiences and express their excitement for STEM.