SFDO AMER Partner DEI Survey: Findings and Recommendations

A collaboration among Amplify, SFDO Partner Advisory Board, and the Open Source Commons community

Background

It is no secret that we have a lot of work to do to close the pay, promotion, and title disparity gaps among underrepresented groups in tech. The Salesforce.org ecosystem appears to be no exception.


Last fall, a sense of urgency to collect demographic data hit almost simultaneously among several stakeholder groups, including Amplify, the Salesforce.org Open Source Community Sprint, and the Salesforce.org Partner Advisory Equality Subcommittee. Like many great initiatives in our space, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion survey has been a community driven initiative, implemented collaboratively between the Partner Advisory Board Equity Committee, Amplify, and the Open Source Commons DEI Framework project team.

We started with a survey to collect baseline data around the Salesforce.org ecosystem, beginning with partner firms in the US. The intent is to extend the survey globally to partner firms around the world for subsequent phases to expand to customers and potentially Salesforce.org employees. 

Data was gathered through a simple Google form and was anonymized in a spreadsheet. No personal information was captured, stored, or shared, as part of this survey. The survey was publicized through various blog posts. We received a total of 159 survey responses and would like to share the findings with you. 


Survey Results

  1. Do you own, or partially own, the company you work at?

    1. No - 83%

    2. Yes - 17%

Pie chart showing the breakdown by ownership

Pie chart showing the breakdown by ownership

Finding: Majority of participants are not owners, or part owners, of a Salesforce consulting firm.

Finding: Majority of participants are not owners, or part owners, of a Salesforce consulting firm.


2. What is your primary role?

  1. Director or Management - 21.4%

  2. Consultant, not Project Leadership - 26.4%

  3. C-Level - 13.2% 

  4. Developer - 6.3%

  5. Project Leadership - 5.7%

  6. Other - 18.9%

    1. Alliances - .6%

    2. Customer Support/Customer Success - 1.3%

    3. Director or Management AND Sales and/or Marketing 1.3%

    4. Administrative - 4.4%

    5. Sales and/or Marketing - 4.4%

    6. Consultant AND Project Leadership - 3.8%

    7. Developer AND Consultant - 3.1% 

Pie chart displaying the breakdowns by role

Pie chart displaying the breakdowns by role

Finding: Majority of participants are C-Level, Director, or Management (34.6%)

3. I identify my gender as:

  1. Female - 56.6%

  2. Male - 40.3%

  3. Gender Queer/Non-Confirming - .6%

Pie chart displaying the breakdown by gender

Pie chart displaying the breakdown by gender

Finding: Majority of participants are female. 

4. Do you consider yourself a member of the LGBTIQ+ community? 

  1. No - 76.7%

  2. Yes - 21.4%

  3. Prefer Not to Answer - 1.9%

Pie chart displaying the breakdown by LGBTQIA+ identity

Pie chart displaying the breakdown by LGBTQIA+ identity

Finding: Majority of participants do not consider themselves to be a member of the LGBTQIA community. However, 21.4% is a significant representation from those who do.

5. Which category best describes your race/ethnicity?

  1. White - 68.6%

  2. Asian - 9.4%

  3. Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish origin - 6.3%

  4. Black or of African or Caribbean descent - 5.7%

  5. Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish origin AND white - 3.1%

  6. Middle Eastern - 1.3%

  7. Indigenous - 1.3%

  8. Other - 1.3%

Pie chart displaying the breakdown by race and ethnicity

Pie chart displaying the breakdown by race and ethnicity

Finding: Majority of participants consider themselves White (68.6%)

6. Please rate how much you agree or disagree with the following statement: I believe the company I work for values diversity.

  1. 5 - 58.6%

  2. 4 - 28%

  3. 3 - 8.3%

  4. 2 - 4.5%

  5. 1 - .6%

Pie chart displaying the breakdown of companies that are perceived to value diversity.

Pie chart displaying the breakdown of companies that are perceived to value diversity.

Finding: Over 75% of the audience graded their company 4 or better when asked if the company they work for values diversity.  

7. How many employees are at your company?

  1. < 20 - 35.8%

  2. 21-100 - 39.6%

  3. 101-1000 - 15.1%

  4. > 1000 - 9.4%

Pie chart displaying the breakdown by number of employees

Pie chart displaying the breakdown by number of employees

Finding: The majority of participants work for companies with fewer than 100 employees. 

8. Age

  1. 35-44 - 35.8%

  2. 25-34 - 33.3%

  3. 45-54 - 19.5%

  4. 55-64 - 8.8%

  5. 18 - 24 - 1.9%

Pie chart displaying breakdown by age range

Pie chart displaying breakdown by age range

Finding: The majority of participants are 44 or under. 

Recommendations

  1. Formal survey. Our volunteer- led survey only scratched the surface of the work that needs to be done to better understand our sector and how to move towards a more diverse and inclusive ecosystem. Significant additional research is required to better understand the sector on a global level. We recommend that a formal survey and analysis is conducted to better understand not only the demographic composition of the individuals in the ecosystem, but also the sentiments of those in power (ie: business owners) as well as individual contributors.

  2. Develop additional mechanisms to diversify our workforce.

Open Questions

As our team worked through the data collection, we realized that we have more questions than answers. We want to take this moment to share both answers and questions with you. 

Ownership

  • How did you become an owner or partial owner of a Salesforce practice?

  • Did you have prior Salesforce experience before ownership?

  • Do you have a college degree?

  • Did you have Salesforce certifications before ownership and if so how many?

  • If you have a college degree, what was your major?

  • How long have you been an owner or partial owner?

  • What is your ideal practice size. How many people would you like to employ?

  • What is your ideal annual gross revenue for your practice?

  • If you are not an owner or partial owner would you like to know what it would take to start your own business?

  • What barriers are there to investing in DEI?

Role

  • How long have you been in that role?

  • What other roles have you had in the Salesforce ecosystem

  • What is your desired role?


Gender

  • Did you have a mentor and if so were they of the same gender?

  • Do leaders in your organization represent all genders?

LGBTQIA+

  • Did you have a mentor and if so were they a member of the LGBTQIA+ community?

  • If you consider yourself a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, do you feel valued at your company?

  • Do leaders in your organization represent the LGBTQIA+ community?

Race and Ethnicity

  • What race or ethnicity was your first employer in the Salesforce ecosystem?

  • What race or ethnicity is your current employer?

  • Would you feel comfortable working where there are people who are in management or ownership of the same race as you?

  • If you consider yourself a member of a non-White racial/ethnic group, do you feel valued at your company?

  • Do leaders in your organization represent non-White racial/ethnic groups?

Diversity Values

  • How does your company value diversity? 

  • How does the company you work for show they value diversity?

  • Is there a dedicated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program at your company?

  • What portion of the operational budget is allocated to a DEI program at your company?

  • If you do not have a DEI program at your company, why do you suspect this is?

Number of Employees

  • Do you feel there is more diversity at Salesforce practices with more than 100 employees?

  • Do you feel there is more diversity at Salesforce practices with less than 25 employees?

  • Have you ever been an independent consultant?

Age

  • At what age did you start your Salesforce Career?

  • Is Salesforce a career move or something you are doing for now?

  • Are you connected with other people in the Salesforce community in your age group?

  • Do leaders in your organization represent a spectrum of ages?

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