Becker's Hospital Review

36 CIO / HEALTH IT Why Do Women, Minorities Leave Tech Companies? 4 Study Insights By Jessica Kim Cohen A new study by the Kapor Center for Social Impact explores what fuels voluntary turnover in the technolo- gy industry. For the national study — partially funded by the Ford Foundation — Harris Poll surveyed 2,006 U.S. adults who le a technology job within the last three years. Here are the researchers' four main take- aways. 1. Among respondents of all back- grounds, "unfairness" was the most frequently cited reason for quit- ting. irty-seven percent of respondents said unfair treatment or mistreatment in the workplace was a major factor in their deci- sion to leave their job. Underrepresented men of color were most likely to leave due to un- fair treatment (40 percent) out of all minority groups surveyed. 2. Unfair experiences differed across demographic groups. Although 78 per- cent of all employees reported experiencing unfair treatment, these experiences varied by race, gender and sexual orientation. One in 10 women, for example, reported receiving unwanted sexual attention. In general, ste- reotyping and bullying were associated with shorter length of employment. 3. This turnover has a financial im- pact. When considering the percentage of technology employees who leave due to un- fair treatment, tech companies lose an es- timated $16 billion each year in workforce replacement costs. Moreover, 25 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to recommend others use products and services from their former employer. 4. A comprehensive diversity strat- egy can reduce turnover. Companies with a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy in place — rather than a single, one- off initiative — had less unfair treatment than other workplaces. Sixty-two percent of em- ployees said they would have stayed at their company if leaders had taken additional steps to create a respectful work environment. n 47% of Organizations Say Virus Bypassed IT System Designed for Malware By Jessica Kim Cohen O ne in four organizations reportedly suffered cyberattacks that bypassed all of their securi- ty solutions, according to a Barkly report. To determine what cybersecurity solutions succeed and fail at blocking malware, Barkly surveyed IT managers and administrators at small and medi- um-sized businesses about their experiences with software viruses. Barkly found 47 percent of organizations said mal- ware had entered their system. Of this proportion, 79 percent said the malware was able to execute. Sixty-eight percent of these remaining organizations said the malware successfully infected their IT sys- tems, and more than half of these organizations (56 percent) said they were unable to recover from the attack. "Unfortunately, the point at which the largest per- centage of organizations saw their protection fall down was at the pre-execution stage," according to the report. "Once malware was on a device, the solutions they had in place … weren't always able to stop it from executing." n Lifespan Notifies 20k Patients of Privacy Breach From Stolen Laptop By Jessica Kim Cohen P rovidence, R.I.-based Lifespan notified patients on April 21 about a potential breach of personal information, in- cluding names, medical record numbers, demographic information and medication prescriptions. The privacy breach occurred when a Lifespan employee's car was broken into on Feb. 25. Several items were stolen, including a MacBook laptop the employee used for work purposes. The employee immediately contacted law enforcement and report- ed the theft to Lifespan, which launched an investigation and changed the employee's Lifespan system credentials. Investigators found the stolen laptop was unencrypted and not password protected, meaning the employee's work emails were potentially accessible. These emails did not include patient So- cial Security numbers, financial information or medical records. Lifespan notified about 20,000 affected patients, according to a statement emailed to Becker's Hospital Review. "To date, Lifespan has no indication that any patient informa- tion has been accessed or used by anyone as a result of this incident," according to the statement. "Lifespan is committed to protecting the security and confidentiality of our patients' infor- mation, and we deeply regret this incident occurred." Lifespan established a call center for patients to reach out with questions or concerns. The health system is also re-educating its employees and updating its policies related to MacBook security. n

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