Project Include is a left-of-center Silicon Valley-based advocacy group that promotes changing employment practices and company culture in the technology industry. The group was founded by Ellen Pao, an activist that promotes diversity in the industry. Project Include pushes for implementing its recommendations across fourteen aspects of technology companies.

Ellen Pao

Ellen Pao, the former interim CEO of Reddit, founded Project Include in 2016. is an advocate for changing employment practices in Silicon Valley. Pao rose to national prominence in 2012 after she sued her former employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers over allegations of gender discrimination. ¹ Kleiner Perkins is one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms and was an early investor in Amazon and Google. ²

Even though Pao lost her case, activists made the allegation a flashpoint to start debate over how business practices in Silicon Valley affect women. Even before the end of Pao’s trial, other women brought forward suits against Facebook and Twitter over similar discrimination claims. ³

Funding

In 2016, Project Include reported $150,000 in contributions received. ⁴ The Kapor Center for Social Impact reported making a $150,000 grant to Project Include in 2016. ⁵

Recommendations

Project Include has recommendations for implementing its goal of changing demographics in the technology industry. These recommendations cover fourteen areas including implementing culture, hiring, compensation, and training. The proposals are geared toward both increasing the number of women and minorities in technology companies, as well as retaining them longer.

The recommendations all stem from the idea that current hiring practices disadvantage women and minorities. Project Include says that hiring based on meritocracy gives white males an unfair advantage and prevents other groups from entering the industry. ⁶

The “meritocracy myth” claim extends to how companies should view resumes according to Project Include. One recommendation is doing away with timelines on resumes because it creates ageism in the hiring process and highlights gaps in employment. ⁷ Additionally, Project Include says that the way resumes are evaluated currently gives an unfair advantage to those that have prestigious achievements as “accidents of birth and linked to privilege.” ⁸

Project Include recommends against considering how new hires would fit into a company’s culture. Thinking in terms of “culture fit” “value alignment” and “Would you get a beer with them?” go against the group’s recommendations and is even called an “interview failure.” ⁹

The current employees benefits that technology companies offer are too closely aligned with what young single men find appealing, rather than what other groups may find attractive, according to Project Include. ¹⁰ Companies often push their employees to work long hours, which is disadvantageous to those that are not single or are parents. ¹¹ Expanding benefits to include childcare and more flexible hours are recommendations the organizations supports. ¹²

Left-of-Center Policies

Project Include shared a story written by Pao. ¹³ The story talks about the #MeToo movement and how workplace policies have not changed enough. ¹⁴ Pao calls for ending the use of nondisclosure agreements and forced arbitration, priorities of organized labor-aligned left-of-center interests. ¹⁵ She also calls for allowing employees to sue more than six months after an incident occurred. ¹⁶

Project Include also spoke out against the Trump Administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to give legal status to illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. ¹⁷ The organization claimed that ending the program was “racist.” ¹⁸ Project Include recommended donating to liberal expansionist immigration advocacy groups United We Dream and the National Immigration Law Center. ¹⁹

1. Sreitfeld, David. “Ellen Pao Loses Silicon Valley Bias Case Against Kleiner Perkins.” The New York Times. The New York Times, March 27, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/technology/ellen-pao-kleiner-perkins-case-decision.html.
2. Streitfeld, David. “Ellen Pao Suit Against Kleiner Perkins Heads to Trial, With Big Potential Implications.” The New York Times. The New York Times, February 22, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/technology/ellen-pao-suit-against-kleiner-perkins-heads-to-trial-with-big-potential-implications.html?module=inline.
3. Sreitfeld, David. “Ellen Pao Loses Silicon Valley Bias Case Against Kleiner Perkins.” The New York Times. The New York Times, March 27, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/technology/ellen-pao-kleiner-perkins-case-decision.html.
4. Project Include, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2016, Part I Line 1
5. Kapor Center for Social Impact (Mitchell Kapor Foundation), Return of a Private Foundation, 2016, Part XV Line 3
6. “Defining Culture.” Project Include. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://projectinclude.org/defining_culture.
7. “Hiring.” Project Include. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://projectinclude.org/hiring#write-inclusive-job-descriptions.
8. “Hiring.” Project Include. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://projectinclude.org/hiring#write-inclusive-job-descriptions.
9. “Hiring.” Project Include. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://projectinclude.org/hiring#write-inclusive-job-descriptions.
10. “Compensating Fairly.” Project Include. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://projectinclude.org/compensating_fairly#.
11. “Defining Culture.” Project Include. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://projectinclude.org/defining_culture.
12. “Compensating Fairly.” Project Include. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://projectinclude.org/compensating_fairly#.
13. Project Include. Twitter Post. September 10, 2019. 10:59 A.M. Accessed September 12, 2019. https://twitter.com/projectinclude/status/1171438050234130434
14. Pao, Ellen. “It’s Way Too Early to Talk About #MeToo and Redemption.” Wired, September 3, 2019. https://www.wired.com/story/its-way-too-early-to-talk-about-metoo-and-redemption/.
15. Pao, Ellen. “It’s Way Too Early to Talk About #MeToo and Redemption.” Wired, September 3, 2019. https://www.wired.com/story/its-way-too-early-to-talk-about-metoo-and-redemption/.
16. Pao, Ellen. “It’s Way Too Early to Talk About #MeToo and Redemption.” Wired, September 3, 2019. https://www.wired.com/story/its-way-too-early-to-talk-about-metoo-and-redemption/.
17. Gomez, Laura I. “With DACA, Tech Must Do More than Just Tweet. Here’s What You Need to Know.” Medium. Project Include, September 6, 2017. https://medium.com/projectinclude/with-daca-tech-must-do-more-than-just-tweet-heres-what-you-need-to-know-ff73b6439bb2.
18. Gomez, Laura I. “With DACA, Tech Must Do More than Just Tweet. Here’s What You Need to Know.” Medium. Project Include, September 6, 2017. https://medium.com/projectinclude/with-daca-tech-must-do-more-than-just-tweet-heres-what-you-need-to-know-ff73b6439bb2.
19. Gomez, Laura I. “With DACA, Tech Must Do More than Just Tweet. Here’s What You Need to Know.” Medium. Project Include, September 6, 2017. https://medium.com/projectinclude/with-daca-tech-must-do-more-than-just-tweet-heres-what-you-need-to-know-ff73b6439bb2.