Equality and diversity are incredibly important in the workplace for many reasons, but in Tech, there is a significant gender divide with Women making up less than 20% of the workforce (despite women earning around half of science and engineering degrees). For those that do work in tech, being the only woman can be challenging and it is important that tech business owners understand how they can both attract and retain female employees.
Improve the candidate experience
It all starts with the candidate experience and you need to design an experience that will show potential female employees that your business is a good place to work. There are a few ways that this can be achieved, including having female representation on the interview panel and reworking the recruitment process to ensure that it is completely gender-neutral.
Promote female orientated policies
It is also important to consider the policies that your company has and make sure that you offer female-orientated policies that will make your business more appealing to women. This can include flexible working and the ability to WFH, maternity pay and equal pay. There are then various perks that everyone will benefit from, including providing them with a laptop and the required competent components, health insurance and regular social events.
Create an inclusive work culture
Work culture can be dominated by men and intimidating for women, especially in fields like tech where most of the workforce is male. To create an inclusive work culture, you need to identify current issues that create a male-centred culture and ensure that there is female representation on internal committees.
Ensure equal opportunities are available
Equality in the workplace is a positive thing, but often you will find in male-dominated industries that it is easier for men to climb the ladder than women. You want to avoid this at all costs and ensure that all opportunities are equal, which can be done by making sure that everyone receives training opportunities. Promoting women will help to create equality and diversity in the workplace while also making your business more appealing to female candidates (who will be able to see that career progression is possible).
Support the next generation
Leading on from this, you should also look for ways to support the next generation and make your business appealing to those starting their careers. You can do this by partnering with schools and offering work experiences, providing mentorship programs and supporting students during their studies.
Hopefully, this post will show you a few ways that you can both attract and Retain Women in tech. This is a male-dominated field and more needs to be done to create equality and diversity, which will also benefit your business in a handful of different ways.
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