The importance of various teams has revived interest in finding solutions to one of IT’s most persistent problems: the pay gap between men and women.
Although the coronavirus effect is still there, it significantly negatively impacts women’s careers. There are valid worries that the epidemic will undo years of progress toward gender equality.
According to the TechJury report on Women in Technology Statistics: What’s New in 2023, Fortune 500 firms with at least three female executives showed an ROI increase of 66%. Another exciting piece of information- in the widely successful Alphabet, globally, 25.5% of Google’s leaders are women. But the gender wage gap is still troubling and persistent for working women.
The industry has seen significant progress in Women professionals in recent years. They are disregarding the odds, overpowering gender bias, and engraving out a niche in the industry. In every sphere, women are carrying the lead.
Grace Anderson, Senior HR business partner at Kura, says,
“As an employer, it is beneficial for us to have multiple viewpoints when outlining business strategy or implementing changes based on our employees’ feedback. Women’s contributions to the workplace take many forms, including improved retention, enhanced collaboration, and boosted employee engagement through inspiring female employees.”
The industry needs to focus on full representation, both by demographics and perspective, across the board. Until leading businesses represent the rich makeup of society, they need to keep demanding and making changes to get to a more equitable state. Technology continues to change life as leaders know it; as such, decision-makers in the technology industry must understand and represent society’s vastly varied experiences, interests, and needs.
Also Read: Top 5 Strategies to Achieve Successful Digital Transformation in IT and OT Environments
When a tech company commits to gender equality, it’s reassuring, but they’re unlikely to succeed without clear, quantifiable plans. As a result, companies should set straight, incremental gender inclusivity goals.
Robust onboarding processes, external coaching, reverse mentoring, and assessments that open sponsorship programs for high-performing employees to jump to senior leadership positions are all measures to meet these goals. These, however, need to be enhanced.
Women must have certain C-suite and top-tier executive positions in organizations. They should also define quarterly and annual achievement goals based on financial performance and progress toward gender parity.
While complete parity in IT will undoubtedly remain a challenge, these methods can help improve metrics and, as a result, company performance. Many women are passionate about technology and competent if given the necessary opportunity and remuneration for being professional. More than ever, the technology requires a wide range of skills, which can be challenging.
A typical recruiting strategy is to look for graduates from a standard set of schools and universities with as much prestige as the job requires. This out-of-date approach will only fill some of the available tech positions. Enterprises should widen their recruiting horizons and alter their hiring practices and criteria.
Women who left the workforce because of childrearing, unsupportive work situations, or the pandemic symbolize one rich vein of skill. These would-be returners often require help defining where to begin their re-entry.
Despite the lack of a defined path, increasing tech businesses are pursuing talent through returnship programs that provide money; skills refresh, and a chance to be rehired.
TrustRadius 2021, Women in Tech Report revealed that the pandemic caused twice as many women in tech as males to lose their jobs or be placed on leave. Retaining women requires a commitment to inclusivity; recruiting them is only half the fight.
Every employee must feel respected, valued, and capable of contributing to the expansion of the business, and inclusion is an integral part of the corporate culture.
As caregiving commitments often fall primarily on women, organizations should adopt remote work, flexible hours, contract work, shared schedules, and phase-in schedules for employee retention with childcare responsibilities on board or at least connected. Due to COVID-19, workers have been forced to acknowledge that incorporating work and life is possible and that traditional work systems may be outdated.
“For those looking to enter the technology field, go for it and feel free to be yourself. There is still a strong stereotype that computer science folks are often seen as strictly technical, not at all artistic. However, this is not true. I love writing, painting, traveling, and designing – and I make sure that is reflected at work.”
Also Read: Top Enterprise Technology Trends to Watch for
Along with salary & work-life balance, development is one of the ultimate three motivators for women in tech. Yet women still feel they need the same opportunity to gain new skills, qualifications, and experience as their male co-workers.
While women in tech are often an extensive, untouched pool of potential tech leaders, many leave the profession before their mid-thirties. Yet too many tech functions focus primarily on technical skills development, and only some allow employees to practice skills outside of their day job.
Employers must provide structured yet adaptable career paths to all tech employees – including formal and on-the-job learning designed to progress individuals to the next level. But more is needed to be the playing field for women in tech. Tech companies need to do more to unlock the leadership potential of women.
Check Out The New Enterprisetalk Podcast. For more such updates follow us on Google News Enterprisetalk News.
Nisha Sharma- Go beyond facts.Tech Journalist at OnDot Media, Nisha Sharma, helps businesses with her content expertise in technology to enable their business strategy and improve performance.With 3+ years of experience and expertise in content writing, content management, intranets, marketing technologies, and customer experience, Nisha has put her hands on content strategy and social media marketing. She has also worked for the News industry. She has worked for an Art-tech company and has explored the B2B industry as well. Her writings are on business management, business transformation initiatives, and enterprise technology.With her background crossing technology, emergent business trends, and internal and external communications, Nisha focuses on working with OnDot on its publication to bridge leadership, business process, and technology acquisition and adoption.Nisha has done post-graduation in journalism and possesses a sharp eye for journalistic precision as well as strong conversational skills. In order to give her readers the most current and insightful content possible, she incorporates her in-depth industry expertise into every article she writes.
