At a high level, here are three areas where companies can focus on promoting gender diversity in the technology industry:
Build an inclusive hiring process:
Focus on a diverse candidate pool: Creating a gender-diverse workforce requires actively recruiting and hiring women. One way to do this is for engineering leaders to actively seek opportunities to build relationships with organizations that foster women networking and arrange for leaders to represent their company at events held by these organizations.
Implement diversity in every step of the hiring process: Creating gender-neutral job descriptions and promoting diversity in job postings is critical to an inclusive hiring process. Hiring managers should also ensure that the interview panel is diverse. In our conversations with women engineers at ZoomInfo, many cite that having female leaders or senior engineers on the interview panel influenced their decision to join the company because it signaled that they would be joining a company with equal growth opportunities. Companies should also highlight their gender diversity-related initiatives and programs to help attract women candidates who care deeply about a company’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Set up strong onboarding programs:
Promote allyship and mentorship: Having a good onboarding program that includes sponsors and mentors who promote and advocate for women helps set them up for success and growth. These mentors don’t necessarily have to be women. In fact, it’s important to identify men in the organization who want to promote women. This helps build a community where women can feel connected and encouraged to ask questions and have relevant discussions.
Introduce women to DEI initiatives: It’s important that companies understand that women want to be part of an inclusive workplace. Onboarding is a great time to introduce them to resources and initiatives that would help them understand the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Focus on retention and growth:
Address gender bias in the workplace: Gender bias can create a hostile work environment for women, limiting their opportunities and undermining their confidence. Women who experience bias and microaggressions that hinder their growth are likely to leave. Companies must prioritize implementation of policies that address gender bias and encourage respectful and inclusive behavior that fosters an inclusive culture.
Provide equal opportunities for training and growth: Training and development programs are important for women in the tech industry to acquire new skills that lead to career growth. Providing equal access to these initiatives is key to women’s professional growth.
Advocate women’s advancement to leadership roles: According to the Women in the Workplace 2022 report by McKinsey, “For every 100 men who are promoted from entry-level roles to manager positions, only 87 women are promoted”. Companies should establish leadership training programs that are equally accessible. Women employees should have allies and sponsors who advocate for their growth and advancement.
Distribute work fairly: Engineering leaders need to ensure that projects with high business impact are distributed fairly and so is grunt work. Women should feel empowered to say no to mundane tasks or glue work. Leaders also need to recognize women’s accomplishments even when they may not be seeking appreciation.
Provide flexible work opportunities: Women can often be at a disadvantage due to the need for flexibility for family care, maternity, etc. Companies need to ensure that the women are not impacted negatively due to these needs and are awarded appropriate opportunities in an unbiased manner based on their skills and effort. Flexible work options allow women to remain in the workforce while balancing their personal life needs and prevent burnout.
(The author is Ms. Harinder Bhinder, Vice President, Engineering, Applications at ZoomInfo, and the views expressed in this article are her own)
