Step forward for Gender Equality
Celebrating how companies are leading the way for change.
What will you do to step forward?
This is my Step Forward plan for improving gender equality within the technology workplace. Everyone is talking about building a diverse workforce but what is actually getting done? This article was written as a celebration of the great things, companies are doing but also a call to action for us all to do more to Step Forward together.
Having worked in the technology recruitment world for 15 years, I see my role as a responsibility. Recruitment isn’t just about finding one person a job and wishing them luck on their first day. I stand for building the best teams possible in the industry to allow us all to become the best we can be within our careers. That includes companies becoming the best they can be, and I believe the best careers are built from the best teams and the best teams are inclusive. Building the best teams starts with hiring right, investing in those people and then retaining them. We all have a responsibility to affect this. Attaining gender equality in the workplace is no different to this.
The Harrington Starr Group is now nine years old and our client base is Pan-European and Pan-American. We have placed thousands of people into the financial services technology space and the wider technology markets from big banks to tiny start-ups. As such, this has allowed me to gain vast visibility of the market; from hiring to firing, retention, turnovers, promotion criteria, team composition, board composition, team compensation and board compensation. I can see how we are making steps forward for gender equality buy I can also see how many more steps we need to take.
We are aware of the problem that we face in the technology sector: The lack of diversity in technology companies and technology teams, as we all know, holds back business objectives, new ideas, open communication, company performance, employee engagement and ultimately the success of our wider economy. The Diversity in Tech publisher, Atomico produced a white paper that stated: “In Spain, research involving more than 4,277 companies discovered that companies with more women were more likely to introduce radical new innovations into the market over a two-year period”
The London Annual Business Survey analysed data from 7,615 firms and concluded that “culturally diverse leadership teams were more likely to develop new products than those with homogenous leadership”
Coca-Cola ran a campaign recently, stating: “For us, it is not just the right thing to do—it’s a business imperative that will fuel our future growth, promote creativity and foster innovation.”
With all this new understanding of the impact, unfortunately we know the problem remains.
Statista.com produced some research this year and called it “Tech is still a man’s world,” highlighting that in 2018 even Uber, Amazon, and Apple have less than 30% of their tech roles filled by women and even less as female leaders! Another shocking fact for me to read was, “93% of capital invested into European companies in 2018 went to all-male founding teams” Niklas Zennstrom, CEO, Atomico
Essentially, we are still founding, building and growing businesses on the basis of ‘groupthink’ – we hire, we decide, we strategise within a group of people that will nod their heads at each other’s opinions rather than challenge one another with new ideas, debates or stretch each other with alternate strategies. Conforming in business isn’t making us stronger and that’s not just bad for women, it’s bad for men, it’s bad for all of us, it’s bad for the economy. If we don’t step forward, we will get left behind!
My 11-point STEP FORWARD plan for gender equality is an exhibition of what I think individuals and companies are doing well in the industry and if we can all just take on one of these things, we will all step forward together:
Sponsor: Any programme of change within a business is more successful when sponsored by the board and executives. Too many firms have great ideas to raise the gender balance that simply don’t get executed or get side-lined. If you get the budget holders on side, it happens.
Training: Training is paramount and lots of companies are now looking to educate their teams on the importance of inclusion and its correlation to their personal success as well as the company’s success. Training is just unconscious bias or understanding religious or cultural differences; team cohesion, communication, skills mix, and valuing differences allow for stronger teams to be built and retained. More importantly this creates an environment where new people will feel more comfortable joining.
Everyone should Mentor: It is amazing to see so much work going into future talent pipelining. Companies that partner with or set up their own are finding it easier to stand out as a company of choice. Some examples include: Little Miss Geek, Digigirls, Berlin Geekettes, Geek Girls
Prioritise value fit: Hiring new people for your team is key to addressing the gender balance. Those companies that look to find people that fit culturally can often actually look for people who will laugh at their jokes, drink a pint after work or simply those that they get on with. Those that look at value-fit seek people who espouse the values of their business. Hiring like this has allowed for more diverse team-building and sustainable team-building. People are allowed and encouraged to think differently.
Focus on visibility: The importance of having visible women in leadership shouldn't be underestimated. For many, role models are the people they see, and we are seeing many more women in leadership positions than ever before. I have made a concerted effort this year to celebrate the feats of the women in this industry through my video series, magazines, podcast series, whitepapers and presentations. If we all showcase our successes, we will encourage working within this industry to be normal.
Openly normalise: The companies that are normalising the discussion are giving themselves more opportunity to change it. We all need to accept that a balanced workforce won’t just happen – we will have to work on it.
We are asking our clients the questions: Does your organization have a diversity leader? Are there “lunch and learn” events? Roundtable opportunities? Newsletters or forums?
If more people are seeing the need to increase diversity everywhere they look, more people will get excited about it and commit to taken action themselves.
Rely on the metrics: Measurability paves the way for success. It changes goodwill and talk into reality. Some companies track the levels of women in their teams, nationalities, who are receiving promotions, the average tenure, etc. Programmes with metrics behind them are more likely to succeed.
Work on agility: The companies that are truly agile make the most steps forward. With flexibility comes diversity and that’s not just hours or working from home but promotion criteria and job descriptions. A great example came from three companies who recently changed their Diversity and Inclusion Policy to their People policy. Those who make an impact have no fear of disrupting the status quo.
Attraction: The right talent attraction, in the right way is relevant to the entire company, not just the hiring managers or HR or the external partners. To tackle the gender issue, we need to work together to bolster efforts to recruit and retain more women for the entire organization. We need education and partnership. We need long term thinking not box ticking exercises just for today. The big question I ask is “are you attractive to the people you want to attract?”
Rally Everyone: Equality in the workplace isn’t a woman only issue, it’s an everybody issue. The most successful companies are the ones where the advocates are both men and women. It’s a responsibility of us all to work with our peers to get it right.
Diverse interview panels: My final point of the 11-point programme is probably the simplest. Nothing sends a stronger message to the market place than having a diverse interview panel. If you care about diversity showcase it and walk the walk.
My questions to you are:
- What do you think makes a good team?
- What is your future perfect workplace?
- HOW DO WE GET THERE?
There has been much progress and it’s all we are talking about in London at every hiring meeting – that’s improvement! Gone are the days I used to get given sexist requirements by firms or having females’ CVs rejected based on their gender. The world is moving forward but we need to all take the action further.
What can you and your company do to step forward with me?
Nadia Edwards-Dashti
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Harrington Starr Group