Financial technology company CommonBond released research this week exploring why women pursue technology careers, why they leave their roles, how they feel about inclusivity initiatives at their employers, and what companies can do to better retain women in technology.
The company surveyed more than 600 women working in technology companies (both large and small) across the United States. Encouragingly, a majority (57%) said their employers “made a strong or tremendous effort to make an inclusive work environment for women.” This was true not only at large companies (where 59% of women said they believe their employers made great efforts to be inclusive) with presumably great resources at their disposal, but also at startup companies, where 56% shared these views.
Much of the CommonBond research mirrors Fairygodboss’ crowd-sourced findings about how women view not just the technology industry, but the broader workplace at large. Across the tens of thousands of job reviews left by women on our platform in the past couple years, 57% say they believe they are treated equally to men at their workplaces and mostly commonly cite an overall job satisfaction level of 4 (out of a total possible level of 5, with 5 representing the highest level of satisfaction).
Moreover, CommonBond’s survey identified a key incentive for women to stay at these tech companies — the opportunity to be promoted. In other words, women expressed the idea that they wanted to see more women promoted into senior management and leadership roles. Similarly, thousands of Fairygodboss users have also reported that increased advancement opportunities would make them more likely to stay at their current jobs. And in our community, this desire for promotion opportunity was cited as more important than even getting a straightforward pay raise (albeit the two generally go hand-in hand).
So, what did CommonBond’s research conclude companies must do in order to attract and retain more women working in technology? They suggested four things:
- Build accountability for creating gender balance
- Increase the number of women in leadership roles
- Leverage women’s groups to provide career planning, professional development and mentorship
- Review compensation procedures
To that list of action items, Fairygodboss research has found that engaging men in the dialogue, formalizing flexibility and work-life balance programs, and encouraging the mentorship and sponsorship of mid-level women are important takeaways for any company interested in improving the retention and culture for women at their firms. If more companies embrace these findings, the next generation of women working in technology should be much better off than they are today.
