ITS Technology have partnered with InnovateHer for 3 years now. Like InnovateHer, we want to see more diversity in the tech industry. We want to ensure it’s a welcoming and inclusive industry to work in. A big part of doing so is closing the gender gap, which we both work to do. In this blog, I will address why partnering with InnovateHer helps fight the gender gap.
What is the gender gap?
According to Tech Nation, women make up just 26% of the tech workforce in the UK. Code First Girls and Natwest’s report shows that gender minorities make up 28% of the UK tech workforce. This percentage significantly decreases for women of colour, with representation of only 8%.
Why do businesses want to close the gender gap?
It is now widely accepted that diverse teams are great for business. Increased creativity innovation, enhanced problem-solving and decision-making, and heightened employee engagement are listed as benefits by Indeed.com. Harvard Business Review says that diverse teams are ‘smarter’. McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile. This is a snippet of the evidence out there for the case to attract and retain a diverse workforce.
I also think it’s good for society in general to have diverse groups working together. The more we learn from each other, the more compassionate we are towards each other.
How does our partnership with InnovateHer help?
We’re helping InnovateHer with its mission to get girls and non-binary teens ready for the tech industry and the industry ready for them. In tandem, working to close the gender gap. We do this through the following actions:
- We sponsor 3 schools so they get access to InnovateHer’s educational platform- InnovateHer Online. InnovateHer identified one of the best ways to encourage young people into tech is to educate them on it. Their educational program covers courses such as Cyber Security and UX Design. Courses which the students may not have had access to previously. Learning about different aspects of tech helps increase interest and encourages students to choose more tech-based courses at college or even to start an apprenticeship in a tech role.
- Our employees deliver Role Model Talks and Inspiring Assemblies to secondary school students. Representation matters. It was Billie Jean King who said, ‘You have to see it to be it!’ when talking about girls being inspired by women in sports. I think this is true in a lot of scenarios. When you show people the possible, the achievable, they can believe they can do it too. The message we’re portraying to the students we reach through InnovateHer is that anyone can belong in the tech industry. There are so many roles, and there will be many to come that we haven’t even thought of yet! We need a diverse range of people to sit at every table. Be it technical, creative or operational, to enable our business and businesses of the future to thrive.
- We offer work experience placements and support career events. What better way to get a taste of the tech industry than going and working at a tech company for a week or two? Our work placements offer time in our technical teams as well as meetings with other departments so they can see the huge variety of roles. None of our work placement students had heard of Social Value when I met with them. There will be many other roles they learn about during their placement that will give them ideas for career options in the future. Our message at careers fairs to students and parents is that there is something for everyone. It doesn’t matter what your main passion is in life; it will have a link to technology!
- We educate ourselves and our partners. The tech industry needs to be ready – it’s no use attracting people and improving diversity if the business isn’t inclusive. To improve our inclusivity, we participate in ‘Health Checks’ where we set EDI goals and challenge them every few months. InnovateHer also offers EDI training, which we delivered to our employees and extended the offer to our partners.
- We share our vacancies with IH. The more tech roles that are shared, the more the young people can see real-world opportunities. They get familiar with what businesses are looking for and what the benefits of the roles are. Even if they are a couple of years away from starting work, the more exposure they have and the more they can learn about tech businesses, the better.
In addition to our health checks to keep us on track, we receive reports that show our impact, for example, how many students our activities have reached. It’s important to us as a business to measure our progress and continually improve. I hope our work makes a difference and I hope that the future of the tech industry is a diverse and inclusive one!
This blog was written by Marie Steele, Social Value Manager at ITS Technology Group. You can find out more about ITS’ Faster Britain Network here.