WOMEN IN TECH THE FACTS

Recommendations

Info

FIG. 4.12 // Career Importance for Young Men and Women % of 18–34 year olds saying being successful in a high-paying career or profession is “one of the most important things” or “very interesting” in their lives. 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 80 70 60 66% 58% 56% 50 59% 40 30 20 10 0 1997 2010/2011 Young Men Young Women Rerendered from two Pew Research Center surveys from Dec. 6–19, 2011, and Jan. 14–27, 2010. 1997 data from Washington Post/Kaiser/Harvard Univ. survey, Aug. 14–Sep. 7, 1997. Patten & Parker, 2012. Evidence suggests that employers significantly underestimate the importance of flexible arrangements for employee retention and job satisfaction. While not specific to tech, this evidence suggests an important disconnect. One large-scale study found that while 86 percent of workers responded that work-life balance and fulfillment are top career priorities, only 12 percent of employers surveyed believed these to be crucial to hiring and retention (Spherion, 2009). Similar studies have shown that employers often underestimate the importance of workplace flexibility. For example, another study found that 75 percent of employees ranked workplace flexibility as the most important benefit employers offer, but only 50 percent of employers thought that flexibility was that important to employees (CareerArc, 2015). Likewise, employers often underestimate the increases in productivity that flexibility can bring. For example, one study showed that despite high levels of initial skepticism, after seeing flexible work policies in place for a few months, 98 percent of managers reported no negative impact and many reported positive effects: 53 percent reported team interaction improved; 24 percent said customer service improved, and 20 percent said productivity had improved (Cavanaugh, Sabatini Fraone, & Kacher, 2015). 48 WOMEN IN TECH: THE FACTS NCWIT // ncwit.org
And the Plot Thickens: Dual Tech Career Households Can Make the Need for Work-Life Policies Even More Urgent Nearly 70 percent of partnered mid-level technical women (vs. 33 percent of men) have partners who also work in technology. Thus, not only do women at the mid-level work and live in dual-career households, but both partners often work within the constraints of technology careers. This means these constraints are more likely exacerbated for these women (Simard et al., 2008). FIG. 4.13 // Percentage of Partnered Respondents in Dual Technical Career Households, by Gender and Level 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 75% 68% 68.6% 41.2% 32.4% 35.8% Entry Mid High Women Men Rerendered from Simard et al., 2008 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS These difficulties in accessing flexible schedules result in serious consequences for not only women’s retention and advancement but increasingly for the retention and advancement of all employees. Additionally, they can cost the company in other areas: increased turnover and reduced innovation, productivity, and efficiency. WOMEN IN TECH: THE FACTS 49
Page 1 and 2: WOMEN IN TECH: THE FACTS 2016 UPDAT
Page 3 and 4: Find Out How Your Company Might Be
Page 5 and 6: WAYS TO USE THIS REPORT • Make th
Page 7 and 8: Performance Evaluation & Promotion
Page 9 and 10: What are the trends over time? For
Page 11 and 12: FEMALE RETENTION: What are the rate
Page 13 and 14: Only 20 percent of the women who le
Page 15 and 16: FIG. 1.9 // Percent of U.S. Female-
Page 17 and 18: Although it may be tempting to conc
Page 19 and 20: Importantly, despite these and othe
Page 21 and 22: When job satisfaction is low, WOMEN
Page 23 and 24: However, these schemas also lead us
Page 25 and 26: Stereotype Threat Stereotype threat
Page 27 and 28: Gender or Color-Invisibility Indivi
Page 29 and 30: THE PARADOX OF MERITOCRACY: Thinkin
Page 31 and 32: JOB ADS: Biased and Exclusionary La
Page 33 and 34: Relying on the same short-list of u
Page 35 and 36: Women referred for entry-level tech
Page 37 and 38: MANAGERIAL RELATIONSHIPS: Employees
Page 39 and 40: This experience of isolation reduce
Page 41 and 42: Mentor vs Sponsors: Do You Know the
Page 43 and 44: In general, across industries and o
Page 45 and 46: For example, many women report that
Page 47 and 48: In fact, as Figure 4.9 illustrates,
Page 49: FIG. 4.11 // Family Highly Valued f
Page 53 and 54: SETTING THE STAGE FOR SUCCESS: A Wo
Page 55 and 56: eaching their goals. For example, i
Page 57 and 58: MINORITY-GROUPS ARE NOT BROKEN or i
Page 59 and 60: Examining potential biases in perfo
Page 61 and 62: Stories Inspire Action Consider the
Page 63 and 64: Ensure diverse interview teams. Jus
Page 65 and 66: Create company-wide development opp
Page 67 and 68: CHANGE MODEL FOCUS AREA #4 PERFORMA
Page 69 and 70: Model flexible practices at the exe
Page 71 and 72: Emerson, K. T., & Murphy, M. C. (20
Page 73: Simard as cited in Lebowitz, S. (20

WOMEN IN TECH THE FACTS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?