Top Tech Firms For Women
Women's involvement in the labor has decreased across sectors as a result of the pandemic, and the IT industry is no exception. According to a recent analysis from AnitaB.org, a worldwide non-profit focusing on intersectional gender and pay inequality in tech, women make up 26.7 percent of engineers, a 2.1 percent dip from March 2020 and a reversal after five years of improvement.
Several organizations, however, have distinguished out in their efforts to assist women achieve parity in their technological workforce throughout the epidemic.
Between January and December 2020, AnitaB.org's 2021 Top Businesses for Women Engineers study analyzes data from 56 tech companies and about 552,000 technologists. Women's career level representation, as well as recruiting, retention, and advancement of women, are used to assess organizations.
The poll also takes into consideration each company's policies and initiatives that promote intersectional gender parity in the workplace, such as transparency and accountability, fair hiring, caregiving assistance, wage equality, leadership and progression, inclusivity, and flexible work practices.
The best tech businesses for women
Out of the top companies for women technologists, ADP was named the winner with a large technical workforce (more than 10,000 people); The New York Times Company was named the winner with a medium technical workforce (1,000 to 10,000 people); and Dev Technology Group was named the winner with a small technical workforce (fewer than 1,000 people) (fewer than 1,000 people).
AnitaB.org also honors "leaders" in each area, or businesses that score in the top 25% of all organizations.
Top Firms:
ADP
Accenture
Citigroup, Inc.
Wells Fargo & Company
The New York Times Company
Airbnb
Experian
Lilly
New York Life
PwC
Target
UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group)
Dev Technology Group
HP Inc.
Morningstar Inc.
Employers are judged largely on the size of their tech staff rather than the total number of employees. Companies with at least 100 US tech employees are eligible to submit data for inclusion in the AnitaB.org study. Notably, significant influences such as Apple, Facebook, Netflix, and Google did not participate in the study, despite the fact that they have been chastised for not doing more to promote women and people of color.
Companies may use reports like AnitaB.org's to figure out where they can enhance their recruiting, retention, and promotion. It may also encourage businesses to keep working for parity even as they expand. For example, Wilkerson notes that The New York Times Firm has been a winning top company in the small technical workforce area for the last two years; this year, it shifted to the medium category and remains a leading company for women in technology.
"Working toward diversity helps these businesses succeed," adds Wilkerson. "When we speak about diversity, we usually think of it as a problem to solve. Rather, we're claiming that this will help both the corporation and the individuals who work here."
Although the number of women working in technology has decreased by 2%, the year 2021 holds hope.
Women's representation in 2021 is down from many years before to the epidemic. Women technologists make up 28.8% of the IT workforce in early 2020. AnitaB.org estimated that it would take 12 years for women to achieve parity in the IT sector at such rate of development.
After many years of development, the backsliding is "regrettable," according to Brenda Darden Wilkerson, president and CEO of AnitaB.org. "The epidemic simply highlighted some of the deficiencies we have in our hiring, retention, and promotion process," she tells CNBC Make It.
Despite the new figures, Wilkerson is "very much forward-looking about what we can do" in the coming years to make up for pandemic losses and hasten progress toward parity.
Companies, for example, often utilize recruiting as a primary means of diversifying their workforce, but pandemic hiring curbs resulted in 18 percent fewer women being hired in tech roles between March and December 2020. Hiring has subsequently picked up in the first quarter of 2021, with women accounting for over 31% of new IT employees in January alone.
The percentage of women promoted in IT professions has remained stable, which Wilkerson views as a good indicator. "When we initially looked at it, we thought it was the complete opposite. Women were promoted at half the rate of men, retained at half the rate of men, and left twice as often as males."
While women's presence in tech has declined at virtually all levels except interns, women's representation as tech CEOs has increased from 3.9 percent in 2020 to 10.9 percent in 2021, which Wilkerson describes as a "amazing rise" that might herald rapid development in 2021 and beyond.
"I'm disappointed for any loss," she adds, "but the more women we see elevated to senior and C-suite positions, the quicker [change] will happen." Getting to parity "doesn't have to be a slow process."
"Now, we're hearing that firms are eager for mid-career women," she continues, implying that employers should assess their efforts in recruiting women for mid-level and senior positions, as well as educating current workers to take on new leadership responsibilities.
Gender parity initiatives benefit not just women who currently work in computing, but they may also motivate women who want to change jobs in the field, according to Wilkerson.
Gender parity may be achieved via programs and policies
Despite the pandemic's obstacles, Wilkerson believes businesses should not overlook the ways they've altered their workforce, especially in terms of greater flexibility that disproportionately benefits women caregivers.
According to the AnitaB.org survey, 94 percent of organizations now have a formal flexible work policy, including the flexibility to work remotely, up from 78 percent in March 2019.
Companies participating in the AnitaB.org research also outperform industry norms when it comes to giving dependent care support, with 87 percent offering advantages such as backup child care, dependent care help, or child-care facility discounts. "I'd want to see it at 100 percent," Wilkerson adds, "but that's an outstanding measure."
The paper also points out that providing enough benefits is insufficient if workers, particularly women, believe they will be punished if they utilize them. To stay ahead of the game, businesses must keep track of who is taking advantage of advantages and if they feel encouraged by their bosses. If it's discovered that women are more inclined to work remotely, for example, firms should consider how this affects women's promotion rates, pay rates, and other aspects of their jobs.
Many more recommendations are included in the report, including conducting pay equity audits on a regular basis, requiring unbias training for employees and managers, establishing policies to eliminate gender and racial bias from the hiring process, and providing career sponsorship with an equity lens for women and women of color.
"These are essential things that will make a difference in the long run," Wilkerson adds.
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