Five Strategies to Retain Women in Tech

New research from Accenture and Girls Who Code (GWC) shows that, when taken as a percentage of the total U.S. workforce, there are fewer women in tech today than there were in 1984. Incredibly, 50% of women who take a tech role drop it by the age of 35. Something is clearly going wrong at a time when tech roles are more important than ever to the U.S. economy.

Given the lost potential, it’s essential that the tech sector attracts and retains more women. The research suggests that one thing above all else will make a difference: an inclusive workplace culture.

Women thrive in inclusive environments where they feel encouraged, safe, and free to be creative. The impact is huge. The Accenture/GWC research found that in less inclusive workplaces, where women feel discriminated against or overlooked, the likelihood that women will advance to management roles is just 28%, compared with 40% for men — a difference that vanishes in more inclusive workplaces.

This trend holds true even more substantially for women of color and for lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women, who typically face steeper barriers in tech. For instance, in more inclusive workplace cultures, the likelihood of women advancing to manager and beyond by age 30 increases by 61%; for women of color, it increases by 77%.

Five Cultural Practices to Build True Inclusivity

Many people are well aware that there isn’t as much diversity in tech as there should be, but change won’t happen unless we make it happen. The surveys and analysis conducted by Accenture and GWC suggest that five cultural practices can help attract and retain more women in tech.

1. Let both parents parent. Having strong maternity and paternity policies in place is important for inclusion, but such policies are most effective if they are implemented in full and adopted by most parents. Women and men alike should be encouraged to take their leave to ensure equity. To embed this practice, it’s particularly important that senior managers lead by example. Based on the research, it is estimated that this practice alone, when fully implemented, could lead to around 385,000 women workers choosing to remain in the tech sector.
2. Set a metric. Having female role models at the top of company leadership allows women to see a long-term future for themselves at an organization. Companies should set specific, measurable targets or goals for diversity in the leadership team. In my current role, my leadership will not just ask that I “grow sales organically.” Instead, we decide on a target, I go after it, and they hold me accountable for getting there. The same needs to happen for inclusivity and diversity. This practice could lead to the retention of 310,000 women workers in the sector.
3. Send reinforcements. Women-specific support programs are also an important part of inclusivity. In my experience, targeted support from mentors, sponsors, and employee resource networks can help level an uneven playing field. Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate enough to have had sponsors and coaches — people I could talk to about my worries and aspirations — who provided invaluable advice. If adopted nationwide, this practice could retain 230,000 women in tech.
4. Encode creativity. Many women enter the tech sector with ambitions of making a difference in the world, not simply coding all day in front of a screen. Building workplace cultures that champion creativity and reward employees for innovative contributions — new markets, experiences, products, services, content, or processes — could retain an additional 190,000 women in tech.
5. Meet on their terms. Networking is an important part of career building, but many networking opportunities — after-work drinks, early breakfast meetings, or weekend sports events — are inconvenient for some women to attend. Deliberately scheduling more inclusive events at more convenient times, possibly during work hours, would allow busy employees juggling other commitments to attend, ultimately boosting women’s aspirations and sense of belonging. Based on the research, inclusive networking practices could lead to 190,000 women in the U.S. staying in their tech roles.

Taken together and adopted by businesses nationwide, these practices could help retain 1.4 million young women in U.S. tech roles by 2030.

In today’s uncertain times, tech companies need strong talent more than ever before. Critical to meeting this demand is an inclusive environment in which women can learn about and work in tech. An inclusive environment is essential to help people grow and succeed — and gives everyone a winning strategy to strengthen the economy at large.