7 Trailblazing Companies For Women In IT
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It's no secret that the tech sector is a "boy's club" in more ways than one. But career paths for tech-savvy women aren't limited to Silicon Valley giants, or even to companies that specialize in technology.
These days, all businesses need tech talent to support and expand their IT strategy -- and plenty are pursuing initiatives to recruit female employees and move them up the corporate ladder.
There's certainly a long way yet to go. Let's look at the facts, compiled from a variety of sources by industry organization Women Who Tech: Women hold less than 30% of proprietary software jobs and just one-quarter of IT jobs overall. Of all tech startup owners, a mere 5% are female.
Yet, women make up the majority of the U.S. workforce and are most actively using modern technologies such as social media. Over half (56%) of professionals in this country are female. The same could be said for active members of Twitter (55%) and Facebook (55%), and social gamers on Zynga (60%).
The tech sector appears to be especially tough (or just unappealing) for female engineers and tech professionals. Not only do women account for 25% of employees in the tech workforce, they're leaving the industry about twice as fast as men, and many cite inhospitable work environments as their reason for leaving.
Technology aside, executive circles continue to be male-dominated, even as the number of female professionals grows across industries. Of all the executives at Fortune 500 companies, 11% are women. Less than 5% of the 1,000 largest companies in the U.S. had female CEOs in 2014, a number that barely increased from a year prior.
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Lest we leave things sounding too grim, it's worth noting that in the past few years we've seen companies make efforts to actively promote female leaders and provide benefits that help women achieve that oft-desired work/life balance. The length of time offered for paid and unpaid maternity leave has increased for many women, while some companies are offering telecommuting and job-sharing options. Last year, Apple and Facebook began to offer financial assistance to women receiving cryo-vitrification.
The National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) builds an annual list of the top 50 companies for executive women. The Anita Borg Institute (ABI) takes a more narrow focus on businesses for women who work in tech.
In order to highlight the many opportunities available to women in IT, we're featuring some of the most trailblazing companies spotlighted by NAFE and ABI. On the following pages, we'll take you beyond the tech sector, presenting companies across all industries that provide strong, supportive, and flexible work environments for female employees. These businesses stand out in how they promote female employees and offer above-average benefits for childcare, maternity leave, and flexible work hours.
After you've reviewed these examples, let us know how your workplace stacks up. Or, if you're lucky enough to already work for one of these firms, tell us what it's like -- and where to send our resumes -- in the comments section below.
IBM
In 1995, IBM began to implement initiatives designed to promote women. Among these programs are "Building Relationships and Influencing," a global program to support rising women who have executive potential, and "Taking the Stage," which assists in presentation and communication skills.
The company's early efforts have created a culture that supports and encourages female employees on their way to executive roles. IBM has a female CEO, and 29% of its senior management positions are filled by women, explained NAFE president Betty Spence in an interview with Fierce CIO. Spence also noted that IBM stands out in the company's annual list because it took the first step of creating task forces to discover how to promote and retain female employees.
"I would say by far what makes us successful is having senior leadership commitment and support," said Heather Howell, IBM's diversity and inclusion leader, in the Fierce CIO article. "We have a number of women's councils that are led by line executives."
American Express
Since 2009, American Express has conducted research on how to promote women with its Center for Talent Innovation. Based on its early studies, the company kick-started its Pathways to Sponsorship program, which offers coaching and classroom training.
Almost 70% of female executives who participated in the program have since earned promotions or made lateral moves within the company. As part of its renewed commitment to helping women build their careers, American Express has also begun to implement "Lean In" mentoring groups in cities across the country.
As of January 2015, women made up almost 40% of those with the title of VP or higher at AmEx. About two-thirds of its corporate executive hires in 2014 were women. Last year, AmEx decided to narrow its focus on working mothers and consulted senior executives within its women's network to help with the project, which is a "very important part of our growth strategy,"said Ed Gilligan, AmEx president and executive sponsor of women's initiatives, in an article in Fortune.
BNY Mellon
BNY Mellon earned the Top Companies for Women Technologists award from ABI in 2015. Its high female representation across all levels and its career advancement track for technical individual contributors landed the bank in this year's top slot in the ABI report, as did its high representation of women in senior and executive roles. Women make up 44% of BNY Mellon's global workforce, and 52% of women are in leadership positions.
The bank encourages a culture of inclusion through four sponsored Affinity Networks, which offer an average of 40 events and programs per month focused on initiatives like mentoring, networking, community outreach, and professional skills development. One such group, the Women's Initiatives Network, has served as a global resource for the professional development of female BNY Mellon employees since 2009.
Abbott
Almost half (47%) of the 18,327 employees at Abbott are women, as are 42% of its senior managers. The healthcare company is continuing its trend of moving women up the corporate ladder; female employees earned half of all promotions to managerial level and above in 2014. They also make up half of the participants in corporate development programs designed to improve leadership and decision-making skills. Abbott provides women with access to six employee networks, which include a Women Leaders in Action group that holds more than 130 events and offers global mentoring groups.
In addition to healthcare and wellness benefits, Abbott offers work flexibility in the form of job sharing, compressed work weeks, telecommuting, and flex time. Women also have access to sick child leave as well as adoption assistance and programs to improve childcare.
eBay
Women make up 42% of eBay's global workforce of 33,000 employees. Almost 30% of its leaders are women. Anita Scott, its global director of operations, was recently named one of 2015's Women of Influence by theSilicon Valley Business Journal.
At the end of 2011, eBay boosted its focus on female empowerment with the launch of its Women's Initiative Network (WIN), which was intended to foster a supportive and inclusive environment at the company. Now, eBay analyzes gender data twice a year, which is shared at leadership forums and WIN events. Since the start of the program, eBay has more than doubled the number of women in leadership roles and increased the retention of female leaders.
As eBay employees, women also have access to adoption assistance, career development resources, and wellness programs.
Prudential Financial
This is the 15th year that Prudential was recognized as a winner on NAFE's list of companies for executive women. Fifty-one percent of its employees, and 29% of its senior managers, are women.
After altering its strategy in 2014, Prudential now targets and develops diverse candidates to fill "strategically significant" roles. In addition to this, Prudential's Women's Advisory Council (a group for workers in investment management) offers mentoring sessions and "strategy for success" lunches that are intended for female managers, directors, and VPs. The group also offers workshops to improve presentation skills.
In addition to programs that foster female employee development, Prudential encourages work-life balance through benefits such as on-site and in-home child care, adoption aid, parenting seminars, college scholarships and loan programs, backup adult care, paid maternity leave, up to 26 weeks of parental leave, family medical leave, telecommuting, 100% remote work, flextime, job sharing, and part-time work with benefits.
KPMG
The audit, tax, and advisory services firm has an internal Women's Advisory Board that was created with the goal of helping female employees receive adequate training, improve client relationships, and learn about the women's network. Forty-six percent of its employees are female; 36% of its senior managers are.
In order to foster professional development for more women, KPMG has partnered with a few external organizations to offer programs that broaden leadership skills and boost professional presence. Some of these organizations include Women Corporate Directors (WCD), InterOrganization Network (ION), and ATHENA International. These partnerships enable KPMG employees to connect with senior women and support them in developing leadership skills to help them advance in their careers.
Women also have the flexibility of telecommuting, arranging compressed workweeks, family and medical leave, and family resources that help plan for childbirth and help with in-home or center-based childcare and elder care