Given the low numbers of women working in tech roles, it can be difficult for STEM organisations to recruit and retain skilled staff with the appropriate digital skills. This report aims to explore why women may not be attracted to tech roles, looks at potential skills gaps across the workforce, unearths alternative routes into technology and offers suggestions on how companies can change their practices to attract more female talent.
Key Findings:
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Finding new pathways into tech is vital to the future of the UK’s digital economy
Exploring Pathways
into Tech Careers
WISE Research
Women are significantly under represented in digital technology roles (making up just 18% according to the most recent Office of National Statistics (ONS) data). Such roles are vital to the future of the UK’s digital economy. Identifying new pathways into tech careers and boosting the number of women working in digital roles will help a wide variety of STEM sectors to maximise their economic impact.
Methodology:
Research Aims:
was sponsored by Jacobs and supported by Darktrace.
To identify training routes into tech roles.
To offer recommendations on how companies can improve their recruitment and support women and minorities working in, or wishing to retrain into a tech role.
To explore any skills or training gaps in the tech and digital technology sector.
To understand why so few women choose a career in the tech workforce.
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You don’t need a Computing under-graduate degree to work in the sector.
Women are more likely than men to re-train for a digital skills roles.
There is a gender imbalance in the types of tech
careers chosen by men and women.
Employers particularly value transferable skills when employing for digital positions.
Women are more likely to take part-time courses than men.
Women are more likely than men to re-train for a digital skills roles.
You don’t need a Computing undergraduate degree to work in the sector.
1.
Digital roles are changing so much that we’re often looking for qualifications that don't yet exist. There is no chartership for AI, machine learning or cloud engineering for example. Frankly employers need to get out of the habit of recruiting on the basis of qualifications.
28%
Non-STEM
29%
Core STEM
(non-computing)
43%
Ancient Mediterranean Civilisations
Arts & Languages
Broadcasting
Business Management
Geography
Graphic Design
Organisational Change
Psychology
Social Policy
Biochemistry
Biology
Chemistry
Digital Health Leadership
Engineering
Environmental Science
Mathematics & Philosophy
Physics
Orthoptics
Only 28% of our survey respondents had a Computing undergraduate degree, while 43% took a Core STEM* subject which was not Computing and 29% took
a non-STEM related degree. All participants in the research agreed the way you
think and approach your work is more important than having a Computing degree. To attract women into a tech role, it is important to advertise a job based on the skillset required rather than the qualifications.
You definitely don’t need a computing degree to work in a tech role. I have
a geography degree for example. I also think apprenticeships are hideously underused and not supported enough by industry. The acceptance of T levels will be another way of getting more diverse people into the sector.
2.
I work with coders from a real mixture of backgrounds. A good friend
of mine was a maths teacher for many years and now she’s a software developer. Lots of my colleagues have already had a successful career
in another area.
It took me some time to realise that tech was something I could actually do. I’d always thought of computing as, you know, hacking the mainframe or working from 20 screens like you see in the movies. I’ve since realised
a lot of this work is just the application of logic and common sense.
15% of female respondents said they had reskilled for a job in a tech role, compared with 7% of men. Several female interviewees reporting that they moved into a tech role after initially training for another career. Digital skills careers are mentally stimulating and offer substantial financial incentives.
We have a rockstar project manager, she's very young and confident. She’s just had her first child and we’re talking about new training courses and her return to work. We’re more than happy to support a flexible arrangement for both. There’s no reason why she couldn't do the job or training in a part time or flexible way.
I was working as a marketing manager and looking at web design so my manager gave me time off to study Google Analytics. I got a certificate and that was my first step towards becoming a programmer.
Although 60% of courses taken by respondents were part time overall, women were a third more likely to have studied part-time compared with their male colleagues. Women value the opportunity to study part time and part-time or flexible working hours were highly valued by all interviewees. Offering flexible working is a good way to encourage more women to apply for tech roles.
Women are more likely to take part-time courses than men.
3.
Creativity and being able to solve problems is key to a successful career in tech. As is resourcefulness, an awareness of one doesn’t know and a taste for life-long learning.
[Our company] looks for diverse staff. The company takes staff from an array of backgrounds and trains them in-house to create the sort of innovative workforce needed to tackle the problems faced
by tech employers today.
Around half of our interviewees arrived into thier tech positions via a non-traditional route, by either re-training or using existing skills. Many commented on the fact that their original (often non-STEM qualifications) had given them useful competencies. Among those most valued were communication, leadership, logic and data analysis, creative problem solving and an enthusiasm for learning. More than 50% of our interviewees said non-tech skills such as communication were more important
in their day-to-day roles than technical programming or coding skills.
Employers particularly value transferable skills when employing for digital positions.
4.
The WISE Exploring Pathways into Tech Careers survey confirmed that while men were more likely to take an upskilling course than women, women were more likely than men to re-train into a role. The interviews and data also indicated men were more likely to upskill into highly technical careers (software architecture and systems engineering) while women were more likely to upskill into product management, cyber security or data analysis roles.
There is a gender imbalance in the types of tech careers chosen by men and women.
5.
This finding raises the prospect of another gender divide in technology in
the future. Although the number of women moving into tech roles is growing, the number of women doing programming or coding jobs will not significantly increase to match demand without continued encouragement from schools, colleges, universities and organisations that specialise in this area.
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50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Re-skill
Up-skill
15%
35%
7%
43%
Women
Men
Part-time
Full-time
8%
9%
22%
33%
20%
9%
1%
1%
5%
1%
7%
1%
3%
4%
1%
3%
11%
18%
0%
1%
5%
2%
0%
3%
1%
5%
3%
5%
Women
Men
Explore the WISE Ten Steps
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We interviewed 28 people currently working or wanting to work in the tech sector – 18 identified as female and 10 identified as male.
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WISE surveyed 646 people - 65% identified as female, 33% as male, 1% as non-binary and 1% as other.
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*The WISE Exploring Pathways into Tech Careers research
As outlined in the latest WISE Tech report, Exploring Pathways into Tech Careers, the tech sector needs more gender diversity if it is to both keep pace with demand and remain competitive. Our report has demonstrated that there is increased appetite in the sector for individuals from diverse, non-computer science backgrounds with an array of transferable skills. To attract and keep this talent, organisations will need to adapt their recruitment, retention, training and promotion policies, as well as create cultural change around flexible working.
Download the full report WISE Exploring Pathways in Tech Careers
Computing
Mixture of
full-time & part-time
Data
Science
Project /
Program / Product
Management
Business &
Management
Service
Management
Cyber
Security
Software
Engineering
Network Architecture /
Engineering
Programming
Languages
Hardware
Engineering
System
Engineering
Software
Architecture
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Find out more about the WISE Ten Steps and how they can help drive cultural change and improve diversity and inclusion
in your organisation
Case Studies
Best Practices
Knowledge Sharing Events
Benchmarking
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Click to explore:
Find out more about the WISE Ten Steps and how they can help drive cultural change and improve diversity and inclusion in your organisation
Case Studies
Best Practices
Knowledge Sharing Events
Benchmarking
For more details on the WISE Ten Steps programme
The WISE Ten Steps forms a unique and evidence-based tool proven to improve diversity at all levels of an organisation, resulting in an inclusive and innovative culture. The programme is designed to drive performance and long-term competitive advantage.
How the WISE Ten Steps programme can help you
attract the talent you need
click here
This 2020 KSE, entitled Addressing The Cyber Security Skills Gap In The UK, saw speakers from BSC Women, Tessian, and other companies discuss diverse recruitment methods and why a career in cyber security might be a good fit for women looking to retrain.
Click to explore:
Case study*
Share your success stories and lessons learnt with other organisations and listen to the experience of others. Benefit from networking at WISE events such as the annual Measuring Progress Event. WISE is here to help you facilitate your introductions.
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Recognise that different companies are at different points in their journeys. Some have been tackling the problem for years and are further along the path than others.
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Top Recommendations
Improving gender balance is a challenge and a business imperative, across the entire STEM industry. It is not a problem just for individual companies. Sharing successes both within and outside organisations though interactive sessions such as the WISE Knowledge Sharing Events brings many cross-industry business benefits.
Share learning and good practice
Find out how technology company Capgemini’s D&I programme Active Inclusion set clear targets, provided training in inclusivity, and reviewed recruitment practices among other things. This programme significantly increased female applicant numbers as well as the intake of female apprentices.
Capgemini:
Click to explore:
Case study*
Identify what practical elements are needed and provide the resources and support to make it happen.
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Develop and agree a strategic, structured approach as you would for any other project, with senior sponsors, targets and deliverables.
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Top Recommendations
Success in improving diversity is not a side issue: it is critical to the business. It needs to be understood and championed at the most senior level, as well as adequately resourced and promoted throughout the organisation.
Approach this like any other business improvement project
Construction firm Bechtel told us how its women@bechtel programme led to a 13% increase in its female graduate intake and reduced the number of female resignations from 20% to 9% of the total per annum.
Bechtel:
Click to explore:
Case study*
Recognise that women may feel uncertain about their place in largely male-dominated industries – especially on returning to work after a career break – and support them.
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Let skilled women know the organisation values and wants to develop and retain them.
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Top Recommendations
It is not enough to have diversity and inclusion policies in place. You need to send out clear messages to women that the business needs their talents and skills and that you want to help them realise their potential.
Demonstrate to women that you want to retain and develop them
Find out how green energy company Ørsted have increased the diversity of their apprentices by using women’s-only career days, diverse interview panels, working with charity Teach First in local schools and encouraging candidates to express their personalities in interview.
Orsted:
Click to explore:
Case study*
Give talented women a senior sponsor, mentor or coach. This can help raise their profile in the organisation and prevent their careers from losing momentum.
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Find out from women themselves what support they need to succeed. This may be women-only networks or more general career development support. Beware of making assumptions.
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Top Recommendations
In industries where men so often have the advantage in terms of visibility and traditional expectations, women may need specific encouragement to progress to leadership roles. Talented women and men need to have genuinely equal opportunities to realise their potential.
Sponsor female talent to the same extent as male talent
Sky’s Women into Leadership programme aims to create the strongest possible pipeline for promotion. They offer a Get into Tech initiative comprising a 15-week part-time course (full-time and immersive for the first week) open both to external and internal candidates.
Sky:
Click to explore:
Case study*
Encourage women to put themselves forward for new opportunities. Career progression should be an integral part of a performance review.
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Push for full transparency about development opportunities, attractive projects and stretch assignments.
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Top Recommendations
Your organisation must be open and inclusive. If women are to get the same career chances as men, they have to know what’s on offer and feel confident about putting themselves forward. That may not happen if opportunities are promoted solely through traditional networks. It is important that everyone knows what’s available and has the support necessary to plan and advance their careers.
Increase transparency of opportunities for progression
In 2018 engineering firm Black and Veatch offered flexible working arrangements to staff facilitated by IT support; 21% took up a formal flexible working arrangement as a result.
Black and Veatch:
Click to explore:
Case study*
Strive to create a culture in which employees feel confident when asking for flexible working, without any fear that their careers are being jeopardised.
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Be open to a variety of arrangements, formal and informal. Recognise the potential of IT for facilitating home-working.
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Top Recommendations
Flexible working choices can increase the pool of potential recruits and stem the loss of skilled employees mid-career. If you are serious about diversity and inclusion, you have to go beyond the statutory requirements and treat flexible working as a natural and positive option – and one that is no barrier to progression.
Make flexible working a reality for all
Canterbury Christ Church University uses a number of practices to improve gender balance in recruitment. These include using gender neutral job adverts, gender balanced interview panels, a new assessment criteria, unconscious bias training for staff and more.
Canterbury Christ Church University:
Click to explore:
Case study*
Strive to create a culture in which employees feel confident when asking for flexible working, without any fear that their careers are being jeopardised.
•
Be open to a variety of arrangements, formal and informal. Recognise the potential of IT for facilitating home-working.
•
Top Recommendations
Recruiting in the same way you always have won’t bring in fresh talent. What’s needed is a more creative and open-minded approach. Thinking differently about the way STEM jobs are designed and advertised will attract a wider talent pool and find the best person for the job.
Be creative in job design
This case study explores this engineering company’s top-down, bottom-up approach to D&I messaging. It identifies how their senior leadership team communicated the
D&I message and provides a step-by-step guide to running a D&I workshop for staff.
IMI:
Click to explore:
Case study*
Review systems and processes to eliminate unintentional bias in recruitment and progression, particularly at senior levels. Avoid all-male shortlists.
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Ensure that those at the top of the organisation set examples through their own behaviour and language. Support them with training.
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Top Recommendations
Changing the way people think and behave is a long-term challenge. Creating a culture that genuinely values and promotes diversity and inclusion requires not only a thorough review of company policies but zero-tolerance of bias and sexism at all levels of the company.
Change mindsets by challenging bias and sexism
Reverse mentoring – this case study looks at how HS2 secured management buy-in, selected its mentors, chose themes for discussion, and managed and incorporated feedback.
Network Rail:
Click to explore:
Case study*
Provide support for managers to lead change. Reverse mentoring programmes can help male executives understand female colleagues and the challenges they face in STEM.
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Incorporate diversity and inclusion into the company’s fundamental values, approved and communicated by senior leaders.
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Top Recommendations
Senior managers must understand how
a improved gender balance will benefit the business as a whole and how the culture needs to change to achieve this. They should visibly support and communicate the need for this and be held accountable for performance.
Educate your leaders, give them accountability for change
This WISE case study examines Network Rail’s D&I projects to date. It looks at the types of data collected and how often, as well as the many ways in which the numbers have informed the company’s targets.
Network Rail:
Click to explore:
Case study*
To understand why so few women choose a career in tech.
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To explore any skills or training gaps in the tech and digital technology sector.
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Top Recommendations
Organisations need data to solve problems. This is essential for tracking progress – if you don’t know where you were, you won’t know how far you’ve come. Companies have to identify specific hurdles so that they can start working on solutions and measure the progress being made.
Understand the starting point so you can monitor progress
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WISE Tech Careers 2021 Report
*Case studies are restricted to WISE members only, for access to these or more information regarding membership please click here.
The WISE Tech research was sponsored by Jacobs and supported by DarkTrace.
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