Increasing talent in tech relies on prioritising women in tech

Last year The Technology Council of Australia released a report titled Getting to 1.2 million Our roadmap to create a thriving Australian tech workforce. This report is essentially a roadmap, explaining what it will take to meet the Federal Government’s goal of having 1.2 million tech workers in Australia by 2030. This target seems audacious, but to ensure Australia maintains a competitive tech industry on a global stage, it’s a goal that must be met. As Kate Pounder, CEO of The Technology Council of Australia, stated, “These jobs are critical to Australia’s future. They are amongst the fastest-growing, best-paid, most secure, and most flexible jobs in Australia. They have half the gender pay gap of other high-paying industries.”

So given gender is a key consideration, how are women being prioritised in the context of this future goal?

Patrick Kidd, CEO of the Digital Skills Organisation said, “It is our mission as an industry to make digital skills and technology careers more accessible to more people and quickly — regardless of backgrounds, training or experience.”

One of the priority solutions outlined in the report is to improve diversity of the tech workforce. This has been outlined in two parts:

Public commitment to diversity and reporting for the industry Increasing female participation in tech is critical to growing the sector to 1.2 million jobs by 2030, and to realise the significant benefits that diversity within the workforce can deliver. Tech employers represent a broad range of business sizes and industries, at varying levels of maturity. This means company specific commitments will vary, but will be supported by ongoing reporting of progress, tools, and advice within the industry to improve women’s employment in tech.
Improved support for women to transition into tech Women are significantly under-represented in the tech workforce, and research has shown that twice as many women join after the age of 25 as they do prior to age 25. Supporting more women to transition into tech roles will require a dedicated program to communicate the benefits of mid-career transitions into tech jobs for Australian women and provide advice and reskilling options to enable more women to make the switch to deliver 1.2m tech jobs by 2030

How can tech companies support this mission?

InfoTrack’s Head of People and Culture, Daniel Ko, believes there are several tangible ways that tech companies can make opportunities more accessible to women. “The People and Culture team at InfoTrack work hard to implement initiatives to make it easier for women to not only join the tech industry but also stay in it long-term. Our goal overall is to support women through gender equitable practices, and we know that by doing this, we are supporting the future of the overall industry.”

Some ways that companies can offer tangible support to women in tech:

Make your commitment public – ensure that your commitment to diversity and inclusion and gender equality is made public on your company owned website and regularly post about it on your social media channels. This will instil a sense of employee pride, attract new talent, and show your public commitment to increasing the participation numbers of women within tech.
Offer specific and consistent training and development opportunities – your company might have a slew of talented women, who are interested in exploring tech but don’t feel like they have been given the opportunity. Communicate with employees regularly about the opportunities on offer. Some ideas might be:
- Advertise positions internally so your existing employee base has an opportunity to apply alongside external candidates.
- Hold inter-company information days, so everyone has a chance to learn and workshop with other departments and gain valuable insights about tech-related roles and areas that might interest them.
- Introduce a secondment program, so that women can learn on the job and gain experience in tech related fields.
- Align your company with an association like Women in Tech (WiT) to provide your employees with a community who can offer guidance, up-skilling opportunities, and support.
- Initiate management programs that offer growth opportunities to potential and new managers, to elevate women into leadership positions.

Provide initiatives that support women – by implementing these policies, an organisation will be ensure women are supported to enter and stay in the workforce.
- Paid Parental Leave
- Miscarriage Leave
- Special Sick Leave
- Additional personal leave days
- Flexible Working Policy