We use cookies to improve your browsing experience. By continuing to use the website you allow Senza Fili to deploy cookies, as detailed in our privacy policy.
Attracting and retaining talent in telecom has become increasingly challenging as it is no longer the shining light of the high-tech sector. A higher participation of women in the workforce would not only add highly valuable diversity to the organizations but also give us access to a broader talent pool across the telecom ecosystem.
The opportunity is ripe, with women getting more higher education degrees than men and yet severely underrepresented in the telecom—and more generally in the high-tech—sector. According to the World Economic Forum, women make up 40% of the workforce worldwide (World Bank), but only a third of the workforce is in technology, information and media. According to McKinsey, the women’s workforce participation in telecom is in line with the overall high-tech sector, with areas such as DevOps, compute and engineering and core engineering at the bottom (8-18% women) and social media at the top (50% women).
Only the infrastructure and oil, gas and mining sectors have a lower women participation (below 30%). In senior positions, the gap is bigger, with women barely above 20%, and bigger than in most sectors. Since women account for only 22% of STEM positions (versus 43% of non-STEM positions) in high-tech, the percentage of women in STEM senior positions is likely to be in the 10-15% range.
Hiring more women is the first step towards increasing their participation in the telecom sector, but it is not sufficient to increase gender diversity in senior and technical positions, which is where most of the imbalance is. Retention and support in career progression are equally, if not more, crucial and challenging. It is also where organizations have more opportunities for improvement and control over the outcome by creating a workplace where women feel welcome and can thrive.
Claudia Golin, a Harvard professor who got a Nobel Prize in Economics for her research on gender inequalities in the workplace, has found out that, across industries, women mostly drop out or do not advance because of the lack of flexibility and the requirements created for a male-dominated workplace environment, which is especially ill-suited for women with children.
To be accepted and succeed, women have largely to conform to expectations and meet requirements that do not directly track their abilities and achievements. This makes it harder for them to progress in their career and get the respect they deserve. Not only do they need to be good, but they are also forced to make difficult choices in their personal lives that are often not necessary by the demands of their job. Many refuse to do so, and drop out or opt for less demanding career paths.
I recently talked with Vijaya Shinde, Marketing Director, and Subha Shrinivasan, SVP Global Head of Delivery and Customer Experience at Rakuten Symphony, about the need for change and more flexibility in the workplace. While they found a welcoming environment where they thrived, they also identified challenges they have faced and that most women face.
They both felt that throughout their career, but especially early on, they had to behave like men and operate in an environment that did not see or address their needs, priorities and choices in the same way as men’s. They had to work hard to assert their perspective and get the flexibility they needed to happily stay in their job, but they made it and shared their journey. We can learn from their experience so that other women can succeed too, hopefully without putting more effort or accepting more difficult tradeoffs than their male counterparts.
Why do they need more or a different type of flexibility if they want to have the same organizational roles and careers as men? This is because they have the skills, talent, ambition and capabilities to do so, but they often have different needs stemming from taking a larger role in the care of children and other family members, wanting a more supportive work environment, and valuing more work-life balance than most men do.
Yes, it is not a binary distinction, and many men and women are in the middle, but the workplace organization is based on what we assume to be the stereotypical male approach to work and career. It may turn out that with more flexibility in the workplace will also find themselves freed from conforming to expectations that were imposed on them, too. Flexibility is likely to benefit all—women and men. For instance, fathers may wish to take a bigger role in raising their kids but may not be able to do so because of restrictive parental leave policies and workplace unspoken expectations. If this changes, their role in the family can change, and their spouses will benefit too.
Adding flexibility in the workplace does not demand big investments or complex initiatives, but requires many small changes in policy and operations, as well as in the organizational culture.
At the top of the list is a wider range of work arrangements, including part-time options, remote work, and flexible work schedules. Culturally, this requires a new mindset that does not reward employees for working as hard as they possibly can (often losing their productivity as they stretch themselves too much), but for doing the best job they are asked to do within the agreed-upon employment agreement. Part-time employees cannot be expected to deliver the same volume of results as full-time ones, but that should not be counted against them if their performance aligns with their time commitment.
Facilitating childcare is another crucial element for women. It starts with more extensive maternity (and paternity) leave, but benefits from the more flexible work arrangement mentioned above, and other support for childcare services, especially if not available outside of the workplace.
Creating a more nurturing and supportive work environment is also crucial. In most environments, men have long established tight professional and social ties to support each other. When a few women come in, they often feel excluded from these relationships, and there is not enough of them to create new ones among themselves.
For instance, if there is a social gathering after work, men may feel uncomfortable asking women to join and women may feel their presence is not welcome. In some cases, women are simply not invited. We all know how essential these social events are in building a supportive work environment.
The same applies to mentoring. Most women find great male mentors, but it can be more difficult for women to find one, or to find a woman mentor that may be more helpful because they may share a more similar background.
A work environment that is more gender inclusive requires changes in the workplace that are mostly cultural, and, as such, difficult to impose by policy—and each participant has to play a part.
Women need to be more upfront in setting their own priorities, creating their own support system, and avoiding fitting in at all costs.
Men need to listen to women’s preferences and needs, especially when different from those they are used to, and be open to accommodate them if they improve the overall work environment.
At the same time, while all employees have to contribute to change, organizations have to be more proactive in their efforts to retain women and support their career progression, especially in technical roles and in senior positions where women’s participation is the lowest. Small changes can go a long way, and create a more welcoming and productive workplace for everybody.
We use cookies to improve your browsing experience. By continuing to use the website you allow Senza Fili to deploy cookies, as detailed in our privacy policy.