Allyship key to transitioning Women in Tech awareness into measurable change

The channel’s Women in Technology agenda has hit an inflection point where heightened awareness must be converted into tangible progress – and men need to play their part.

Aphra Brooks-Barnes, CPO at PXC, asserts that efforts to date have been female-led and stresses the importance of bringing male allies into the discussion. She said: “As a sector, we need to understand that if the conversation about driving the women in tech agenda is being vocalised predominantly by women, then there is still a lot of work to be done to effectively drive change.

“When it comes to diversity and inclusion initiatives, a real challenge is engaging employees outside of the existing communities as allies and getting them involved in the discussions and agendas for change.

To combat this, PXC’s Women in Tech network has an executive sponsor, Dan Richardson, who acts as strong male ally for women in the world of technology. “He helps to support and raise awareness around the work we’re doing,” added Brookes-Barnes.

Lauren Knight, Senior Account Director at Vorboss highlights that males in decision making roles should be actively considering how positions are skewed against females, if they want to achieve their gender-parity goals. This is especially in typically male-dominated industries. Vorboss identified this within its civil engineering teams, altering some of the details that made the day-to-day role easier for men than women.

Knight highlighted: “We know that for women on our civils team, digging up the streets of London and laying fibre, access to toilets is incredibly important, especially when they are on their period. This isn’t something most people consider but is abundantly obvious once it’s pointed out to them.”

In response Vorboss has designed a Portaloo that provides more comfort for staff on their period as well as work clothes designed to better work for women – as opposed to having female staff use smaller versions of men’s uniforms.

Understanding the changes that would make work easier for staff is key to PCX’s D&I strategy in the wake of its operational demerger. Brookes-Barnes said: “We’re working closely with both colleagues and wider networks, asking them what is important in their day-to-day work and getting their opinions on how we can cultivate change so that we continue to enhance our employee experience and advance our mission to become the best company to work for.”

The recruitment process is an area that both Vorboss and PXC are working on to increase inclusivity and promote more diverse candidate pools. Knight highlights why the current landscape dissuades women. She said: “In a highly technical sector, job adverts often make it seem as though they are searching for someone who knows absolutely everything from the get-go, and this is much more likely to put off female applicants than male applicants.

“As we're recruiting, we make sure that we advertise that certain skill sets or levels of experience aren't necessarily required. We also advertise the robust training that we offer to get new employees up to speed.” As a company rolling out a fibre network across London, Vorboss hires for install tech roles that are typically seen as very male-dominated. By altering its recruitment strategies, Vorboss has got a balance of one-third females in its install tech team and is aiming for 50% by 2027.

She added: “Advertising training has been key for us and opened doors, closing gaps when recruiting females into those roles.”

PXC has a unique approach to recruitment informed by two key pillars of its future strategies - representation and being more data-driven. The company has compared real-time ONS data in Manchester, close to its headquarters, with its employee data to curate a demographic snapshot of its business and inform how representative it is. Brooks-Barnes said: “This data enables us to track the trends as we transform and gauge the success of our strategic endeavours.

“For example, we are tracking this demographic data within our candidate application feed to appreciate how attractive we are as an employer to different groups. We’re doing this ahead of launching a new employee value proposition and employer brand for the PXC era.”

The same institutionalised misogyny that prevents women from applying to roles also affects women progressing to more senior positions. Knight added: “It's a challenge being a female in the industry, and I think being a parent adds to that. It is so important to have empathic employers who understand the difficulties of parenthood. I have seen a huge difference in the amount of support I have received from male mentors that had children and that level of understanding can help women to keep their career moving in the right direction.”