A report from Capital One, released this month, examines the factors that influence women who stay in technological careers, and best practices for supporting women and keeping them in technology positions.
The report aims to address the issue of low retention rates for women in tech. Women only make up 24 percent of the workforce in tech roles, and more than half leave the industry by the midpoint in their careers, CapitalOne notes. The report, released at the Grace Hopper Celebration this month, focuses on aspects that contribute to women staying in tech and succeeding in their careers.
“The findings reveal a range of factors that influenced the women’s career decisions and journeys, from the nature of the work, to the support provided by employers, to their personal perseverance, on top of more traditional factors such as compensation and work-life balance,” the report finds.
Among the details, the report notes that women who stay in tech are more likely to have women role models at their company compared to women who have left tech (75 percent vs 56 percent), and are twice as likely to value peer groups of other women strongly (45 percent vs 23 percent).
For women who have left tech, unhappiness with tech work was not the main factor – only two percent said they were not happy with their work, “which means something beyond the work itself got in the way of a fulfilling, long-term career,” CapitalOne notes.
The report recommends that to improve retention, businesses give women challenging and rewarding work, provide work-life balance and fair pay, encourage peer networks, and make the right training available at the right time.