There’s a reason why, despite the best efforts of many companies, the tech industry remains predominantly white and male. One-off efforts to increase diversity in recruiting or create more inclusive and welcoming work environments, while well-intentioned and incredibly important, just aren’t enough on their own to reduce the gender and diversity gaps. This is not a new idea but one that was first articulated back in 2018 when the Kapor Center released its “Leaky Pipeline Framework.”
The framework identifies leaks in four areas: pre-k to 12 education, higher education, the tech workforce and entrepreneurship. Seriously addressing gender and diversity gaps in tech requires thinking about the many barriers women — and women of color — face before they even submit an application. Tackling societal challenges and addressing systemic racism is difficult to do while trying to run and grow a business, but it’s not impossible. Two Boston-based tech companies, Snyk and Acquia, are proof of this.
Both Snyk and Acquia are working to address tech’s leaky pipeline by making their hiring processes and cultures more inclusive as well as supporting organizations that help women and people of color access STEM education and find careers in tech. We recently sat down with Dipti Salopek, VP of people at Snyk, and Anne McDonough, VP of human resources and total rewards at Acquia, to learn more about how their companies are working to repair tech’s leaky pipeline.
What are you doing as a company to create a supportive and inclusive culture where women — particularly women of color — can thrive?
We start by making sure our culture is built on a bedrock of inclusiveness. Two out of our four company values, “One Team” and “Care Deeply,” index on compassion and the celebration of diversity as a competitive advantage and are deeply ingrained in the essence of how we operate. One of our key priorities is to build a culture where all employees, irrespective of their background, feel comfortable, safe and valued.
A large part of our values involve creating an environment where women can stand out and thrive in their careers. We’ve brought this dialog to the forefront and provide a curriculum for employees to access topics like being a working mother, allyship and avoiding burnout.
Building an inclusive culture also starts with the hiring process, and we invest in education for hiring managers and interviewers around unconscious bias and drafting inclusive job descriptions. This year, in recognition of the disproportionate impact the pandemic economy had on women and under-represented minorities, we rolled out a community outreach internship program designed specifically to support the entry of minority women into the workforce.
Finally, the key to an inclusive culture lies in maintaining an ongoing dialogue and feedback loop. For example, we are holding women’s focus groups to dive deeper into our understanding of the experience women have at Snyk and how we can further adjust our environment to continually improve on our inclusiveness.
We have been steadily transforming the demographic over the past several months.”
What perks or benefits do you offer that support your efforts to retain more women?
While we offer supportive benefits that are standard across the tech industry, there are two benefits unique to Snyk that enhance our atmosphere of inclusiveness.
Through a company called TaskHuman, we provide one-on-one coaching services to our employees, which cover all aspects of wellness, including mental, physical, nutritional and financial wellness. We have found this to be a strong source of support particularly amongst women and especially given the pandemic-related challenges of the past year.
Secondly, our embrace of flexible working practices, internally called our FlexWork program, is designed around a culture of flexibility that allows all employees — the impact of which has been disproportionately recognized by women — the flexibility to arrange work environments to best suit their personal priorities.
What programs or initiatives — either internal or external — do you have in place to support the continued growth and success of women in the tech industry?
We’ve recently launched Snyk Resource Groups, which are our take on employee resource groups. These employee-led groups provide a place for employees who identify as part of an underrepresented group, as well as allies, to create initiatives aimed at fostering diversity, inclusion and belonging. The people team is committed to supporting these groups, but the goals, initiatives and dialogue are all employee-driven.
We believe people in leadership positions have an outsized impact on organizational culture, therefore, strengthening the inclusiveness of our culture will depend on increased diversity at the leadership level. We established targets for ourselves internally around the percentage of women in leadership and have been steadily transforming the demographic over the past several months. Finally, our community outreach internship program has also been a resounding success, and we will look to replicate and expand the initiative.
What are you doing as a company to create a supportive and inclusive culture where women — particularly women of color — can thrive?
We are strongly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, which includes supporting women and people of color. DEI is embedded into our core values, and recent examples of programs and education we’ve offered include Women’s and Black History month education series and book clubs highlighting history and the role models who have made a difference in progressing women and people of color.
We have also held diversity in the workplace education sessions, which focused on unconscious bias, microaggressions and becoming an ally. Employees also participated in the “Factuality Game,” an interactive dialogue that simulates structural inequality. Acquia is also home to employee resource groups, which provide team members a safe and supportive community.
At our annual “Acquia Engage” conference, speakers including Lawana Harris facilitated a diversity and inclusion workshop. Our keynote speaker was Kimberly Bryant, founder and executive director of Black Girls CODE. In May, we’ll launch a new e-learning series, “Preventing Discrimination & Harassment in the Workplace,” to educate and continue to foster a welcoming work environment.
In May, we’ll launch a new e-learning series to educate and continue to foster a welcoming work environment.”
What perks or benefits do you offer that support your efforts to retain more women?
We offer both a variety of benefits tailored to meet our team’s needs, which include: take it when you need it time off, also known as unlimited PTO, as well as flexible work schedules. Additional benefits include healthy pregnancy healthcare, parental leave programs and a post-maternity leave program for returning mothers that provides them the option to ease back into their role with a part-time schedule. Also, our perks programs offer discounts on daycare and other family-focused activities.
What programs or initiatives — either internal or external — do you have in place to support the continued growth and success of women in the tech industry?
We are proud of the diverse perspectives that our team brings to Acquia each day, as well as our inclusive, supportive and welcoming environment. We celebrate that each Acquian has a unique background, experience and point of view, which makes us stronger and helps us win as one. We support continuous skill development and offer mentorship and leadership programs.
We are passionate about giving back to the communities in which we live and work, as well as organizations supporting those in need. This includes organizations that help close the gender gap in STEM by providing education to girls at an early age around STEM careers to help foster and inspire future generations in the fields of technology and computer science.
Our commitment to DEI is front and center in our recruitment process. We partner with and support the following organizations to give back to the community, build networks and to attract and hire diverse talent: Girls Who Code, Mass TLC Tech Compact for Social Justice, Co-op programs, African American Hires, WeHireWomen.com, Diversity Jobs, Year UP and many others.
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