MotherBoard launches their first Bristol Community event
Last month, over 60 #MumsInTech supporters gathered at Huboo, as MotherBoard launched their first ever in-person community event in Bristol. The focus of the session was ‘The Retention Opportunity’ and how businesses can tackle the pressing issue that 50% of women leave the tech industry by the time they are 35.
The event aimed to offer practical takeaways including how businesses can support their female talent and drive retention, how businesses can offer an inclusive environment for mums and what we as individuals can do to support our peers and be advocates for all women working in tech.
Joined by a panel of varied experiences across the tech industry, we asked our speakers what their main takeaways from the session were, here’s what they had to say.
Shannon D’Arcy, Brand Experience Manager, Huboo
I think the main thing was that the focus on tech inclusion should be more than just about graduates. We should start thinking about changing the requirements and creating different pathways into tech through returnship schemes and mentoring if we want to achieve more diversity
Chloe Allan, Technology Manager, Just Eat
The main thing I took away was how different it can be in a big company, versus a small company. A lot of the people on the panel today were from smaller companies, startups or quickly growing companies where they could easily implement things. Whereas coming from a larger company things can move a little slower, so it’s really about seeing how we can blend those two approaches and come up with solutions that will help companies of every size
Sophie Creese, Founder, MotherBoard
Just that part-time work still isn’t a standard in software engineering. Even though senior leaders are looking to hire part-time workers the reality is that it isn’t happening. So it would be great to see more job specs offering part-time work and businesses working out how they can accommodate that.
David Maher Roberts, Managing Partner, Digital DNA
The idea of individual flexibility. I’ve always been really encouraged to try and provide flexibility, but thinking about it as an individual solution was probably the thing that I was missing. So, I thought that was really fantastic.
Rav Bumbra, Founder, Cajigo
It really got me thinking more about shared parental leave. Employers shouldn’t just assume that it’s women that will take leave, and make sure you are opening it up to their male employees too as they don’t know who will take it up and how much it would be in demand.
Rowena Innocent, SVP Engineering, Ultraleap
I’ve been in the industry for 30 years, and I think sadly it’s just that things haven’t improved very much for women in tech and the percentage of women hasn’t really increased, which isn’t great! But it does inspire me to do more and it’s great to meet so many people who are equally inspired.
If you’re interested in attending future MotherBoard events, then make sure to sign up for our mailing list or join our MeetUp group to get notified as soon as they’re released.