Becoming a MotherBoard Signatory feat. Hydrologiq
As a special spotlight on our MotherBoard Signatories, we caught up with See Wah Cheng, Head of Product at renewal energy company Hudrologiq to discuss why they signed up to the MotherBoard Charter and joined the mission of creating tangible change for mothers in the tech industry.
Why did you sign up for the MotherBoard Charter?
Both of our co-founders are fathers, Aran a father of a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and Ben a one-year-old. They have both seen just how big a role an employer plays (whether it realises it or not) in the mental and physical welfare of mums, and thus of the children too.
There is such a duty for employers to be supportive both during pregnancy, during maternity leave, and almost most importantly, upon returning to work. If a mum/primary carer is feeling good, then the children are feeling good, and so their development will be good, so our future will be better. It is quite simple really.
If a mum/primary carer is feeling good, then the children are feeling good, and so their development will be good, so our future will be better. It is quite simple really.
Think of it this way, being a mother/primary carer is possibly one of if not the most important roles in our society. After all, they are nurturing the future of the human race.
Also, being a mother/primary carer teaches you so many skills that it really should be an extremely valued job listing on that CV. It will teach you more than many jobs you would list.
So when we heard about the MotherBoard Charter it only made sense to join as a statement of our recognition of the importance of Mum’s and primary carers.
As a business, what challenges have you faced when hiring women into your tech team?
We know that only by building a diverse team can we achieve our goal of decarbonising off-grid power. While we believe there is a strong pool of female talents out there, we were struggling to attract enough female candidates to apply to our tech roles. And we know the onus is on us to do more, to go further, to recruit females in a very male-dominated industry.
While we believe there is a strong pool of female talents out there, we were struggling to attract enough female candidates to apply to our tech roles. And we know the onus is on us to do more, to go further, to recruit females in a very male-dominated industry.
One example area we felt that we did not really understand was how the role description, or the role itself, may be putting female candidates off. It was not easy for us to get feedback as we tried to iterate on the role description. Another was we did not know how to more proactively promote the role to a female audience in the climate tech industry.
The last is that a start-up is inherently a more risky place to work than a long-established corporate. For women who are considering being mothers in the short or mid-term, this can seem like a contradictory career move to make. There are of course ways to address this, but it is another challenge to navigate.
What would you like to see change in the tech industry for mums in the next few years?
From our experience as parents and partners of working mothers, we would like to see more transparency from companies on female employee support. More sharing of best practices between companies would help benefit the industry. And finally, everyone’s needs are different, so a greater culture and encouragement of two-way engagement between employers and employees on what individual mothers need is very important.
MotherBoard is a Business Charter, Community & Event Series, driving tangible change for mums working in the tech industry.
Interested in getting involved? Become a signatory today