According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a mere 24 percent of the IT workforce in the United States is made up of women, and that number is a significant decrease form 1991, when women made up 36 percent of the IT workforce. This decrease is startling, considering women make up more than half of the professional workforce in the United States.
The more diverse the IT team, the more innovative and collaborative those teams are. In technology, innovation can mean the difference between finishing first and finishing last among your competition. When employees can draw from a variety of skills, experience, and world views, the more likely they are to approach problem solving in new and creative ways.
The Numbers Don’t Lie – Women in IT Are Good For the Bottom Line
The National Center for Women and Technology recently released a report that shows companies with women in top-level positions consistently outperform the market. Their research concluded:
- Organizations with women on the executive board outperformed companies with all-male boards.
- When management teams are gender diverse, they show a significant return on equity and year-over-year growth.
- Organizations that focus on gender diversity report higher sales, more customers, greater profits, and higher market share than those with a homogenous workforce.
The study also looked specifically at 500 IT departments from the perspective of gender diversity and concluded:
- Gender diverse IT teams are more likely to turn in projects that stay on budget and launch on schedule.
- The performance of the entire IT team improves with women on board.
- Thanks to women’s ability to perform well on tasks that require social sensitivity, the collective intelligence of the group rises with gender diversity.
- IT Teams are more likely to experiment with their creativity.
- Teams enjoy higher average performance bonuses.
Diversity almost always leads to better results. When teams are comprised of individuals that bring unique perspectives to the table, both the quality and the quantity of their ideas increases.
If you are looking to improve gender diversity in your IT team, you have to take some strategic steps. Locating the right mix of qualified tech talent will help you round out your IT team, and improve diversity among the workforce. If this is an initiative you’d like to tackle, contact CERS today. We understand the challenges businesses face on several fronts, and can help you improve diversity as well as technical skill sets among your IT workforce. We retain an elite network of IT talent in Boca, and can help you build the team you’re looking for.
