Dubbed International Women's month, March is coming to a close, and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than by looking back at Acumatica Summit and their 3rd annual Women in Technology Luncheon this past January!
Acumatica Summit 2020 was the cloud ERP's largest summit yet with over 2,300 attendees and nearly 100 exhibitors in the solution showcase.
But one of the less publicized successes of the business management solution event was the sold out Women in Technology Luncheon. With over 300% attendee growth from the previous year, from 50 to 170 attendees, the luncheon was at room capacity and organizers even had to turn those who had not registered for the event, away.
"It's all about creating a space to allow people to have a voice, to empower, and to hopefully plant seeds so people go back to their work and they can think about new things that they can do to empower women to continue growing, especially in technology."
Martha Lucia Groulx
VP of Human Resources, Acumatica
Acumatica has been leading the way with innovation for over 10 years, and not solely in the software & technology space, either -- they proudly shared that 29% of their engineering team is female, compared to the 8% typically seen in large organizations.
With a focus on creating an equitable workplace, Acumatica emphasized the importance of bringing a diverse group of people and businesses to the table to discuss the gender gap in Tech and the opportunity to embrace a growing female workforce.
Introduced by Acumatica's very own, Constance Turman, panelists of the Women in Technology workshop included Dani Carbary and Tara Buchan, National Directors for the Women in Work Program at The Riveter, who were joined by Bibi Brown, VP of Marketing & Sales Enablement at EasyPost, Aliya Rakimgulova, Director of Global Technical Support at Acumatica, and Martha Lucia Groulx, VP of Human Resources at Acumatica.
Luncheon attendees were encouraged to ask the panelists questions regarding their own experiences in the workplace and have roundtable discussions with other event attendees after the panel.
Responses shared by the panelists were encouraging and motivating, giving luncheon attendees insight into what a company that values gender equality might look like, when they realized they were with a company that didn't mirror their values, and how they made the transition to a company they're proud to be apart of.
Several responses even echoed a few interesting statistics cited in the Women Tech Council report, The Gender Gap in Tech & How to Fix It:
- Firms that moved from no female leaders to just 30% women leadership, companies increased net revenue by 15%
- Women-led private technology companies achieve 35% higher return on investment
- Companies with strong reputations have twice as many women in senior management as those with lesser-regarded reputations
Below is a list of the round-table discussion questions provided to each Women In Technology Luncheon attendee. Our team found them insightful and we were encouraged to look at our current policies and support structures so that we could create a more clear and direct system for our team.
Round-table Discussion Questions:
1) How does your organization demonstrate that gender diversity is a high priority? How does your company ensure that these aren't just words, but are supported by meaningful actions?
2) Has your organization implemented implicit bias training? If so, is this a one-time training or ongoing? How has this been received, and do you have observations to share?
3) Has your organization published policies that foster an inclusive culture? How are these policies communicated to employees? Can you think of any systems in place that might work against the culture you're trying to achieve?
4) In hiring, how does your organization seek diversity in their candidate pools? Do you do this through college relations, job boards, recruitment, or technology?
5) Does your performance management/employee review process reinforce your organization's culture and values? What challenges do you face?
6) Do you have data around the causes of attrition among women in your organization? How do you measure this data among departments and who is responsible for analyzing this data? If not, how can you implement this?
7) What is your paid family leave policy? How is your paid family leave policy received by your employees?
8) What types of flexible work schedules or programs does your organization offer? Have people managers received training on managing a flexible workforce? In what areas can you improve in this matter? What are the challenges that you face regarding workplace flexibility?
9) What mentor-ship and sponsorship programs does your organization offer? Are these formal and company sponsored or more of an informal occurrence put together by employees?
10) Do you have structural support systems in place to move women up in the talent pipeline? What can be done to put something like this in place?
We're proud to partner with organizations with such important values and encourage and motivate us to have the same. What sort of policies does your organization have in place to empower your team and promote an equal workplace? We'd love to read them in the comments below!
Happy International Women's Month!
