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The female dropout rate in the information technology, science, and engineering fields is huge, but companies that offer targeted support may reduce this brain drain significantly. Here are six examples that worked.
Also:
Understanding Women and Leadership
Join the CIOZone's Women in IT Group
By Ellen Pearlman
Strategic Thinkers:
Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Carolyn Buck Luce, Lisa J. Servon,
Laura Sherbin, Peggy Shiller, Eytan Sosnovich, and Karen Sumberg
Credentials:
Hewlett is an economist, author and founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy (CWLP); Luce is the Global Pharmaceutical Sector Leader at Ernst & Young, adjunct professor at Columbia University and chair of the CWLP's Hidden Brain Drain task force; Servon is a senior fellow at the CWLP, an adjunct professor and author; Sherbin is a director at the CWLP and heads up its survey research; Shiller is executive vice president at the CWLP and author; Sosnovich is an associate director at CWLP; and Sumberg is an assistant vice president at CWLP and author.
Big Idea:
The female dropout rate in science, engineering and technology fields is huge, but companies that offer targeted support may reduce this brain drain significantly.
Report:
The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering, and Technology by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Carolyn Buck Luce, Lisa J. Servon,
Laura Sherbin, Peggy Shiller, Eytan Sosnovich, and Karen Sumberg (from the Center for Work-Life Policy), published in June 2008 as a Harvard Business Review Research Report. Order copies of this report, for $295.
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If 56% of your workforce quit just as they were hitting their stride in their mid-to-late-30s wouldn't you be concerned? And what if those workers were among your most talented, receiving the highest performance reviews? Well that's just what is happening to women in technology. The reasons they leave, according to a recent report from the Center for Work-Life Policy ("The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering, and Technology") are hostile macho cultures, isolation, a feeling of being "stuck" or "stalled" in their careers, a system of risk and rewards that often leaves them out and extreme work pressures. It's not surprising that this is occurring when women reach their mid-to-late-30s, a time when many women are struggling to balance the demands of work and family. Without sponsors and female mentors to help them navigate these rough waters, women get discouraged and often leave.
A whopping 51% of women who leave science, engineering and technology (SET) careers in business don't ever return. So clearly if corporations want to stop this brain drain they need to change their policies to encourage women to stay and to return.
The Athena research report highlights 14 cutting-edge initiatives some leading corporations have undertaken in order to keep some of their best and brightest from fleeing their companies (some of these companies are sponsors of the research). I'll highlight six of these efforts to provide fodder for other companies hoping to create more people-friendly workplaces.
Next: Corporate Initiatives to Attract and Retain Women
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