Retaining Women in Technology

In spite of many initiatives to attract and retain women in technology, the numbers are sobering. One contributing factor is a mismatch between the expectations and needs of women in technology and workplace realities in technology companies. Through qualitative and quantitative studies, we identified key factors necessary in the daily work experience within a technology company and also of women's self-perception in this environment. We developed the @Work Experiences Measure and showed that its dimensions can differentiate the experiential quality of different work environments in technology firms. Using the measure, we demonstrated that the number of women in the team is related to a more positive work experience. We also showed that employees “thinking of leaving their job” have significantly lower scores on the measure. Using this measure companies can identify what to focus on to help create success for women. Future research will further calibrate the measure on additional populations, within and between companies and develop effective recommendations for interventions.