Today marks International Women’s Day. Not just a celebration of the achievements of women worldwide, but also a call to action to accelerate women’s equality.

This year’s theme is #BreakTheBias.

So, how can we break the bias in the startup/scaleup space?

Planning for Diversity

If you want to hire a diverse team, you need to plan for diversity before you start your talent search.

Look ahead to the next 18 months, asses your company goals and then figure out what steps you need to take to get there.

This can then form the basis of your talent plan.

Planning for diversity before you launch into your hiring strategy will help you to open up your workspace to a diverse team.

Take a look at your policies. Are they inclusive? Many companies don’t even realise that outdated policies will be losing them talent before they even step through the door.

Eliminate bias in your job adverts

Are your job adverts losing you diverse talent?

Studies have shown that job adverts are often littered with gendered words that unconsciously dissuade talent from applying.

Tools like Gender decoder and Eploy are great online tools to check your ads for unconscious bias.

And remember that where you post your ad will influence the people that it will reach.

Likewise, including salary on your adverts is an important step in the right direction to closing the pay-gap disparity.

When it comes to salary, research shows that women are less likely than men to haggle in a job interview- or are offered lower salaries to begin with.

To find out more about the importance of salary transparency check out our blog here.

Actions:

- check your ads for unconscious bias

- publish salary on your ads

- look over your company policies and values (do they speak to a diverse group of people?)

Assessing diverse talent

If there’s poor representation in your hiring team, this will reflect in your future hires. We are creatures of habit and it’s easy to fall into the trap of hiring what you know.

To minimise this risk, make sure your hiring team is reflective of your wider team (and if your wider team isn’t diverse then that’s a problem.)

Get your team involved in the interview process and asses each candidate on a pre-determined list of desirable traits to avoid any affinity bias.

Remove bias from your talent assessment

When it comes to assessing talent, many candidates don’t make the cut based purely on their CV. But CVs often overlook important elements including soft skills, ambition, and potential.

One way of combating this bias is through the introduction of gamified assessments. Companies like Equalture are working to promote the benefits of a more objective hiring process.

We understand the level of risk involved in the hiring process- especially when your company is in its early stages. Tech tests and science-backed games will help to bring more diverse talent give you a practical view of a candidate’s skills and give you confidence in your hire.

Actions:

-Involve your wider team in your interview process

-Asses your candidates against a pre-determined list

-Objectify your hiring process through gamified assessments and tech tests

-Lose your reliance on the CV

The importance of representation and role models in STEM

Women currently make up only 28% of STEM roles- and over half of women in STEM have felt discriminated against in the workplace.

What can you do in your startup to help close the gender gap?

Include women in leadership roles and key business decisions to allow for a diverse set of views.

Obviously, people in different roles will be paid different salaries regardless of sex. But the problem arises if you are operating under the don’t ask don’t get method where a pay rise is given to those who feel confident enough to ask.

Men are 2 times more likely to ask for a pay rise than women.

So, instead, set progression goals and key targets with all of your team and then regularly touch in with them to track progress.

Strengthen STEM pathways into the workforce

One way of breaking the bias in STEM is to create more accessible pathways into the workforce.

Organisations like Tech She Can are working to improve the pipeline of women going into technology roles- collaborating with other educators to empower the next generation of young girls to pursue a STEM career.

Reach out to your local schools and colleges, volunteer at industry events. Your startup may not be in a position to run an internship program at this stage but look into what else you can do to help strengthen the workforce of the future.

Actions:

-Include women in key business decisions

-Set progression goals with your team and set up regular meetings

-Reach out to local schools/colleges or volunteer at events to help raise awareness for STEM roles

Breaking the bias at ISL

Here at ISL, we work to break the bias.

In 2020 we were voted 2nd in the Best Workplaces for Women award- and since then have only grown our proportion of females in leadership roles across the business.

Sales is notorious for its gender imbalance, so we are very proud of the culture we have grown at ISL.

Our flexible hours allow an improved work/life balance and help our team members to fit their childcare needs around their work hours.

We are creating role models within our team for new members to look up to and be confident to go to for help.

And…it works! Our top 2 billers of 2021 were women- a fantastic example of the results you can see if you empower women within your organisation.

How are you going to Break the Bias in your startup? If you have any further questions, check out our blog we wrote for Tech Talent Charters 2022 Inclusion in Tech Festival.