Agenda

Men have always outnumbered women working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). While things have improved, there’s a long way to go to achieve a balanced workforce: women comprise 28 percent of the STEM workforce in the US, and 24 percent in the UK.

This session demystifies the actions companies can take to improve gender diversity in STEM, based on PA consulting later research.

First, the more positive news. Over half (56 percent) of those surveyed said gender diversity is a top priority for their organisation – on a par with work-life balance.

Seventy-eight percent agreed they’d seen a strong improvement in encouraging and supporting gender diversity and inclusion in STEM roles over the course of their careers. And 80 percent agree a more diverse workforce is crucial to building a better workplace for the future.

Yet there were also concerning findings. Satisfaction with the way things are varies and there’s no agreement on the main barriers to improving gender diversity: 70 percent of respondents believe there are considerable structural barriers hindering progress. Women, on average, express 13 percent lower satisfaction levels than men, junior staff are less content than the most senior staff, and the trans and non-binary community feels neglected in certain companies. What’s more, it seems people often see the problem as someone else’s responsibility.

So what can companies do:

We explored the options for bringing improvement – asking respondents about the four main stages of the employee experience: attraction, recruitment, retention, and retraining. That allowed us to identify the actions people believe would be most effective and the simplest to implement at each stage.