Technology is generating a lot of jobs which can benefit mums and young girls. The industry has an average of £51,000 which is 40% higher than the national average, yet over half of tech companies are finding it hard to fill vacancies. Addressing the reasons as to why girls and women are not entering the tech sector are the first steps to upskilling. Providing a holistic approach will help to increase the awareness of tech to girls in school as well as tech mums and senior women.
Although organisations can visit schools to help create awareness and improve their bottom line, what opportunities are there for women who have taken a career break and tech mums?
There are many opportunities out there for women who are wanting to enter the technology industry, especially mums. Tech mums is an organisation that has been designed by a single mother herself. Tech mums provide courses for mothers who are interested in technology or women who are wanting to keep busy during their pregnancy and maternity leave. The course covers social media, online security, web design, programming and other basic digital skills. The course provides women with a basic understanding of the technology sector and helps to improve their confidence when using a computer. The course doesn’t just benefit parents with their working lives but also helps them learn how to keep their children safe when using the internet as they have learnt a variety of programming languages.
The course also helped mothers who wanted to re-join the workforce after a career break. It can be hard for mothers to re-join the workforce as there are many younger individuals that would be favoured over them in an interview. So, tech mums provide women with technology skills that will benefit them and provide them with more skills, so they have a better opportunity when applying for jobs. Providing women with basic technology skills can also help them to decide if they want to further their education on one topic in the industry.
Tech mums are also working with technology companies such as Capgemini and WPP to bring technology training to women across the UK. The course that tech mums provides is a free 5-week course for mothers with no previous IT experience. Capgemini will help tech mums to recognise their strengths and equip them with digital skills they need to develop their careers. This also offers future employers’ greater diversity which will drive innovation and profitability.
Technology supports flexible working hours for parents and enables them to work when and where they can. Employers need to recognise the benefits that technology can give to employees to ensure they have a work-life balance. From a mother’s point of view, technology enables them to work efficiently whilst balancing family commitments. So being given the opportunity to learn a variety of technical skills for 5 weeks can improve their lives immensely, by giving them a career path that offers them flexibility.
When you’re going to be a mum, you want to know what rights you are entitled to from your employer. Many women will stress about their finances when having a baby and will want to know what maternity packages can offer them. Here are a few technology companies’ maternity packages which states what they offer tech mums and mums to be:
Accenture offer mother, father and those who are adopting 36 weeks maternity leave with full pay. The majority of employees think that when going on maternity leave their career comes to a stop. So, one of the managing directors of Accenture took 7 months off to look after his son to lead by example and show others that it wouldn’t affect career progression.
Microsoft have a great reputation for being a good company to work for, especially if you’re a mum to be. Their maternity package offers women 20 weeks of paid maternity leave as well as a further 12 weeks which can be split with their partner. Microsoft also allows new parents to decide when they return to work, and they offer mums the opportunity to come back to work on a part-time basis.
Intel has a generous maternity package where they offer their women 21 weeks full pay maternity leave. They also offer additional time off and onsite nursing for those who have just had a family. Furthermore, they offer child care programs which allow new parents access to facilities, resources and financial assistance.
Read more about how to support tech mums balancing homeschooling and working from home here