Diversity and Inclusion at MySense
The concept of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) has never been more omnipresent
A diverse and inclusive workplace is one that represents people from a wide array of backgrounds, interests and experiences, whilst maintaining equal opportunities in all aspects of work. This means that regardless of a person’s individuality or job role, they still feel supported enough to contribute and partake in every area of the workplace. (1)
The rate of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) has increased in many areas over the decade, but unfortunately is not nearly as fast as it should be. Known for its lack of representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicity (BAME), as well as women, the tech sector requires a lot more effort to bring about greater racial and gender diversity. According to Statista, women are both underpaid and underrepresented in the tech sector, as they represent only ‘34.4% of the workforce across big tech companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft’. (2) Not only this, but Pew Research Center highlights that women only represent 25% of Computer Science-related jobs, and just 14% of the Engineering sector. (3)
However, the concept of D&I has never been more omnipresent. In recent years, the Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on the vast inequalities that BAME communities deal with, particularly in healthcare, education and employment opportunities. This has very well been enabled by ‘history-defining’ movements such as Black Lives Matter (BLM), which has recently helped renew the focus on D&I and increased its rate in many areas of business. (4)
Not only is D&I important to bridge the racial and gender inequality gap, but it is required for many other business related purposes too. Promoting an open-minded work culture allows businesses to stay relevant and therefore more competitive, as employees of different backgrounds and experiences bring along unique perspectives that may mirror that of the target consumer. A better understanding of consumers allows the company to broaden their opportunities and target other communities, therefore enabling the company to grow. (5)
Encouraging a diverse community and culture is extremely important to us at MySense. We like to champion gender diversity, boasting a 50/50 gender split in our staff members, which seems to be almost unheard of in the tech industry. As we place an important focus on D&I, we pride ourselves on the fact that we have a female dominant manager ratio, as 55% of our managers are women. As mentioned, seeing a high ratio of women in computer-science-related jobs is rare, however 43% of our product team are women, as are 60% of our product team managers, which is extremely unique in the tech space.
At MySense, we also continuously encourage a wide spectrum of applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply and join our workforce. In the words of our CEO, Lucie Glenday “we put a lot of effort into hiring our brilliant teams that naturally believe in our values of being ‘compassionate’, ‘pioneering’, and a ‘force for good’ every day. Our goal is to nurture the right culture to enable those values to flourish.” Although we may still have a long way to go, our culture and values are constantly ingrained in our day-to-day tasks, to serve our mission to help people become more independent at home for longer. We understand that with a diverse team of employees, comes access to more creativity and we’re excited to tap into this further, as we navigate our growth in the health tech sector. (5)
Written by Priyanka Bhardwaj, Junior Digital Marketer at MySense.
References:
- https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/why-is-diversity-inclusion-in-the-workplace-important#:~:text=Diversity%20is%20about%20representation%20or,and%20integrated%20into%20an%20environment.
- https://startupbeat.com/10-tech-companies-championing-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace/34325/ OR https://www.statista.com/chart/4467/female-employees-at-tech-companies/
- https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/emea/current-state-diversity-and-inclusion-digital-health-and-steps-take-towards-improvement OR https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/14/6-facts-about-americas-stem-workforce-and-those-training-for-it/
- https://startupsmagazine.co.uk/article-why-diversity-and-inclusion-should-be-embedded-business
- https://www.betterup.com/blog/diversity-in-tech
