One of Addteq’s culture goal for 2017 was to campaign for women in tech, starting with the women within our company. We had a few brainstorming sessions to explore ways we could implement and sustain a program. During these brainstorming sessions we realized that Addteq was already participating in activities to empower women’s advancement, achievement, and education. To further our activities and establish awareness, we created a program within Addteq, ” We are With Women”. This program is open for both men and women to join. The goal of the program is to empower women’s advancement, celebrate women’s achievement, promote women’s education, and raise awareness about gender disparity. Amanda Deol, SVP at Addteq, championed for the “We are With Women” initiative and pledged it on behalf of the #BeBoldForChange campaign.
What is “We are With Women” Program
Empower Women’s advancement
- Mentor a woman and sponsor her goals
- Invite women into situations where they’re not already present or contributing
- Take a junior female colleague to a major meeting or event
- Cheer and Brag (Hour of Code) – Invite girls from the local areas to promote involvement in STEM by including them in tech innovations. Women make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce, but only 29% of the science and engineering workforce. National Girls Collaborative Project
- The program champions will receive $50 credit towards Blue apron delivery
- Women in tech will receive 1 year of free amazon fresh subscription, so they can have more time to advance their career goals
Celebrate Women’s achievement
- Celebrate women’s journeys and the barriers they overcome
- Launch even more awards which showcase women’s success
- Drive recognition and credit for women’s contributions
Promote Women’s Education
- Offer opportunity to continue education with a tuition reimbursement program and offer flexible work schedule
- Gear Iris foundation to promote women in engineering by:
- We are launching a mentorship program where one can become an Iris foundation ambassador:
- Mentor women or young children to encourage continued education
- Provide support in overcoming challenges, acquiring employment, and enjoying a balanced life
- Electing the first female student to receive the Iris Foundation’s International Scholarship award. According to the Department of Labor, only 11% of all engineers in the U.S. are women. Among computer programmers, the situation is better – but not much. “Women account for only 26% of all American coders.” (via Wired) Sukhbir Dhillon, Founder & CEO of Addteq, reserved funds specifically for the social cause to help with the development of talented female engineers. Suvarana Maji was the first recipient of this scholarship award. Addteq’s goal is bring more women into engineering and tech by supporting STEM.
- We are launching a mentorship program where one can become an Iris foundation ambassador:
Promote Gender Equality
- Addteq currently considers and hires women for different job roles. Addteq’s HR’s 2017 goals are to hire more women for the open positions
- Addteq is enhancing Parental Benefits:
- Including fully paid leave for birth moms and adding a new perk of Parental Leave:
- Effective October 1, 2016, Addteq employees are entitled to six weeks of paid leave, up to 100% of their annual pay (in combination with Federal FMLA)
- Any employee who welcomes a new child (a new mother/father by birth, foster, or adoption) are eligible for the benefit
- Policy combination of New Mom and Bonding Time with up to 100% pay
- Including fully paid leave for birth moms and adding a new perk of Parental Leave:
How We Launched “We are With Women” Program
We launched the program on March 8th, International Women’s Day, by wearing pink, red or purple into the office. We also encouraged offsite staff to send us pictures of their attire via Hipchat. Here is snapshot of our program launch.
Step 1
We sent a quick HipChat message to everyone
Step 2
We started the morning with delicious donuts (that were decorated with our campaign theme) and coffee.
Step 3
The team wore red, purple, and pink to get in the spirt. The offsite folks even sent a picture of their attire via Hipchat.
Offsite team member sent us a picture to show off her support for the campaign.
Step 4
We shared ideas about how to grow the program and enjoyed a team lunch!
Offsite team member sent us a picture to show off her support for the campaign.
Step 5
We shared ideas about how to grow the program and enjoyed a team lunch!
How we are going to sustain the program
By taking the pledge of #BeBoldForChange. Team members can become part of our ” We are With Women” program:
- Take the Pledge Sign up for BeBoldForChange Pledge.
- We plan to meet once a month for ” We are With Women” lunch to discuss the program and share ideas.
- Cheer and Brag (Hour of Code) – Invite girls from the local areas to promote involvement in STEM by including them in tech innovations.
- The program champions will receive $50 credit toward Blue Apron delivery.
- Women in tech will receive 1 year free Amazon fresh subscription so they can have more time to advance their career goals.
