Novel Approaches Help ThoughtWorks Support Tech Women

AnitaB.org is proud to offer Top Companies for Women Technologists, a national program to recognize organizations building workplaces where women technologists can thrive. In 2017, we evaluated 63 companies, accounting for a workforce of more than 574,000 technologists. Top Companies is the only program that provides a consistent benchmark of the technical workforce across a wide range of industries.

We’ve expanded Top Companies this year from a single award to four, in order to better reward companies making a commitment to women in the technical workforce. In addition to three awards based on technical workforce size — less than 1,000 employees, 1,000 to 10,000 employees, and more than 10,000 employees — this year we introduced a new Momentum award, recognizing a company that showed a significant growth in women technologists in senior and executive roles.

ThoughtWorks — an organization that strives to improve humanity through software, and help drive social and economical justice — took top honors among companies with a technical workforce of less than 1,000. This is ThoughtWorks’ second win; in 2016, they earned the highest total score of all participants.

ThoughtWorks programs to improve diversity include a unique approach to hiring that looks beyond the typical computer science credentials. Its strengths include purposeful on-boarding, as well as a collaborative culture that values teamwork and shared knowledge over individual heroics. ThoughtWorks remains committed to evolving the conversation and creating a community that nurtures and celebrates multidimensional employees.

“Creating better tech for tomorrow requires all of us to act with urgency today in addressing and solving the challenges of building and maintaining a diverse workforce” said Dr. Rebecca Parsons, the company’s Chief Technology Officer. “As technologists, it’s our responsibility to ensure that the software powering our world is built by a workforce reflective of the society we serve.”

Over the past seven years, ThoughtWorks has made great strides in increasing diversity at all levels, from new-graduate hires to senior leadership, through a variety of programs and approaches. Initiatives that have moved the needle include:

• Casting a wide net for talent, and looking beyond computer science degrees. Recruiters seek out both self-taught coders and candidates with degrees in disciplines like economics, liberal arts, or mechanical engineering.
• Implementing focused trainings, workshops, and discussions on topics that affect society, including unconscious bias awareness, sexism, gender diversity and inclusion, privilege, and race and ethnicity.
• Introducing an immersive on-boarding program called First Year Experience that recognizes the unique background and experiences of each new hire. The initiative provides customized support for each individual’s unique journey, and includes training, coaching, and frequent reflection. It’s designed to provide time to appreciate growth, as well as to plan for the path ahead.

We’re proud to recognize ThoughtWorks’s ongoing leadership in supporting women technologists, and to help the company’s leadership quantify their progress toward a more equitable workplace. If you’d like to join the ranks of companies that measure what matters, preregister for our Top Companies for Women Technologists program. You’ll receive important updates on Top Companies deadlines, and be able to start gathering data for for your submissions next April.