The Girls’ Network connects girls with a mentor and networks of professional role models who are women. Amplifi are there to be a window into the data industry. We are committing to working with the charity by running web-based sessions this coming year and delivering classes to members of The Girls’ Network to educate them on the successful careers of women in Amplifi, and our female connections in the data industry. Influencer culture is increasingly prevalent for younger generations, and we hope that by demonstrating real-world examples of women’s career paths from school, up to where they are now, and being there as an approachable network for the girls, it will allow them to feel inspired and empowered to consider a data as a career.
So, why is data a good career for women?
Firstly, data is a good career for EVERYONE. But as this article is focused on women, let’s start there. Having spoken to lots of women within the industry, including Pauline Kirk, Jenny Bicket, Lien Bailey and Catherine Cherry, there were quite a few key benefits of working within data that were highlighted:
Flexibility: Amplifi have been awarded a certification by Flexa as one of the top 50 most flexible companies – this is something all of us are passionate about. Not only that but we were recently awarded no.34 in the top 100 most flexible companies in the world. We understand that there are lots of aspects of our team’s personal lives that must come before work, and therefore have created a truly flexible working environment so they can get the balance right.
Variety: If you speak to any of our consultants, they will say that no day looks the same. If you enjoy variety in your role and working on different projects, then Amplifi, and data, is absolutely the right environment.
Impact: We value each and every member of the team. Regardless of your role, job title or visibility, you, and your work are recognised and valued.
What is Amplifi doing?
We’ve mentioned a couple of ways we are reaching out to the young women, to educate and mentor them on a career in data. But there is more that we’re doing internally to make Amplifi more attractive and inclusive for women…
- In the last year we have increased the gender gap from 10% to 19% female.
- We have researched and spent time re-wording job adverts to make them more approachable, as typically women will not apply to jobs if they do not tick all of the boxes.
- Introducing comprehensive diversity and inclusion training for our whole team.
- We have worked on our marketing to showcase our flexibility and family-oriented culture, which is something we’ve had fantastic feedback on from female applicants.
- The People Team are continuously reviewing policies and looking at improving benefits. For example, we have recently announced a ‘Work from Anywhere’ policy and increased our maternity leave policy to 5 months full pay (previously 4 months).
- We have set up a quarterly D&I Committee, meeting with members from throughout the business, to discuss what more we could be doing to contribute to our D&I efforts and make actionable improvements.
Is it enough? No. Are we stopping there? No.
We understand ‘women in data’ is a well discussed topic, and there are no quick fixes to the challenges we face. However, we are here and willing to contribute to the shift that the industry desperately needs, and will continue to try and make a difference from our corner of the data world. Hopefully we have showcased why Amplifi IS such a brilliant place to work for women, and why we should be focusing efforts on younger generations to start thinking about data as a career, and building a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
