On the 2nd of March, we attended the Inclusion In Tech Festival hosted by Tech Talent Charter. There were a lot of great and insightful discussions from tech company owners and employees about how we can make the tech industry more diverse and inclusive. One of the panels was about the methods companies are using to retain diverse tech talent. Below are some things you could do to retain and attract employees based on the discussions from the panel.

30% rule

One of the panellists from tech training company Futureproof said they create an environment where people feel included by following the rule of 30%- which is for someone to feel included in an environment there needs to be at least 30% representation in that room for that person to feel included.

Mentorships and training programmes

Apprenticeships and training programmes can give employees structured and mapped out career progressions opportunities.

Cross-cultural mutual mentorships are also another great method to retain talent and connecting diverse voices. Head of HR at HP Debbie Irish relayed that they have 15-minute mentor conversations at HP whereby employees are given the option to pick any senior or leaders in the company to have a 15-minute conversation with. This is great for networking and connection between senior staff and junior and new team members.

Active listening

Listening to your team and acting on it is important. Lopa Ghosh from EY suggested active listening sessions and in an anonymised way researching amongst junior members into any issues they have, what is making them stay? Do they have a safe space? Do they feel supported? Active listening sessions have shown to be helpful for employees that are self-taught

Transparency and accountability

Transparency is key. Shilpa Shah from Deloitte spoke about the company’s Black action plan which aims to create a greater commitment to transparency when reporting ethnicity data. The plan includes actions to improve every aspect of their employee experience, as well as how they work with clients. Leaders have had race fluency training to help them become more competent about race and act as allies and move in a more inclusive way.

If you’re interested in listening to the full panel and other panels from the festivals check them out here.