Last week was International Women's Day!

This year theme (which was celebrated on March 8th) is centred around #inspireinclusion, celebrating the importance of diversity and empowerment in the everyday world. As of 2023, 51% (or 33.75 million) of the population in the UK is female, making International Women’s Day (IWD) an important celebration.

Yet when it comes to the working world, there are many sectors, businesses and positions in the UK that are still very male orientated. Many women believe that they feel misrepresented or not given the same opportunities as their male colleagues. The technology industry is a great example of this.

At Steadman Brown, we are always looking at how we can give candidates the greatest opportunities within the Salesforce market. But how do we ensure that women get the best chances in securing their dream Salesforce role and break these barriers?

Before we get into that, we want to show how the UK and Salesforce fair when it comes to equality in the tech industry, and how we intend to break these barriers.

The UK

By the end of 2023, the UK was #1 in Europe and #3 globally in the technology sector, raking in a huge $996bn (£785bn) for the economy. Tech has become a vital part to business as ROI becomes a main aspect to many companies across the country.

Yet out of the 1.7 million in the UK who work in the tech sector,only 26% (442,000) of the workforce is female. So why is this? It can be down to several factors such as:

• Education – The Tech sector for many years has been tailored or aimed at the male population, but even with technology become a prominent aspect to everyday life, women are still less likely to choose a STEM or tech position as a career. In fact, only 30% of female students go on to study a STEM subject at university, and only 3% see it as a career.
• The workplace – When it comes to finding the right role, it’s not just about the wage or location. 83% of women look at employers that show strong diversity, equality, and inclusion – yet 66% don’t feel the opportunities are there.
• Gender imbalance – As of 2023, 77% of tech leaders where men – meaning that only 23% of leaders were women. Yet studies show that companies with a female lead team out-performed businesses with a male dominated team by 48%.

Salesforce

Salesforce is the largest CRM in the world, working with over 11,000 partners and 200,000 customers using the platform daily. In Salesforce itself, it has over 72,000 employees across the world and continues to grow.

But how does it look from an equality perspective?In 2022 Salesforce reported that 38% of it’s hires were women.To many that may still look to be under what would be seen as progressive, but the percentage of women in Salesforce had increased from 36% within a year. And last year they announced the goals to reach 40% of women and non- binary employees within the company by 2026.

How does Steadman Brown compare?

Of course, we’re not a CRM giant or have 1.7 million Salesforce professionals on our books, but we take pride in offering every person the best chance at securing their next Salesforce role. But how do we do this?

CVs

Not every business may realise that they are being prejudice or solely selecting male candidates without realising it. So, when we send over a CV to a client, we take out any details that could lead to this.

We have a unique tool that allows us to strip out any data that could result in our clients showing prejudice in the initial CV screening. Our tool allows our clients to review the Salesforce talent, on their skills alone, removing data indicating the candidates Gender, Race, Religion and Educational background.

Statistics

Since this tool was included in the recruitment process, we have either passed or come close to the national average in three areas for placing women, and anoverall 42% of placements through Steadman Brown have been women!

Salesforce Administrator

• UK Average, 39%
• SB Average, 55%

Salesforce Consultant

• UK Average, 37%
• SB Average, 42%

Salesforce Developer

• UK Average, 23%
• SB Average, 24%

Conclusion

As a country, we still have a long way to go until the tech and Salesforce sector have true equality and inclusion for women. Many employers are aware of the gender imbalance and are making sure that women have better opportunities, not just to secure a role, but to excel and become integral to the business’s future success.

Salesforce is showing strides in becoming inclusive and not just for women, but for all genders, races, and religions. At Steadman Brown, we hope to do the same and give female Salesforce professionals the confidence to apply and grow in the chosen field.