PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 19, 2016) - The Anita Borg Institute (ABI), a nonprofit organization focused on the advancement of women in computing, today announced the 2016 Top Companies for Women Technologists Findings & Insights report. The report indicates an overall increase in women in technical roles and highlights data driven insights on how organizations can attract and retain women technologists including flextime policies, leadership development programs and gender diversity training.

In its sixth year, Top Companies is a national program that evaluated 60 companies with more than 1.4 million US employees, including 552,000 technologists across 10 industries. Across these participating companies, women held 21.7% of technical roles, a 0.9 percent increase from 2015. In fact, representation grew at all levels -- entry, mid, senior, and executive. However, representation at the senior and executive levels continues to significantly lag entry level participation reinforcing the promotion gap that women experience.

"It is time to move beyond just talking about the problem of gender diversity in tech and change the focus to what companies can do to increase the representation of women technologists," said Telle Whitney, President and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute. "The first steps for any company are to measure their workforce data to understand where they stand, set rigorous goals to grow their representation and promotion numbers and implement formal and systematic programs that have demonstrated a clear impact."

This year, the Top Companies program piloted two new forms of measurement -- programs and policies and workplace experience. As a part of the workplace experience pilot over 34,000 technical employees were represented across six companies to give voice to the numbers. The survey identified that women technologists were more "at-risk" to leave within the next year than their male counterparts. 

The data on programs and policies revealed a clear difference between high performing companies on the Top Companies Leadership Index and others on the following key policies and programs:

• Flex time policies: The survey revealed that being able to work flexible hours, to work remotely, and to work a flexible schedule made a significant difference in the inclusion of women technologists
• Leadership Development Programs: Leadership Index companies offer more formal leadership development programs to women technologists. This was especially significant for women at mid-career and the executive level
• Gender Diversity Training: Leadership Index companies more often offer formal training on gender diversity. This training addresses the value of gender diversity and/or barriers to achieving it.
  
  

The full insights report from 2016 Top Companies program can be found here.

About Top Companies
Anita Borg Institute's Top Companies for Women Technologists is a national program that recognizes companies committed to building workplaces where women in technology roles can thrive. The program uses a rigorous methodology to analyze data from participating organizations and produce insights across three key areas: representation, employee experience, and programs and policies.

About Anita Borg Institute
The Anita Borg Institute (ABI) connects, inspires and guides women in computing and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. Founded in 1997 by computer scientist Anita Borg, our reach extends to more than 65 countries. We believe technology innovation powers the global economy, and that women are crucial to building technology the world needs. ABI is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charitable organization.

Follow the Anita Borg Institute on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.