Millennials, working patterns and why we should get more women into tech

Sophie Eden
Jeremy Freedman 2018
Sian Bayley26 July 2019

Encouraging more women into tech and changing the working week pattern could see London secure even greater success as a tech hub, says digital and technology recruiter Sophie Eden.

She believes we must be positive to move things forward taking note of the changing work expectations of millennials.

“We’re obviously such a cosmopolitan place and particularly when it comes to technology and digital, there so many skills are coming from abroad, and particularly from Europe,” she said.

Sophie says companies should be doing more to increase the number of women and BAME people in the tech sector.

“So many stats now are showing how much more profitable diverse teams are. I think there’s lots of different things people can do in order to ensure they’re getting diverse teams in.

"First off, it needs to come from the top. It should involve CEOs. It can’t be lip service, it’s got to be something that people are committed to, like making a diverse shortlist. That way you’re making sure you’re seeing as many different people as possible," she said. “It’s looking at the diversity of a team, looking at where you can be flexible on a job description and where the strengths are in a team.

"So if that individual doesn’t tick every box, or isn’t exactly what you’re used to, where can you be flexible and use other skills across the team or peer group so that you can be a bit more creative about what that person looks like?

“That’s the reality. If you’re just going off the same thing, you’re going to get the same issue,” she said.

Speaking about the need to encourage life-long learning and digital upskilling in the workplace she emphasised the need to address “the confidence upskilling gap,” and the fact many women worry they may not have all the relevant skills listed when they are going for a new job.

“When people talk about upskilling they think about the job responsibilities. Rather than, this is a new role, how can we change ourselves in order to do that? I think from a diversity perspective it’s about slightly reshaping that training and it’s about training of thought and confidence to try and get men and women thinking that way about their capabilities.”

With regards to the future of the workplace, she hopes there will be no such thing as a normal working pattern.

“I think by saying create a four day week, again it’s kind of creating an established week where we’re still prescribing to people what they should be doing,” she said.

“The reality is the expectations of people, particularly the millennials, are very different as to what their work-life balance should look like, and what work should kind of be giving them, as opposed to what they can offer a job. It’s just a different way of thinking, and so we need to be as flexible as possible because people look for purpose now, more than they ever did before. It’s allowing them to upskill in their own way and make them feel in control of their own week, whatever that looks like."