Women in the Workplace
Women are fundamental in the workplace; they show key strengths like leadership, initiative, and organizational skills, to name a few. Yet, women face increased challenges and obstacles like underrepresentation in leadership positions, microaggressions, and being overworked.
Gradually, we’ve witnessed improvements in representation for women over the years, yet, there’s still work to do in multiple arenas, including political and organizational. Thus, it is crucial to take an intersectional look at the conscious and unconscious barriers and biases that women see every day to help address them.
Women need supportive workplaces that prioritize employee well-being, flexibility and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Women at Encora
Encora is an ally to women by supporting and fostering inclusion and well-being through concrete and meaningful initiatives that ensure women work in an equitable, supportive, and inclusive workplace.
In the context of International Women’s Day, Encora recognizes the challenges and successes this day highlights. By taking an in-depth look at our own community, we can identify how to positively impact external communities.
Across regions where Encora has a global presence, we held focus groups for women and men to hear from our Encorians and understand what International Women’s Day means to each one of them and what topics matter the most.
Over a quarter of Encora’s workforce is comprised of women. In that pool of women, 11% of them hold leadership positions, and 14% are C-suite executives. Additionally, 20% of board seats are held by a woman.
While there’s still work to do, we are committed to take the necessary steps to help bridge the gap for women and minorities.
Hearing from our community’s intersectionality in celebration of International Women’s Day brought forward a number of unique perspectives that paint a colorful picture of how diverse our company is.
How Encora Champions Women in the Workplace
Encora recognizes the merits of a multicultural workforce and we take great pride in our international staff, which represents a wide range of cultures and perspectives.
Overall, the International Women’s Day focus groups shed light on three standout topics:
- The number of women in the tech industry: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) is a complex subject because of multilayered reasons of upbringing and stereotypes that lead to fewer women in these fields. Encora asked focus groups to share how the lack of women in the workplace has impacted their careers. This gave us rich insights into how women have an increased sense of having to prove their worth, overworking to be considered in decision-making activities, or feeling overwhelmed from having to juggle too much.
- Safe workplaces: Feeling safe was at the top of mind for many of the respondents in the focus groups. The majority shared that the need to feel safe and work in a safe place manifested itself at different points in their lives. For some, it became a necessity because of appearance, motherhood, marital status, or the simple fact of being a woman. Feeling safe in the workplace implies that every person, regardless of how they look like, what they believe in, their age, sexual orientation, etc., feels free of judgment; a safe workplace should empower people to be their authentic selves and have them feel welcome. A workplace with equal opportunities for visibility, openness, and growth.
- Leadership opportunities: According to our focus groups, women in leadership positions are exposed to certain stereotypes. Most participants cite perceiving a transition where stereotypes are no longer the norm and how workplaces are shifting towards more inclusive initiatives for leadership positions. Women in the focus groups also shared that having women in leadership positions makes them feel safe when sharing their ideas.
Encora recognizes the important value women contribute to our mission and communities and believes International Women’s Day is an opportunity to create awareness of the acute disadvantages women face in the workplace. By taking a collaborative approach, Encora will continue to give a platform to diverse voices that seek a fairer, more inclusive workplace for everyone.
We have a long journey ahead of us, but together we are sure we can make an impact that will reverberate for future generations.
Thank You, Encorian Women!
We are committed partners with Goodera, BarNoneGames and Laboratoria who work with us weekly on virtual and in-person diversity agendas including the hiring of female tech talent in the regions of India, APAC and Central & South America. Given our head office is located in the United States, Encora complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA), and all applicable state and local country of operation fair employment practices laws and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities.
Consistent with its commitment, Encora developed the Women Hackers initiative, a space where women can write about technology, participate as speakers in technology events, and more, for increased visibility.
Additionally, Encora participates every August each year in a female hackathon with Laboratoria to hire female tech grads. We also partner with Goodera to empower LGBT employees to participate in virtual and in-person pride month activities. Additionally, Encora participates in fireside chats with female client CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, so we can truly learn about their journey as women in tech leadership, and as such, encourage our female talent to put themselves forward for promotions and succession planning opportunities.
We thank all the women involved in these enriching focus groups that helped visualize how much we’ve achieved, what we are doing now, and how long we still have to go.
Encora reinforces its commitment to empower women and give equal opportunities for all individuals, always with the mindset that we can do and be better by learning from every single person that makes up Encora.
Special thanks go out to Jackeline Reyes, Mónica López, Ivannia Montes de Oca, Daniela Quesada, the Global Marketing team, and the People and Culture team for providing their valuable input for this meaningful piece.
Join us to build something great together: www.encorajobs.com.
