Women Tech Council recognizes firms that have glass ceiling-breaking cultures

Forty-four Utah technology companies have been recognized for “creating and enacting practices and cultures that remove the glass ceiling” for women in tech.

The Women Tech Council said its 2018 Shatter List represents the first research of the technology industry to review and rate the development and successful implementation of measures that create inclusive cultures where women can contribute and succeed.

“Shattering technology’s glass ceiling requires companies to invest more and be actively engaged in creating cultures and activities that expect and demand inclusivity from top to bottom,” said Cydni Tetro, the council’s president. “By highlighting the companies and practices that are actively championing women and are making strides to change the industry’s landscape and culture, this list accelerates the technology sector’s journey to increase the number of women in technology and break our own glass ceiling.”

The Shatter List was compiled by scoring companies on four factors: executive engagement (active support from the CEO, executive team and all leadership), company programming (currently having women in leadership executive positions and proactively implementing programs to support women in technology), community investment (active participation with the broader community to learn from and share best practices regarding culture and inclusion), and women’s or diversity and inclusion groups (formal programs to support women internally). Data was gathered and evaluated from across 10 secondary data sets and mapped to the four evaluation factors.

Examples of programming developed and implemented by the selected companies include Dell EMC’s formal Women in Action diversity and inclusion group with more than 9,700 internal members; eBay’s eWIT program to support women employees, in place for more than 10 years and used as a model for other tech companies; Instructure’s decision to publish its diversity metrics and create public accountability for internal inclusion practices; and Workfront’s focus on women executives, including adding three in past several years and being awarded a spot on the list of best companies for women to work.

“In working to ensure we have an inclusive culture for women in technology, our focus goes from top to bottom with programs that drive diversity, including but not limited to gender,” said Vance Checketts, vice president of Dell EMC. “This commitment has allowed us to attract and retain women across the company, which has positively impacted the performance of our teams and organization.”

The 2018 Shatter List, in alphabetical order, includes 3M Health Information Systems, Adobe, Ancestry, BachHealth, Central Logic, Chatbooks, Control4, Cotopaxi, Cox Automotive, Degreed, Dell EMC, Domo, eBay, Experticity, Franklin Covey, Goldman Sachs, Health Catalyst, HealthEquity, IM Flash, Imagine Learning, inContact, InMoment, Instructure, Intermountain Healthcare, L-3 Communications, Listen Technologies, Lucid, Marketstar, Myriad, O.C. Tanner, Oracle, Orbital ATK, Overstock.com, Pluralsight, Qualtrics, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, RizePoint, USANA Health Sciences, Veracity Solutions, Vivint Smart Home, WCF, Wells Fargo, Workfront and Zions Bank.