This has been updated for 2021.
As the headline says, here at Team Kano 42% of our workforce are female. This compares to the UK average of 19%. (source, Tech Nation).
We all know that women are underrepresented at tech companies. This is a problem, as technology runs through every country, city, town, and circumstance – and the decisions that go into it should be built on that breadth.
We make experiences targeted not at demographics – but at fundamental human needs and instincts: to look inside, to explore, to make and play. So when we design and develop new ideas, we feel our customers benefit from a broader palette of experience.
Of course, we are 8% off true gender balance. But to be over 100% above the industry standard is something we are proud of.
How are we encouraging more women to join our team?
We look like our community
Our mission is one we all care deeply about. We empower anyone to create with technology. We are women and men from a variety of backgrounds demystifying tech, opening up the power and wonder of something that has traditionally been in the hands of the few, bringing it to the many.
Whatever your gender identity, you can learn the power and wonder of the world around you, to create and share your own stories.
A lot of girls lose interest in Computer Science in middle school. It’s awesome to have women at Kano who didn’t, to make sure the next generation doesn’t.
We have real role models
Younger women can look up and see real women, shaping work around the challenges of modern life. One of our senior engineers works from home two days per week, organizing her role around child care needs. Few of us can afford nor desire outsourced, expensive full-time child care or have the luxury of a partner at home doing the heavy lifting of domestic minutiae. Professional working women patch, hack and busk through. Kano acknowledges this, shaping a contract to allow work to fit around obligations outside of work. Because it’s 2020.
There are no jobs for the boys
100% of our Electronic Engineers are female. They use tools (real ones, not some framework or methodology) pliers, soldering equipment, testing kits, and more.
- 100% of our Finance team are female.
- 35% of our Engineers are female.
- A woman runs our manufacturing, liaising first hand with factories in China.
- A woman heads up product development.
- 40% of our Developers are women.
Ambitious women come for interviews or visit and they see challenging, rewarding career opportunities. Where they can be themselves, express what they care about, not just fit into a boys club. This attracts more women and the numbers grow.
Diversity matters
It makes us a stronger, better, more resilient, and more relevant company. McKinsey’s Delivering through Diversity”, 2017 showed businesses in the top quartile for gender diversity are 21% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the bottom quartile. Big stats. Yet our desire for balance goes beyond profitability. It’s linked to a people-first culture. Having a diverse team is quite frankly, a nicer place to work. Our people live our values. We encourage kindness, personality, authenticity, ideas, and energy. And it’s the people, in all their glorious diversity who make us special.
We are flexible
Data from the book ‘She’s Back’ shows that 84% of women who’ve taken a break from work say they want to return, but 75% of women think their work is too inflexible for them to return. 34% of millennials have quit a job because it wasn’t flexible (FlexJob survey 2017).
Kano offers everyone flexible working (you don’t earn it or need to submit a specific request). We understand the realities of modern life. Managers measure by delivery, by what you make, not how many hours you spend at your desk. Doing this widens our talent pool to include more women and men who need more flexible hours.
We have fun
Kano is far from all headphones on, intimidatingly quiet, still, tech workplace cliche. Yes, we have our introverts who find their solitude and peaceful places for deep work. Much of the time you will hear chatting, see people out of their desks, conversations are at the heart of what we do. We work cross-functionally, we draw, listen, watch, test and play. It’s a place where we enjoy diverse input and ideas.
We all get it
Our team is whip-smart. We understand all of this, fundamentally. We are all building a company for the next generation, driven by the modern, dynamic progressive workforce. One where equality of representation is pure common sense.
Tech is a tough sector. Talent is increasingly hard to find. The work is exhilarating and often exhausting. It also is incredibly rewarding, exciting, creative, fun, chaotic – in a positive way – open, and has the potential to change lives.
Women deserve to be part of that narrative. Here at Kano, they absolutely are.
By Deb Khan.
