Anita Borg Institute Study Shows That Technical Women Are Especially at Risk of Disengagement During the Economic Downturn.Research Report Shares Strategies for Companies Looking to Retain a Diverse Technical Pipeline During and After a Recession PALO ALTO Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , Calif. -- Technical talent retention is critical to weathering the downturn and responding to upcoming growth, yet top talent is critically at risk of disengagement disengagement /dis·en·gage·ment/ (dis?en-gaj´ment) emergence of the fetus from the vaginal canal. dis·en·gage·ment n. now, and of flight when a recovery starts. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a recent report by the Anita Borg Anita Borg (January 17, 1949 – April 6, 2003) was born Anita Borg Naffz in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in Palatine, Illinois, Kaneohe, Hawaii, and Mukilteo, Washington. Career Borg was one of a relatively small group of female computer scientists at the Ph. Institute for Women in Technology, Retaining a Diverse Technical Pipeline During and After a Recession, this is especially true for female talent. The research concludes that this economic downturn represents a significant opportunity for executives to engage and retain diverse critical talent and cement their competitive position for the recovery. The report, authored by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, is available at the Anita Borg Institute website. Retaining a Diverse Technical Pipeline During and After a Recession reviews data about the impact of the recession on employees from high-tech companies and its implications for future retention. It also discusses why the retention of diverse talent is a critical issue for successful companies, and examines successful strategies that allow companies to retain their female technical workforce. "An unprecedented economic downturn has hurt employee engagement and further jeopardized the focus on practices important to technical women," states Dr. Caroline Simard, vice president of research and executive programs for the Anita Borg Institute and author of the study. "As a recovery occurs, companies are at risk of further losing female technical talent. An ongoing focus on practices that impact retention and advancement, such as establishing a culture of employee development and flexibility, will give companies a competitive advantage in the recovery and position them for renewed recruitment." Key strategies for retaining technical women suggested by the report include: * Developing and sustaining a culture of employee development and mentoring * Promoting programs for leadership and technical growth * Establishing vehicles for peer-interaction, mentoring and collaboration * Offering increased opportunities for flexibility and work-family balance practices * Leveraging technology to create virtual workplaces and telecommuting telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, transmitting work material to a business office by means of a modem and telephone lines; it is also known as telework. options The study also offers recommendations for attracting tomorrow's generation of technical women and returning to recruitment, including: * Supporting managers that understand the value of diversity and flexible workforce arrangements * Developing and sustaining a culture of collaboration About the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI Abi (ā`bī) [short for Abijah], in the Bible, King Hezekiah's mother. (Application Binary Interface) A specification for a specific hardware platform combined with the operating system. ) The Anita Borg Institute provides resources and programs to help industry, academia, and government recruit, retain, and develop women leaders in high-tech fields, resulting in higher levels of technological innovation. ABI programs serve high-tech women by creating a community and providing tools to help them develop their careers. ABI is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charitable organization This article is about charitable organizations. For other uses of the word charity, see Charity. A charitable organization (also known as a charity) is an organization with charitable purposes only. . ABI Partners include: Google, Microsoft, HP, Cisco, First Republic Bank, Intel, National Science Foundation, NetApp, SAP, Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA[3]) is an American vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information-technology services, founded on 24 February 1982. , Symantec, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. , Thomson Reuters, CA, Intuit, Amazon, Facebook, Raytheon, and Genentech. For more information, visit www.anitaborg.org. |
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