Skip to content
Unlock Your Potential with Edu Insights Blog

Solving the Puzzle of Digital Expertise in UK Businesses

Thriving technology industry in Britain, yet lacking diversity, with over half the UK population underserved. According to Salesforce's UK&I MD, Andy Lawson, companies must create more inclusive workspaces to bridge this gap.

,   and  Administrator
3 min read
Strategies for Resolving the UK's Digital Skills Predicament Among Companies
Strategies for Resolving the UK's Digital Skills Predicament Among Companies

Solving the Puzzle of Digital Expertise in UK Businesses

Addressing the Gender Imbalance and IT Skills Gap in the UK Technology Sector

The UK technology sector is facing a significant challenge: a gender imbalance and an IT skills gap. To tackle this issue, several key initiatives and strategic recommendations have been launched, focusing on retaining and advancing women in tech roles.

Empowering Women Talent

UK tech employers are being encouraged to actively develop and sponsor women talent. This involves matching talent to roles based on skills and potential, rather than familiarity. Programs and career progression metrics are being audited by gender to root out bias, ensuring a fair and equal work environment.

Leadership Opportunities

Promoting women into high-profile leadership roles is vital. Elevating experienced women by placing them in leadership on visible projects and giving them public recognition can help inspire other women in the industry. Career paths are being co-designed to span roles, geographies, and business areas, accelerating progression and developing business acumen.

Clear Career Progression Frameworks

Creating transparent, written progression frameworks defining roles, competencies, and pay at every level helps prevent career stagnation. Embedding these into reviews, development plans, and learning makes mobility across teams and functions easier, encouraging retention and growth.

Data-Driven Interventions

The Lovelace Report (2025) recommends employers routinely track early career signs of stagnation for women and other underrepresented groups to intervene early and keep talent progressing.

Democratizing Opportunities

Ensuring women are supported to lead on high-impact projects and involved in decision-making roles fosters stronger career development and reduces bias in opportunity allocation.

Challenging Systemic Barriers

Comprehensive audits of pay, performance reviews, and promotion processes help uncover hidden biases hindering women’s advancement. This moves beyond diversity-for-appearance measures to business-critical equity actions.

Flexible Working and Inclusive Culture

Government reports stress the importance of flexible working options, supportive culture, and addressing work-life balance issues as key to retaining women. The "leaky pipeline" problem, where women leave due to lack of progression and unsupportive environments, is being tackled through culture change initiatives.

Promoting Women in Tech

Organizations like WeAreTechWomen host Women in Tech Week and workshops to help companies embed best practices and share learnings from reports like the Lovelace Report, further supporting the mission to elevate women leaders.

These initiatives are not just diversity or equality aims; they are framed as strategic business imperatives essential for innovation, competitiveness, and addressing the broader IT skills shortage in the UK. The focus is increasingly on systemic change rather than isolated programs, involving measurable tracking, leadership accountability, and clear career development paths to retain and grow female tech talent.

The technology sector plays a crucial role in the future of Britain and needs to be accessible to all children, regardless of gender. The introduction of programming into the national curriculum in 2014 was considered significant to equip youth with in-demand skills. However, more needs to be done to encourage girls to pursue careers in tech, as boys outnumber girls by nine to one in ICT subjects, according to JCQ.

Companies in tech need to support and nurture female talent beyond just pay. This includes providing access to training, mentorship, and leadership roles in tech organizations. The UK's tech sector has grown 32% faster than the wider economy and has created jobs 2.8 times faster than the rest of the labor market. However, the sector needs to demonstrate that tech is no longer just a boy's club and having strong female role models in tech can help inspire young women to pursue careers in the field.

The problem of underrepresentation of women in tech is a responsibility for everyone, including parents, aunts, uncles, and teachers. By encouraging and supporting girls to pursue careers in tech, we can help close the IT skills gap and create a more diverse and inclusive technology sector.

Sources: [1] Tech Nation (2021) - Women in Tech: The Five-Year Journey [2] The Lovelace Report (2025) [3] Women and Equalities Committee (2021) - Women in the Workplace: The Leaky Pipeline

Note: This article is a summary of the provided bullet points and does not contain advertisements.

  1. To help bridge the gender imbalance in the UK technology sector, technology employers should invest in education-and-self-development programs, offering training and mentorship opportunities aimed at empowering women and encouraging them to excel in technology-focused roles.
  2. In a broader initiative to promote diversity and advancement, tech businesses must focus on finance by creating clear, equitable career progression frameworks, eliminating pay disparities, and fostering a culture that values and supports both men and women, ensuring that talent is nurtured and retained regardless of gender.

Read also:

    Related

    Latest