Industry News Inclusion, Equity & Belonging

Government targets workplace culture as women remain underrepresented in technology

Technology & Telecoms

The Government is working with technology businesses to develop new standards addressing workplace culture, harassment and career progression, as concerns persist about the barriers facing women across the UK’s technology sector.

The initiative, announced on 29 October, will bring together employers and industry representatives through the Women in Tech Taskforce to examine how organisations can create more inclusive working environments and improve opportunities for women.

According to government figures, women account for just 22 per cent of the IT workforce, highlighting the scale of the gender imbalance in one of the UK’s most strategically important industries.

The proposed standards will focus on areas including workplace culture, harassment reporting and investment practices, with the intention of encouraging more consistent approaches across the sector.

Businesses involved in the initiative include BT, Revolut, Sage and Octopus Ventures.

The proposals come as employers face increasing scrutiny of how effectively they prevent workplace harassment, address discrimination and create environments in which employees feel safe to raise concerns.

For HR and people leaders, the development raises questions about whether existing inclusion policies are translating into meaningful improvements in employees’ day-to-day experiences. While recruitment initiatives can help attract more women into technology roles, retaining and progressing female talent also depends on management behaviour, access to development opportunities and organisational culture.

Workplace harassment, exclusion and limited progression opportunities can undermine employee wellbeing and contribute to people leaving organisations or sectors altogether.

The initiative therefore has implications beyond gender representation. It reflects growing recognition that workforce participation and business performance are influenced by the conditions people experience at work.

From a human sustainability perspective, creating inclusive workplaces means considering not only who enters an organisation, but whether employees have equitable opportunities to develop, progress and remain in employment over the longer term.

The Government has also outlined plans for a programme supporting women-led scale-up businesses in 2027, extending the focus beyond employment into entrepreneurship and business growth.

However, the workplace standards themselves are expected to be voluntary, raising questions about how participating organisations will demonstrate progress and whether the initiative will lead to measurable changes.

For employers, meaningful implementation could involve reviewing reporting procedures, examining promotion and retention data, strengthening management accountability and ensuring employees have confidence in how concerns are handled.

These measures are particularly relevant as organisations increasingly recognise the relationship between psychological safety, leadership behaviour and workforce wellbeing.

The initiative also comes amid wider changes to employer responsibilities around preventing sexual harassment, adding to the pressure on organisations to demonstrate that policies are supported by practical action.

Although the proposed technology-sector standards are distinct from statutory requirements, both developments place greater emphasis on preventing harmful workplace behaviours rather than responding only after incidents occur.

The longer-term test will be whether collaboration between government and industry improves women’s experiences, representation and progression across technology businesses.

For HR leaders, the central challenge is ensuring that commitments to inclusion are reflected in the working conditions, management practices and opportunities available to employees.

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