A recent investigation highlights significant distinctions in employee satisfaction between tech companies founded by women and those led by men.
- The research, undertaken by The CTO Club, reviewed 20 rapidly expanding technology firms from a global perspective.
- Findings indicate that female-founded companies excel in aspects such as work-life balance, diversity, and compensation.
- Data shows that employees of female-led firms tend to remain in their positions for longer periods.
- On the contrary, male-founded companies are deemed slightly better regarding company culture and career progression.
A recently conducted study by The CTO Club has shed light on a notable trend in the tech industry. By examining 20 of the fastest-growing tech companies worldwide, the research compares employee satisfaction across several key dimensions, distinguishing between female-founded and male-founded firms.
The detailed analysis reveals that employees working at companies led by female founders report higher satisfaction in terms of diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, and salary. This trend is underscored by scores from Glassdoor.com, where female-founded companies received higher ratings: 4.1 versus 3.8 for diversity, 4.0 compared to 3.9 for work-life balance, and 3.8 against 3.7 for compensation.
Moreover, data collected from Linkedin.com indicates that employees in companies with female leadership stay, on average, eight months longer than their counterparts in male-led firms. Specifically, the median tenure was three years for female-founded companies, while it was 2.4 years for those founded by men.
In contrast, male-founded tech firms outranked female-founded ones marginally on company culture and career progression. Employees in these companies reported a slightly higher contentment level, with culture scoring 3.9 compared to 3.8, and career opportunities rated at 3.6 versus 3.5.
Katie Sanders, a senior editor at The CTO Club, commented on these findings, highlighting that female leadership nurtures an environment suffused with empowerment, diversity, and inclusivity. Sanders asserted that women’s unique perspectives foster an inclusive workplace culture that values diverse viewpoints, driving innovation and growth.
The study also measured employee approval ratings for founders who maintained CEO roles, ultimately finding no significant difference between male-led and female-led enterprises. Notably, Verge Genomics, under Alice Zhang’s leadership, emerged as an outlier with a 100% CEO approval rating from its employees.
Despite these favourable outcomes for female-founded firms, challenges remain in increasing female representation. As of last year, women constituted merely 11.1% of tech founders. Kamales Lardi, CEO of Lardi & Partner Consulting, emphasised the importance of proactive measures to address this diversity gap, such as bias training and flexible working policies.
Natalie Rutgers from Deepgram stressed the uniqueness of such inclusive environments, where questions are welcomed, and professional growth is encouraged. Her experiences highlight the often limited representation of women in technical roles within predominantly male settings.
These findings underscore the positive impact of female leadership in fostering inclusive and satisfying work environments within the tech industry.
