Salesforce aims to attract 72 women a year to tech industry
In March 2020, Salesforce Switzerland launched the "Bring women back to work" initiative. Initiator Vanessa Gentile now takes stock and provides an outlook on the coming years and the goals that have been set.
In collaboration with K2 University and 14 partner companies - including Accenture, Capgemini and Isobar - Salesforce has developed and implemented a program from March to November 2020. This is based on the free Salesforce learning platform "Trailhead" and is explicitly aimed at women who have taken a career break for a longer period of time and/or want to enter the tech industry. For example, the program launched in November with 15 women receiving a year of mentoring and preparation to enter the tech industry. A further 18 female graduates are now due to join in March 2021.
"Since the beginning, our aim has been to offer talented women in Switzerland who are enthusiastic about learning something that will enable them to get back to work, even after a longer period of leave," explains Vanessa Gentile, initiator of the Bring women back to work program. "And in a field that is growing like no other due to digital transformation and is therefore not only exciting, but also future-proof. So far, it's working out wonderfully - partly because all our partners are 100 percent behind the initiative."
72 women are supported
The aim is to bring a total of around 72 women into the program over the course of a year, who will then be offered a permanent Salesforce job by one of the partners or by Salesforce itself. This specific target group approach is intended to counteract a pronounced problem. According to one study one in seven women in Switzerland loses her job as a result of motherhood. The pandemic has further highlighted gender inequalities, says Vanessa Gentile.
"Against the backdrop of the Covid 19 pandemic, we also face a crisis of inequality," Gentile continues. "Like a magnifying glass, the state of emergency magnifies the view of the social situation in Switzerland and highlights existing disadvantages particularly clearly. This makes the measures that counteract this gap all the more important. The Program 'bring women back to work is one of them."
