Job satisfaction survey says tech, while bad, is better than other industries for women

Tech may grab headlines for its misogyny and racial biases, but when it comes to job satisfaction, professional women still rank it as the best industry to work in, according to a survey by the company InHerSight.

That’s sad for the state of women in tech and shows just how low of a bar industries have set for promoting and supporting women in the workplace.

As Women’s History Month draws to a close, here’s a look at the InHerSight data, which shows what technology does better — and worse — than other industries.

According to the InHerSight data, women remain underrepresented in the tech workplace. Only 28 percent of all tech jobs are staffed by women, but women still prefer working in the industry to any other.

Mainly that’s a matter of benefits. Women surveyed by InHerSight ranked tech highly for its paid time off and its flexible work hours — as well as its offerings for maternity and adoption leave.

Again, it’s helpful to remember that this is on a sliding scale. Just because tech is scoring well in the survey doesn’t mean that tech is actually doing well on these issues. It just means that tech is doing better than any other industry that women work in (that is just beyond depressing).

Where tech companies fail is in providing leadership and top management opportunities for women, according to the company’s data.

Among big companies, Procore, HubSpot, CA Technologies, Ericsson and Facebook take the top five slots.

Technology companies often say they are unfairly targeted for their response to problems in the workplace, but that’s only because the wider community holds the industry to what it feels to be a normal standard. By which I mean, the results of this survey certainly don’t paint the Valley in the best light — just the least bad light.

That’s leading by example in one way, and falling well short of where the industry should be the standard of the people who matter most… its employees.