USA 
United Kingdom
International Women’s Day 2024 may be behind us, but the theme of #InspireInclusion lives on. Let’s turn these words into action.
Inclusion is more than a tagline or a nice thing to do. It’s a business imperative. Research by McKinsey & Company shows that diverse, equitable, and inclusive companies outperform their peers financially. And the firm estimates that closing the gender gap could add $28 trillion to the value of the global economy by 2025.
Strong leaders recognize that women bring unique talents, skill sets, experiences, and perspectives to the workplace that fuel innovation and business growth. And an increasing number are carving paths forward to foster inclusion.
Yet women are still grossly underrepresented in the workplace. Only one in four C-suite executives is a woman and only one in 20 is a woman of color. When you look more broadly at the technology industry, just 25 per cent of all workers are women.
At SentinelOne, we’ve built a 3-year DE&I roadmap to ensure we stay hyper-focused on progressing towards our goals and advocating for women in cybersecurity and beyond.
Last year, by activating leadership ownership and championship of our DE&I programs, we affected a 16% jump in representation, increasing our women representation to 39% at the top management level. This year we’re driving DE&I program advocacy in partnership with our VPs and leaders to actively foster and support DE&I initiatives both internally and externally.
Make no mistake – progress is being made, but it’s going to take transformational action to move the needle. And it isn’t going to be easy. The road to narrowing the gender gap is long and winding. The key to successfully navigating it is to map out a plan and begin the journey.
Here are six things you can do to get started:
1. Expand your talent pipeline
It’s an all-too-common phrase heard at companies around the world: “We just don't have diverse talent in our pipeline.” It’s a vexing problem. But with the right investments in the right initiatives, it can be solved. At SentinelOne, we launched a Diverse Slate program where we enabled our recruiters and hiring managers to source, interview, and hire underrepresented talent. Our goal is to increase the diverse pipeline our interviewers assess - setting a target of at least 25% women representation.
Having an interview slate where the top of the pipeline consists of 50% underrepresented groups increases the likelihood of having diverse finalists. Additionally, diversifying the interview panel by ensuring that at least one interviewer in the process is a woman is critical to success.
Last year activating leadership ownership and championship of our DE&I programs, we affected a 16% jump in representation, increasing our women representation to 39% at the top management level
A strong university recruiting and internship program can also make a world of difference when it comes to diversifying the talent pipeline. Today’s students can and will be the leaders for tomorrow. Invest in and grow them now. SentinelOne believes that early career development translates into future leaders within the organization. A well-planned college or early careers recruiting program can also increase companies’ ability to attract diverse entry-level talent.
This past year, we successfully launched a global internship program with 67% of interns coming from diverse backgrounds. As we continue to find the best and brightest talent and grow our program, our new goal is to hire at least 75% diverse interns for this year’s cohort.
2. Diversify your hiring practices
Closing the gender gap starts with fair and equitable hiring. And that starts with educating your hiring managers and employees on what that is. Our employees have access to on-demand unconscious bias training and our executive leadership teams are required to participate in Inclusive Leadership training throughout the year. We are implementing a structured interview process to ensure consistent interviews for all candidates. As we’ve increased our women representation, we have more balanced interview panels within many of our interviewing teams.
It also means, where applicable by law, tracking and reporting on how many women are being considered for roles, because you can’t grow what you don’t know. SentinelOne has created two DE&I dashboards. The first tracks our diverse pipeline throughout the interview and hiring process. In real-time, we can see where processes need to be addressed and improved. The other dashboard shows the makeup of our talent here at SentinelOne by region and department. Leaders can see the demographics of their organization.
3. Groom your bench
Don’t overlook the talent you do have. Succession planning, internal promotions, and a commitment to career pathing are equally important pathways to growing and retaining top talent. We’re proud of the contributions and growth of our Sentinels and 22% of promotions went to SentinelOne women throughout the last year.
Create a culture where all voices are heard and create opportunities for your high-performing women to advance and succeed. If you don’t, your competitors will. Last year, SentinelOne launched a successful global mentorship program called MentorOne. We initially piloted the program with SentinelWIN, our Women’s Inclusion Network with a great reception. We have matched over 200 mentees with mentors.
4. Unleash the power of community
Community is a powerful thing. Building platforms for women and their allies to connect and share their journeys can invigorate and inspire them to blaze trails across the organization. Employee-led women’s networks are a great way for women and their allies to network, learn, and celebrate what makes them different and unique. These groups are critical catalysts for fostering inclusion and positive change.
Community is a powerful thing. Building platforms for women and their allies to connect and share their journeys can invigorate and inspire them to blaze trails across the organization
Encouraging participation in established networks such as Women in Cybersecurity, Girls Who Code, and AnitaB.org is another effective way to fuel networking and mentorship and cast a wider net for new female talent. At SentinelOne, women have the opportunity to participate in a variety of internal and external panels, webinars, fireside chats, Instagram takeovers, and social media spotlights that highlight the wonderful women of our organization and allow them to amplify their voices.
5. Drive accountability with data
Operational efficiency, sales success, and profit margin are critical metrics on which the success of a business is measured. Inclusivity must be too. Inclusion is not an initiative; it’s a way of operating. Set reasonable goals, create meaningful KPIs, and consistently monitor progress against statistics such as overall gender percentages, percentage of female promotions, diversity mix of both internal and external talent pipelines, and percentage of women in leadership positions. And don’t let anything stand in the way of progress. Identify potential impediments, such as discriminatory behavior, and move quickly to halt them.
6. Foster inclusion through learning
Inclusion isn’t inherent. It is a learned behavior. And it starts at the top with leadership training and coaching around key concepts like unconscious bias, microaggressions, sexual harassment, and bystander intervention. It also includes listening and learning from the experiences of others.
When women feel they are being heard and that their voice matters, they use it more. Helping women find their voice can be as simple as asking for an opinion in a meeting or inviting them to collaborate on a project. Commit to it. Creating opportunities for women to make an impact is a win-win on all sides of the equation, as it builds confidence, unlocks productivity, and strengthens the leadership bench.
The rallying call to #InspireInclusion has been issued. Organizations that answer it can lead the charge and not only transform the workplace but make the world a better place.
Divya Ghatak is a top tech talent executive with over 20 years of global experience who was recently named among the Top 50 Women Leaders in SAAS. As the Chief People Officer at SentinelOne, Divya is a transformative leader who drives a people-first experience and fosters a values-driven culture. Her true passion is equity in the workplace and continuing to close the gender gap in tech for the next generation.
