why have sponsor guidelines?

We exist to encourage women, non-binary and underrepresented people to join tech and support and empower them so they stay in tech. To achieve this, we have identified a variety of goals:

  • expand our influence by reaching more people more effectively;

  • offer a place where women in tech feel connected and empowered;

  • influence more women to choose careers in tech and support them throughout with mentorship, education and job resources;

  • establish ourselves as a fixture in the Portland community; and

  • influence Portland tech workplaces to foster diversity and inclusion.

Our members report some startling facts:

  • many lack access to a quiet/nursing room at work,

  • nearly 20% do not feel they have balance in their life,

  • nearly 20% work for a company that does not have a maternity leave policy,

  • 3 out of 5 feel they are paid inequitably,

  • 1 out of 4 do not feel their workplaces are diverse and inclusive, and

  • 1 out of 4 have been asked inappropriate questions in a job interview.

With our community at the center of everything we do, we believe it is critical for us to partner with organizations who not only believe in our purpose, but are actively supporting it.

SPONSOR GUIDELINES

We believe our organization can create positive change in the tech industry and want our sponsors to help us in this endeavor. To do this, we ask all of our sponsors to commit to helping us achieve our purpose:

  • representing the best of PDXWIT both in words and actions; being thoughtful so as not to inadvertently exclude or harm others;

  • being a leader for diversity and inclusion;

  • being respectful of people’s opinions and ideas even if they are different than your own; and

  • ensuring your workplace strives to offer safe channels to report issues and concerns, which will be investigated with diligence, care and without retaliation.

Recommendations and resources

There are several ideas we suggest our sponsor companies consider when striving to be a leader for diversity and inclusion in our community:

  • create workspaces that are inclusive and safe to all individuals including

    • nursing room or quiet room,

    • support for trans and non-binary folks in your health care policies and employee communication,

    • flexible schedules and work-from-home options for employees with families and other outside of work obligations, and

    • family leave policies.

  • actively recruit women and underrepresented groups to open job positions,

  • consider implementing a transparent pay structure, to address issues of pay inequity,

  • train your hiring managers on what to ask in job interviews and get them the support they need to hire fairly, and

  • develop a code of conduct that is distributed to all members of your team and can be shared with organizations like PDXWIT when you host events.