Re:Slack got four of its black female engineers to accept a ...
by kizz246 on Wednesday February 10, 2016 @05:17PM
(#11076557)
It's a huge benefit. Currently pregnant and working in web development: working from home and part time are absolutely crucial to keeping me in the work force. Don't get me wrong I love my job and wouldn't want to give it up but there's no way I could breastfeed, raise a child and work full time in an office environment for the next year. Babies eat once every 2-3 hours! It's just not feasible. Then after a year off, skills would slide since things move so quickly in this industry and I'd be far behind where I was.
Working from home with the option for part time is the bees knees. I can keep up my skills and do motherly things as well, and just take a pay cut (from the hours) for a year .
I'm not so sure if the number of people from a minority available for hire is fixed. It might be possible to target people who are currently not part of the workforce.
I'm thinking of things like offering part time positions. If you offer part time positions, you might reach mothers that might otherwise stay at home with their kids.
I have no clue if this specific measure would help, but I do believe that as a company you could do more to encourage diversity than just wait for someone else to fix the pipeline.