Who are the top SaaS companies supporting women in APAC? As we enter Q2 of 2023 and look toward progress for women in tech sales and in the wider workplace, we wanted to highlight some of APAC’s most innovative SaaS companies and the great initiatives they have in place.
Top SaaS companies helping women succeed…
Canva
Canva, a top SaaS company in the design space is devoted to supporting women in the workplace. The company has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, and actively seeks to hire and promote women in all levels of the organisation. One of Canva’s core values is ‘Be a force for good’ which highlights their ongoing dedication to do good for everyone and promote diversity and inclusion across all levels of the company. To do so, Canva offers a range of employee benefits designed to support working mothers, including promoting the use of their flexible work and generous parental leave policies.
The company also has a Women’s Network, which provides a platform for female employees to connect and support one another through networking, mentoring, and professional development opportunities. Canva’s focus on creating a supportive and inclusive workplace for women has resulted in a more diverse and productive team, and has helped to position the company as a leader in employee experience in the tech industry.
Fivetran
Fivetran, has a number of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to support minority and underrepresented groups. Not only has this been a fantastic means for employees to get together to discuss various challenges they face and consider what Fivetran could be doing better to support them, but it has also created an amazing opportunity for colleagues to network and get to know each other, especially cross-regionally.
Members of these ERGs often set up events with the purpose of educating and informing others across the business, which for Fivetran is the cornerstone of progress and moving the needle on some of the core challenges posed to each group. Each ERG also has an executive sponsor who will typically be someone from C-suite, who acts as a champion for each group and ensures they have the support they need.
Their Women’s+ ERG has a mission of educating and empowering Fivetran employees of all underrepresented genders through monthly discussion groups, regular speaker sessions and advocacy for policy change. One of the best initiatives that has come from this group has been their mentorship programme which aims to pair mentees and mentors together based on location/timezone, skills and career aspirations. Throughout the programme a series of panels were organised where different topics such as giving/receiving feedback and motivating people and teams were discussed.
Asana
For employees to do their best work and for Asana to achieve its mission, everyone at Asana must feel respected and valued. In APAC, they currently have three Employee Resources Groups (ERGs) including AsanaWomen, Team Rainbow (LGBTQIA+) and Asanapac (Pan Asian and Pacific Islander), and two community groups: one for parents and caregivers, and another, Thrive, a community group to support mental health.
These thriving communities foster trusted, safe spaces for employees and involve regular programming in the form of internal and external events that align with each group’s goals. For example, AsanaWomen’s mission is to foster a community of action-driven Champions for all women through empowerment, advocacy and allyship. In the past year, they have run a number of events and training sessions linked to the community’s pillars of personal development, sisterhood, and women’s health.
In addition to ERGs, all Asana’s employee’s go through conscious leadership training and have access to a number of benefits including executive and life coaching, as well as inclusive fertility health and family-forming benefits through Carrot Fertility.
Supermetrics
Supermetrics is a frontrunner in data integration technology, with 15% of global advertising spend reported through their products with 330+ resourceful and helpful individuals from 11 countries representing 42 nationalities. Supermetrics operates on trust, transparency, and inclusion. They focus on hiring for a diverse, growth-minded, and collaborative team and building an inclusive workplace where everyone is treated fairly and respectfully.
Supermetrics was founded in Finland, and the Nordic work and leadership culture is inherent in their company culture. That means they’re egalitarian, believe in low hierarchy, and value a healthy work-life balance. They continually ask feedback on how employees experience the work environment, as well as diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at
Supermetrics in their biweekly employee engagement survey and take action on any feedback. Supermetrics also recently started a DE&I Committee comprising both People Ops team members and other employees as well as an internal Women at Supermetrics community.
Almost half of their Leadership team positions are filled by women, and over half of their Sales Managers are women. Meet Noora Laitinen, Senior Sales Manager in the JAPAC market in this Employee Spotlight video. As a company, Supermetrics are family friendly and many of their employees have small children. Their health insurance covers pregnancy, prenatal examinations, and birth whilst also offering 16 weeks of fully paid maternity leave.
Hello Clever
Hello Clever supports women in the workplace by implementing comprehensive paid leave policy including longer maternity leave and monthly period leave. Additionally creating policies that prevent discrimination and harassment with clear resolutions should the incidents occur. Being a female-led fintech startup, we’re proud to have more than 30% of their team are women working across Product and Tech and will have this number increased in the years to come.
Vercel
Vercel is very supportive of Women in the Tech Space. They have a Women @ Vercel (Employee Resource Group) to support women across all departments in the organisation. Additionally, Vercel has doubled down on their recruiting efforts when it comes to hiring more women. Vercel understands the value of having diverse voices in an innovative space.
As leaders in their niche industry, Vercel pride themselves in also providing means of support for women and all their walks of life. They offer flexible schedules, a paid leave maternity leave policy which allows employees to receive their pay at 100% while they welcome their new family member and childcare coverage programs. Vercel also has an annual professional development stipend that allows women to advance their career growth. Vercel highly encourages those interested in leadership to grow along their fast-growing company.
Contentsquare
Global leader in digital experience analytics Contentsquare helps brands everywhere transform the way they do business, allowing them to take action at enterprise scale and build customer trust with security, privacy and accessibility. Contentsquare’s fast growth and evolution is underpinned by a company-wide steadfast commitment to putting people at the heart of every digital experience. This includes its approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) by understanding the power of the collective voice.
Contentsquare empowers every member of the organisation to actively foster a diverse, inclusive workplace through employee resource groups (ERGs). Led by executive sponsors, the four Contentsquare ERGs – Women of Contentsquare, LGBTQIA+ and Allies, Multicultural, and Abilities – are designed to be safe spaces where employees can connect to advocate and support the mission of the ERG.
Contentsquare’s Women in eCommerce program has evolved into an active community of equality advocates who want to create meaningful change within the eCommerce industry. Most recently in Singapore, Contentsquare’s Women in Commerce group hosted its first event, where a group of digital business leaders gathered to share and connect on their own personal journey with imposter syndrome and valuable tips on how to overcome it.
Slack
Slack is an instant messaging platform for businesses, with a passion for supporting female careers in the tech sales space through embedding diversity and inclusion into their hiring and culture. As of last count in 2021, Slack’s workforce was made up of approximately 45% females in roles across product, engineering, sales and more, with 29% of leadership roles held by women. Slack promotes flexible work and continues to drive conversation about DEI through multiple ERG’s including their Women’s ERG with more than 800 members.
The community itself was founded to create a safe and comfortable space for women to share their thoughts and perspectives on women-related issues and topics in the workplace. Slack saw the pandemic as a way to drive a digital first culture – whilst they still welcome people to come into the office, they want to promote more employees utilising flexibility to work what suits them best.
The companies listed here highlight some of the top SaaS companies in the APAC region helping to support and celebrate women within the tech industry.