MotherBoard Ambassador Spotlight: Mike

In 2023, the ADLIB x MotherBoard Ambassador scheme was set up for employees wanting to volunteer their time and join the mission of creating a more gender-fair and inclusive tech industry.

As part of a series showcasing the amazing volunteers and ambassadors, MotherBoard caught up with Mike Harley, Head of Tech Recruitment at ADLIB.

Firstly, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your current role?

I head up ADLIB’s Digital Technology team. My team is based in Bristol but covers the UK across our client base of start-ups/scale-ups, SME’s, digital agencies and BCorp/tech for good businesses. We recruit Developers, Testers, Tech Leads, DevOps/Cloud and Infrastructure Engineers predominantly across the South West (and often fully remote/UK).

Outside of work, I run the South-West’s biggest Green Tech community with 2400 members from a wide range of backgrounds and demographics (more than half of our speakers are female).  I’m also a dad to 2 daughters (2 and 5yrs old).

What motivated you to become a MotherBoard ambassador?

A number of reasons!  After nearly 20 years in tech recruitment, I can’t honestly say that I’ve seen a big improvement in the treatment of mothers in the industry. 50% of women in tech over 35 years old leave the sector which is an astonishing statistic that needs correcting.  If I had a pound for every time I’ve been instructed to ‘find a female developer’ from a company that has done nothing to attract or retain women, I’d be very wealthy.  I believe that MotherBoard is making a tangible difference in educating and holding companies accountable for supporting mums in tech.

I want to see more women running tech companies and at board level, perhaps one day that could be one or both of my daughters.

“If I had a pound for every time I’ve been instructed to ‘find a female developer’ from a company that has done nothing to attract or retain women, I’d be very wealthy.  I believe that MotherBoard is making a tangible difference in educating and holding companies accountable for supporting mums in tech.”

What are you most looking forward to as part of being an ambassador?

Playing a bigger role in helping businesses to move from talking about supporting mums in tech to actually making pledges and realising change.  I’ve always tried to refer people to Motherboard but I’ve learnt so much more about the challenges that mothers face, so I look forward to passing that knowledge on.

“Whilst the COVID-19 epidemic has pushed businesses towards a more flexible attitude towards home-working, there’s still significant prejudice against working parents in terms of their priorities, availability, and commitment. ”

Why do you think making the tech industry more inclusive of mothers and working parents is important?

It’s essential for a number of reasons, not least that the industry could be losing vast amounts of experience, different perspectives, creativity and hard graft by continuing to not include mums and working parents.  It’s absolutely no secret that diverse and inclusive teams are more successful and desirable places to work so it’s paramount that it extends to mothers in tech.  Mums in tech often have fantastic leadership skills and of course, the ability to prioritise, negotiate, be super-efficient with their time and show empathy -all capabilities that are pushed to the limit whilst parenting!

What do you think the priority should be for creating tangible change for working mums in tech?

There needs to be a change in attitudes and perceptions towards mums in tech.  The industry struggles to accept or understand part-time workers and it’s rare to see job-share opportunities.  Whilst the COVID-19 epidemic has pushed businesses towards a more flexible attitude towards home-working, there’s still significant prejudice against working parents in terms of their priorities, availability, and commitment.  The industry needs to do better at valuing the contribution of mums in tech and then work to review their policies, flexibility and support provision.  There are a lot of businesses within the MotherBoard community that are leading the way with this so there’s good reason to be optimistic.

Powered by ADLIB, MotherBoard is a Business Charter, Community & Event Series, driving tangible change for mums working in the tech industry.

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