Women at Paymenttools - An Inventory (Part 1)

You would think the Fintech industry is forward-looking. Taking a look at the numbers in regard to gender equality, you will see a different truth. Women in management positions make up only 14 percent! But what are the challenges in a male-dominated finance and technology world? As a startup, how can we create a space to overcome these hurdles and be an active part of social change?

So, why do we care about this topic at Paymenttools? Evolving diversity creates an exciting work atmosphere, better teamwork, and increased employee retention and satisfaction. And incidentally, gender-diverse companies have a significantly higher probability of being more profitable than average (McKinsey). Missing skilled workers also affects the IT industry. Yet, in short jobs in our field are future-proof, lucrative, and career-enhancing.

Why is gender diversity important in general? The female economy is the world’s largest and fastest growing market. A few numbers compiled by the Financial Alliance for Women: 80 percent of household purchasing decisions worldwide are made or influenced by women (Deloitte), 73 percent of women worldwide are unsatisfied with their banking services (BCG), and 68 percent of women-owned businesses in emerging markets have unmet credit needs (IFC). By the way, figures also support the following: Women are frugal, prudent in loans, and loyal customers. So why is an industry with women as core customers dominated by men? We want to see a fintech scene that is more feminine, or at least more welcoming to women, and we want to be a part of that.

The status quo for Paymenttools

In a nutshell: The proportion of women at Paymenttools is unsatisfactory. We know that, and we are working on it. Paymenttools has a total female quota of 40 percent. Especially as Scrum Masters and Product Owners, a large part of our meetings are led by women. At the management and leadership level, there are currently no women.

That's exactly why this topic needs more space in the fintech industry. We would also like to increase the proportion of women among our techies from 4 percent at present. The igniting start is usually made by one's self-initiative.

As an independent start-up within the REWE Group, we use resources of the entire group to help us get started and focus on our further development. The network f.ernetzt, for instance, offers women from all companies of REWE Group

a platform for exchange, support, and networking. The employee development program

Women's Drive is designed to help women to identify their career ambitions even better and motivates them to realize those.

A women's network as a first important step

However, in order to create an even more trusted safe space within Paymenttools, we’ve just founded our own women's network. Here we don’t only want to support each other professionally and privately, but also brainstorm for the future of our entire company:

• How do we make our industry more attractive?

• How do we boost women within their fields?

• How can we address needs to make female employees happy in the long term?

• What initiatives can bring change, perhaps even outside of Paymenttools?

With these small initial impulses, we are of course still at the very beginning, and it is important for us to learn as much as possible on our journey.

And last but not least, there is a leverage in employer branding. Teams don't become diverse by simply saying we welcome everyone. We need to acknowledge that women experience different challenges and hurdles in some everyday situations and in their professional lives. Once you see that, you have to create supportive equal opportunity offerings.

And we know that diversity needs to reach into many more areas. This is our first step.

Little teaser on Part 2: We spoke with a few women from Paymenttools  that bring a variety of backgrounds, and asked them how they're doing. Also, we also spoke to our Talent Acquisition Manager Maximilian about challenges and ideas in recruiting.
- Stay tuned!