Vasion Perspectives
Championing Utah’s Career Women at Vasion
By Melissa Knotts, Chief People Officer, Vasion
More of Utah’s women are ready for work, as the culture embraces dual-income families, both as a way for women to use their full range of talents and as a solution to challenging economic times.
Now the bad news: Utah has ranked dead last in the US for women’s equality for the past nine years, according to research by WalletHub. Workplace equality is one of the key factors tracked by the research. For many women, it is not enough to just be in the workforce. You are looking for supportive workplace environments with opportunities to advance into more senior roles.
This August 26th on Women’s Equality Day, the women leaders of Vasion want the women of Utah to know: If you want to work, there is space here for you.
Making Space for Women in Technology
Vasion is a cloud-based software company on a mission to make digital transformation attainable to everyone. We’re passionate about creating a workplace environment that welcomes women, in part to counteract the reputation tech companies have for the opposite. As of 2023, women held only 26.7% of the technology jobs in America. Even when their contributions are embraced, women are still disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions — in the tech sector, women occupy 32% of director positions and 28% of supervising roles.
Vasion is pursuing a different, women-friendly approach, and it’s paying off—earlier this August, the company was recognized as one of Utah’s 100 Companies Championing Women by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (GOEO) and the Utah Women in Leadership Project at Utah State University.
GOEO based its selection on Vasion’s proven excellence providing hybrid and remote work options and family leave policies, as well as our woman-focused recruiting strategies, back-to-work transition support after maternity leave, and our women’s employee resource group.
Although some positions at companies like ours require STEM backgrounds, other roles do not. We have female interns/students in STEM roles who joined Vasion as engineers once completing their technical degrees. In addition, tech companies offer many paths for women with a range of skills. Vasion has roles in sales, marketing, public relations, HR, and accounting support, where women can contribute. And if you are interested in tech, you can learn—women should not be intimidated.
Explore more about career opportunities at Vasion.
3 Strategies Vasion Uses to Attract and Keep More Women
Utah has a rich pool of talented women, and you have options. We know it is not enough to just offer jobs to women and expect you to choose us and stay with us for the long haul. It is important to show the investment we place in you. Here’s how we do it:
- Make literal space for women: At Vasion, we created a women’s lounge at our St. George headquarters where women can unwind. There is also a partitioned privacy wall at the gym for women workouts with increased privacy. This physical representation of space is a visual representation of the space we make in our jobs and organizations for women to contribute.
- Promote equity: Vasion recently doubled our parental leave, which benefits mothers and fathers. We also produced guidelines for managers on how they can help women return to work after any kind of leave. In addition, our employees enjoy flexible schedules with hybrid and remote options.
- Change the narrative: We intentionally target women in our recruitment by posting job announcements where women will see the notices. We have created content that explores what it is like for women to work and grow their careers at Vasion. This includes informative videos, social media posts, and articles, which feature our employees and their experiences.
Vasion is proud of the progress we’ve made advancing women’s equality in Utah, but we still have work to do. Building on the success that caught the eye of the GOEO, we’re continuing to develop programs and policies that promote workplace inclusivity and encourage women at all stages to pursue STEM careers. As one example, when we saw a spike in attrition of women in 2022, we implemented targeted support initiatives, reducing our attrition rate from 29% in 2022 to just 9% in 2023. That is just one way we are working to get better at making Vasion a place where women can flourish.
Come join us — I will be here personally to welcome you.
Melissa Knotts
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melissa is a veteran human resources expert with over 20 years of experience in technology organizations at different growth stages, from large companies like BEA Systems, Citrix, and VMware, to smaller entities. Melissa joined Vasion as our Chief People Officer in 2021 and is responsible for expanding our talent corps as we transition from a start-up into a growth company. Melissa is particularly committed to creating a culture that includes women and other groups underrepresented in tech. A lover of anything outdoors, you can find Melissa in her free time on a beach, a hiking trail, or in the middle of a wildflower field watching the sunset.
About Vasion
Vasion is committed to making digital transformation attainable to everyone by building an affordable, integrated SaaS solution that simplifies business processes. End users achieve a seamless experience across print, scan/capture, workflows, and content management, with open APIs for simple third-party software integration.