Empowering Women and Team Building in the Fintech Sector

March is Women’s History Month, which offers us an opportunity to celebrate the contributions women have made to business, science, and society, in general. As a female executive in the fintech sector, I’m also keenly aware of the need to create more opportunities for women in technology.

I’ve always been fascinated with how to help people achieve the most that they can. In my role as Chief People Officer at Ocrolus, I’m responsible for managing and growing teams, developing people, building programs and processes to support our employees, and helping to make sure that everything’s running smoothly. I want to help our employees lead happy, engaging lives—and do good work.

At Ocrolus, women currently comprise about 32% of our US team. That’s about on par with other tech companies in the U.S. Our objective is to eventually have women represent 35% of our team, a big challenge for a company that skews towards engineer and tech hires—roles that are generally dominated by men.

As a role model for women in this industry, my priority is recruiting and retaining the best talent possible not solely based on skills, but also by putting value in diverse backgrounds and shared values that will help all of us collectively succeed at our rapidly growing startup. 

A key part of my job is to build a diverse team that can help Ocrolus continue to deliver the intelligent document automation products and services that have made us a leader in the fintech sector, and won us numerous accolades for being a great place to work. That requires a focus on three key areas: people, product, and performance.

I came to Ocrolus about two years ago for the same reasons that I hope drive the rest of my team. Good performance starts with a group of highly qualified employees that enjoy their work and a management philosophy that truly puts people first. From a product perspective, we’re making a difference by automating the due diligence process for lenders and enabling borrowers to more easily access the credit they need.

Building and managing a remote team has been my biggest challenge. I joined Ocrolus virtually and accepted a job with people I had never met in person. We’ve taken for granted all the value that comes from the day-to-day physical interactions that we normally have.

Today, as a human resources manager, what is always on my mind is how to build community. We are a global company dealing with a remote workforce in different time zones and a multitude of cultural expectations. One of my top priorities is to ensure that everyone feels included and that communication and collaboration can be done in the most effective way.

The idea of remote versus office is a unique challenge in terms of ensuring that everyone in the room, virtual and physical, has the same voice—and that everyone feels like they are on a level playing field. This is the future, pandemic or not, and there’s no use fighting it. Like a lot of companies, we are using technology to help enable our team to be successful from wherever they are working and provide the flexibility that empowers them to find the right environment and conditions that work best for them.

The pandemic has also affected our recruitment and retention strategies. In particular, the walls of where we can recruit have crumbled, allowing us the freedom to recruit talent from anywhere in the world unlike ever before. However, retention still remains vital. With the “Great Resignation” still trending, many workers are leaving their jobs. So, in terms of retainment, we have to think about ensuring high engagement and relationship-building. All of us want to feel connected to our company beyond just a paycheck.

One of the ways we’re building remote connectivity is through online communities on Slack. This facilitates engagement based on both personal and professional interests. It also brings us back to the connection with Women’s History Month. I love our Ocrolus women’s Slack channel, which gives us remote opportunities to network, share ideas and concerns, and give one another recognition and support day-to-day.

But, at the end of the day, my responsibility is to ensure that our pipeline is filled with the right talent. My overarching goal is to support every employee in an equal opportunity environment that helps us grow our business and grow our team.

Ocrolus is hiring! View our available positions and see what might be a good fit.