Benefits transparency is tech's retention opportunity for International Women's Day

Leading up to International Women's Day, we wanted to get a pulse of how women were actually feeling about the day. The results made one thing clear: workplace benefits matter more than symbolic gestures. Our research found that 83% of women say workplace benefits matter more than symbolic recognition, and 75% want employers to be open about how they're actually supporting women. 

If that's the case, why is International Women's Day still being treated as a celebration alone?

Instead of social media posts on tech companies' channels, International Women's Day marks a day when companies should audit how they are tangibly supporting women.

The tech sector does not have a hiring problem. It has a retention problem. For Canadian women, the data is clear: culture, benefits and transparency matter. 

Why opaque benefits undermine trust

For tech companies looking to better support women, benefits are the most tangible place to begin. They are concrete, measurable and directly tied to employees' lived experience. But impact doesn't come from offering benefits alone. It comes from making them clear, accessible and usable.

Tech organisations move quickly: policies evolve, priorities shift. Yet communication about benefits can often lag. A company may be investing meaningfully in mental health coverage, family-building support or flexible work policies, but if employees don't clearly understand what's available (or how those offerings are changing), the result is not reassurance; it's uncertainty.

In high-performance environments where workloads are already intense, ambiguity becomes friction. When benefits feel difficult to navigate, inconsistently applied or poorly explained, employees interpret that as a lack of support, regardless of what exists on paper.

Understanding benefits should not feel like another task on an already full plate. Support systems should be easy to find, simple to understand and straightforward to access when they are needed most.

The risk of celebration without action 

International Women's Day was rooted in labour rights and gender equity movements. Yet in many organisations today, it has evolved into a marketing moment marked by panels, social media posts, internal spotlights and webinars.

There is nothing inherently wrong with celebration. The risk emerges when celebration is disconnected from the day-to-day realities women are experiencing inside the organisation. If employees are navigating inequity, caregiving strain, burnout, or complex health challenges, a well-produced panel does little to address the structural pressures they face.

International Women's Day is also when companies tend to amplify their core values: things like wellness, inclusion, flexibility, belonging. But values that are not clearly tied to policies and measurable outcomes can feel aspirational rather than operational. We have worked with organisations that proudly prioritize wellness and positive culture, yet their highest area of drug claims is antidepressants. While workplace factors are only one piece of overall wellbeing, that kind of data should prompt reflection.

When celebration is not paired with structural action, it can unintentionally reinforce the perception that optics matter more than outcomes. International Women's Day should resonate just as strongly with the people inside the organisation as it does with the audience watching from the outside.

The practical roadmap: Turning IWD into an annual accountability cycle

Rather than criticizing companies for performative efforts, there's an opportunity to reposition IWD as an annual audit to serve as a checkpoint to the changing world. 

Step 1: Audit Benefits Through a Gender and Lifecycle Lens

Organisations should review their benefits, including mental health, family-building, caregiving, menopause and flexible work policies, not just for availability but for clarity, accessibility and consistent application. 

Analysing utilization data helps identify where women may underuse support, often due to unclear policies or perceived barriers, which undermines retention regardless of how robust the benefits appear on paper.

Step 2: Tie IWD to Transparent Reporting

Transparency doesn't require sharing sensitive data. It means clearly communicating what benefits exist, where improvements are underway and the timelines and benchmarks for progress. Reporting year-over-year change signals stability and accountability and in fast-moving sectors like tech, that clarity is a key driver of retention.

Step 3: Make It Measurable

Support for women should be treated like any other KPI, with benefits and policies assessed for clarity and usability. International Women's Day can serve as an annual governance milestone to communicate what has changed, what is improving and where leadership remains accountable. 

By collecting and analysing this data, organisations can make meaningful updates that are felt immediately and drive measurable improvements in retention.

Transparency is the new equity.

The companies that win on retention, reputation and trust won't be the ones with the most polished March 8 campaigns; they'll be the ones willing to show their work.