The UK is a world leader in life sciences tech, excelling in healthcare innovation and cutting-edge technology that drives its global success. We previously examined how regional developments are meeting demand for digital expertise, with hubs from Manchester to Cambridge driving innovation and making the sector one of the country’s most dynamic and profitable industries, employing around 9.4 million people and contributing around £34 billion in GVA to the economy.
Tech talent is the key to this success. However, the sector could be missing out on its full potential due to the underrepresentation of women and minority groups, including global majority communities, people with disabilities and those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, in leadership and technical roles. We examine the challenges life sciences tech continues to face in gender and minority inclusion, and how making it a strategic business priority can improve recruitment and retention.
As it stands
Let’s examine the data:
- In December 2024, women made up 27.6% of the core STEM workforce. This equates to over 1.4 million women working in the sector across the UK
- A 2022/23 government report on inclusion and diversity found that across all STEM roles, the gender balance was 24.75% female and 75.25% male
- A Women in Tech Network’s 2025 report revealed that in engineering and programming jobs, women accounted for only 23% of roles, despite accounting for 56% of the workforce
- The same report noted that in 2022-23, only 23% of Computer Science and 21% of Engineering & Technology students were women or non-binary people
- A Cogent Skills report dating from 2021 revealed that less than 1% of life science employees are Black/African/Caribbean/Black British, that only 1% of the workforce has a disability and that just 9% of life science professionals are from a working-class background
- The proportion of women in science, engineering and technology managers was 20%
- One of the main concerns expressed by 47% of respondents to a survey conducted by the Science Industry Partnership (SIP) was the lack of BAME individuals in senior positions.
These stats aren’t just symptomatic of the prevailing attitudes of our wider society; they represent the reality of a lack of progression opportunities for women and minority groups, leading to both retention and recruitment challenges for life science organisations.
The barriers to overcome
Understanding the barriers to inclusion can help hiring managers make more informed choices about their recruitment strategies. Issues to consider include:
Stereotypes and unconscious bias – even the most enlightened life sciences organisation can carry entrenched attitudes about who belongs or deserves to work in the sector. It can begin with exclusive job descriptions and automated screening tools, then move on to shortlisting and unstructured interviews. After the hiring process, this can manifest in performance reviews and promotion decisions that disadvantage women and underrepresented groups, even when unintentional.
Lack of visible role models – when boards, leaders and the majority of the workforce lack diversity, it’s easy to understand how early-career women and minority groups fail to recognise themselves within an organisation. This absence of role models not only undermines individuals’ confidence and belief in their abilities but also their ambitions. If they can’t see a future for themselves, it affects retention, creating a cyclical issue.
Inflexible working – if organisations don’t offer remote or hybrid work, compressed hours, flexi- or part-time work or job share opportunities, they limit themselves to a workforce devoid of people with disabilities, older people, parents, caregivers or Gen Z, all of whom have diverse experience to contribute as well as different realities and expectations to white men. Inflexible working practices limit talent pipelines, stifle innovation, and reduce job advert visibility in a competitive market.
Why diversity matters in life science tech recruitment
Diversity offers life science tech employers distinct commercial advantages:
- Access to a broader and deeper talent pool – by widening the candidate pool to attract more diverse talent and encouraging women and underrepresented communities, employers can expand their talent pipelines and address skills shortages in areas such as bio-informatics, AI and clinical tech, creating stronger teams
- Better performance and greater innovation – studies consistently demonstrate that the more diverse an organisation is, the better its financial performance, the more effective its innovation and the greater its health outcomes for the end-users of its products
- Becoming an employer of choice – the current skills shortage in life sciences tech means that employers must differentiate themselves from their rivals. By employing DE&I strategies, they can attract the talent they need for future growth, strengthen their culture, and improve retention, particularly among younger people who increasingly evaluate organisations on their commitment to diversity.
What can employers do?
Employers in life sciences tech can utilise a number of strategies to increase diversity within their organisations:
Inclusive recruitment – inclusivity begins with the job advert, so ensure that any job descriptions avoid using gendered, biased or exclusionary language and create transparent criteria for the role. In interviews, use a structured format and a diverse panel to reduce bias.
Build diverse talent networks by developing partnerships with graduate schemes, outreach programmes, and STEM diversity organisations and networks to support the recruitment and career progression of women and minorities, strengthening pipelines. Support career progression through sponsorship and leadership development programmes to help reinforce your brand. Create visible role models to highlight the achievements of women and minority leaders and encourage aspiration.
Normalise flexibility – despite recent pushbacks, flexible and hybrid working is still a powerful draw for women and underrepresented groups in the workplace. It increases inclusion and helps organisations to retain talent.
Measure the data – tracking gender, ethnicity, and other protected characteristics across recruitment, pay, promotion, and retention is vital for organisations that want to set goals for inclusive hiring and work towards meeting them. Transparency enables potential talent to assess whether an organisation takes the matter seriously and whether its initiatives are working.
Be the change you want to see
In these times of skills shortages and changing candidate expectations, it makes practical and ethical sense for life sciences employers to continue prioritising diversity. By enhancing their diversity strategy and encouraging more women and underrepresented groups to apply for tech roles in the industry, and then to stay and progress, employers can build teams that are not only more representative of the population as a whole, but also embed innovation and resilience within them, future-proofing their organisation in an increasingly competitive market.
nufuture can support your organisation in designing talent attraction strategies that help you build the right team structures to drive future success. For more information, contact us.