As part of a series of features of women in leadership in honour of International Women’s Day 2022, we spoke with Sandra Teh, Chief Culture Officer, APJC, Amazon Web Services. Teh shared how she overcame institutional hiring stigma to break the cycles of bias and has embraced a mindset of equity through leveraging technology.
Teh has been overseeing AWS culture building, branding and talent engagement across Asia Pacific, Japan and China since late 2017. Teh’s current goal is to build a workplace that drives innovation along with a cloud-based community for all Amazonians to contribute regardless of their different backgrounds and experiences.
Prior to joining AWS, Teh held demanding roles in banking and advertising. Reflecting on her career, Teh shared, “A recruiter once called me to meet a CEO at short notice. When I told them I needed to bring my newborn with me since it was short notice, I was given a firm ‘no.’ More often than not, I have been asked about my family commitments right from the very start of career conversations before I was even evaluated as a professional. When it came to entering the tech industry, there were many barriers that I, as a woman, encountered. There were both structural and cultural barriers along with a lack of visible female role models. As women, we may often doubt our own abilities and with tech being predominately male-centric, we tend to further question ourselves. It is crucial that every one of us, break this cycle of bias and embrace a mindset of equity.”
Teh continued by sharing some of the key cultural characteristics that empower AWS’s female workforce, “There is this wide-scale acceptance institutionally and individually across all levels. There is hardly any pushback from our leaders with regards to new experiments and pilots, in fact, they are healthily debated. This ensures that everyone can contribute their best ideas in order to collectively drive forward-looking innovation. We strive to provide employees with the confidence to contribute meaningful work without needing to question one’s gender, experience or educational background. We always say, ‘all builders are welcome’ — it does not matter if you have 30 years of experience or three months. One of our leadership principles is ‘Learn and Be Curious.’ This principle is particularly important when it comes to promoting DEI within our organisation."
"We should never be finished with learning and always seek new ways to improve ourselves."
We should be curious about new possibilities that can make a difference in the workplace and act to explore them. We take pride in our inclusive culture that empowers employees to collaborate, learn and build together. This instils a sense of belonging.”
Teh points to the responsibility of business leaders when it comes to ensuring that all employees understand the value of inclusiveness. “Leaders need to ensure inclusiveness is in their DNA by promoting individual expression, respecting different perspectives and working together to create a culture where every employee can contribute fully to deliver the best customer outcomes. It is important for leaders to initiate mentorship programs and directly participate in helping prepare women for the boardroom. Another powerful mechanism that we have in place is a daily poll that assesses employee sentiments. This provides managers with real-time insights that enable them instantly understand employee sentiments rather than waiting for quarterly or year-end surveys.”
AWS has several global initiatives that promote DEI including DeepRacer Women’s League, Girls’ Tech Day and AWS She Builds that focus on community education, driving conversations, breaking biases and encouraging mentorship through the use of technology. Teh comments, “There are many more initiatives we want to build in this space as we genuinely believe that technology can enable us to build a more inclusive, accessible, and equitable future for everyone. It is encouraging to see more and more young women developing an interest in cloud computing through our initiatives. My advice to all women in the IT industry, including those who are just starting their careers, is that we must come forward boldly with our aspirations and avoid self-doubt.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
