Every year, the UK economy loses between £2 billion and £3.5 billion because women are walking away from the tech sector. That’s the finding from the ‘2025 Lovelace Report’, a collaboration between Oliver Wyman and WeAreTechWomen.
This isn’t just about numbers on a balance sheet. It’s about real people – talented, experienced women – leaving an industry that desperately needs them. Some exit tech altogether, while others move between employers, creating an expensive cycle of turnover and lost productivity.
With women making up just one in five tech professionals, every departure deepens an already critical skills gap.
The hidden cost of talent drain
The UK tech industry is worth £160 billion in gross value added and employs over 2.1 million people. But according to the Lovelace Report, between 40,000 and 60,000 women leave tech roles each year – and nearly half of them leave the industry entirely. That’s not just a loss of talent; it’s a loss of potential, innovation, and momentum.
If we look at it from a financial viewpoint, the report tells us that the combined total amounts to £1.4–2.2 billion in lost output, plus another £640 million–1.3 billion in costs tied to replacing staff and the productivity dip that comes with it, adding up to an overall estimated loss of £2-3.5 billion each year.
It’s not about caregiving
Let’s bust a myth: women aren’t leaving tech because of family or caregiving responsibilities. In fact, only 3% of respondents cited that as their main reason. The real culprits? Systemic issues within the workplace.
The top reasons women gave for leaving include:
- Lack of career progression (25%)
- Poor recognition (17%)
- Inadequate pay (15%)
- Negative culture and lack of role models (8% each)
More than half said their careers hadn’t progressed as they’d hoped, and nearly 80% are thinking about leaving their current roles. This isn’t about work-life balance – it’s about a broken system that keeps women stuck, no matter how qualified or ambitious they are.
The “Sticky Middle”
The report highlights a troubling trend: women with six to 15 years of experience often hit a career bottleneck. Instead of moving into senior roles, they stall. Over 75% of women with more than a decade in tech wait more than three years for a promotion. For those with 20+ years, 40% wait over five years.
And while they wait, they’re paid less than their male peers. Sixty per cent of experienced women earn under £100,000, and 80% of senior women earn under £200,000 – both below industry benchmarks. Yet these women aren’t standing still. Seventy per cent are investing in themselves, pursuing additional qualifications. But too often, those efforts don’t translate into advancement.
The report calls this the “sticky middle”– a place where women get stuck because the system too often rewards visibility and informal networks rather than transparent, skills-based progression. It’s a model that simply doesn’t work.
A roadmap for change
So what can be done? The report lays out a clear, three-step plan:
- Support mid-level women: identify those who are stalled, match them with meaningful opportunities, and pair them with senior sponsors who will champion their growth
- Elevate senior women: put them in charge of high-impact projects, increase their visibility, and include them in key decision-making forums
- Clarify career paths: use SFIA levels to define skill expectations, link pay to progression, and make internal mobility transparent and accessible
This isn’t a “nice to have”– it’s a business necessity. The report urges companies to treat this like any other strategic initiative: diagnose issues within two months, pilot solutions within six, and scale within a year. Progress should be tied to leadership performance and bonuses, with transparent reporting and real-time dashboards. And crucially, this work shouldn’t be siloed in diversity budgets – it should be embedded in core growth strategies.
Why this matters
We’ve seen the stats before. They haven’t changed much. But here’s why this matters more than ever.
Women make up half the population. When they leave tech, we lose not just headcount – we lose perspective, creativity, and insight. The report warns that continuing this exodus also risks building bias into the future of AI and digital systems, since underrepresented groups are less involved in shaping them. Diverse teams aren’t just about ticking boxes and looking good – research consistently shows that diverse teams perform better. Companies with greater diversity often see higher market share and more innovation, thanks to the variety of thought and experience they bring to the table.
And let’s not forget the looming talent gap. As older generations retire and younger ones enter the workforce at a slower pace, we’re facing a serious shortfall. We simply can’t afford to let experienced women walk away.
We know what’s broken. And we know how to fix it. Now would be a good time to act – don’t you think?