Last month the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2020 opened for nominations. The awards celebrate employers and individuals in tech who are working to narrow the gender gap and increase gender equality in the sector.
As well as the opportunity to stand out as an important player in the diversity and inclusion space, the awards are also a chance to establish and shout about your business as an advocate for increasing female representation in tech and attract the best tech talent as a result.
With the deadline for entries just under a month away, we’ve compiled the top 10 reasons why you should enter now!
- Boost staff morale
Who doesn’t want to work for an award winning company? Being shortlisted for, or winning one of the twenty categories will serve as a real morale booster for staff, bringing them together in their pride in working for a company that truly cares about gender equality. It’s especially poignant that the issue at the heart of the awards is diversity and inclusion, and working for a company recognised for making diversity and inclusion a business priority is a true motivator for staff.
- Attract top tech talent
Again, who doesn’t want to work for an awards winning company? Having an award under your belt or being able to advertise being shortlisted for an award is a great way to attract fresh talent when hiring. Being recognised as an advocate for gender diversity in tech, flexible working for parents, graduate opportunities, outstanding employee benefits, and equal opportunities for all is a sure-fire way to increase the variety and quality of candidates interested in working for your company.
- Fresh marketing tools
Awards make for fresh and exciting marketing tools to position your company at the top of its game, impressing clients and attracting new business. We asked Marketing and Events expert Becca for her view on the impact awards can have on a company’s marketing efforts. According to Becca, “As we all look for ways to drive more business and stand out from the rest, new methods of marketing become key. Being nominated for a business award can help raise your profile. If you are a nominee or winner, it gives you a great opportunity to use this as a marketing tool and say, ‘we are the best of the best’. Winning an award can open new opportunities and help win new contracts and clients.” And we couldn’t agree more! Being a Women in Tech Employer Awards finalist or winner is a free way to raise your profile.
- Free exposure
The awards are free to enter and being shortlisted will mean that your company will then be listed as a finalist on the awards website. Companies can also enter more than one category, increasing the chances of being shortlisted. If shortlisted your logo and company name will also feature at the event itself in front of 300+ industry experts, at no expense to your business.
- Opportunity to network
It’s highly likely that existing clients and contacts will be in attendance at the awards event on 11th November. There will be ample opportunity to talk to likeminded individuals and discuss everything from collaboration ideas to how to leverage each other’s Diversity and Inclusion efforts to work towards the common overarching goal of narrowing the gender gap in tech. The awards are open for entries from tech companies, recruitment agencies, and in-house recruiters so there will be a wide variety of people at the event to engage in conversation and share ideas with on the night.
- Build new relationships
Companies coming together to celebrate achievements relating to equality, opportunities for women in tech and generally forging a fairer, more diverse industry is an excellent setting to forge new professional relationships with other individuals and businesses who share the same interests. As well as strengthening existing connections through networking, the awards night is an opportunity to build new relationships and have new discussions about how to sustain efforts to ensure the gender gap really does narrow rather than go backwards.
- Increase credibility
The awards will be judged and the winners chosen by a panel of diversity and inclusion experts and leaders. Being shortlisted for a category or winning will certify your business as playing a crucial role in driving forward huge growth in tech and increase your credibility in the eyes of competitors, clients, staff, and other industry experts. Narrowing the gender gap is challenging and being able to prove your excellence and determination to achieve it will establish your business as a forward-thinking innovator in the sector.
- Benchmarking
Perhaps an unexpected advantage of entering the awards is the opportunity to take stock and look at your organisation from a different perspective. The process of preparing answers and examples for the entry form may prompt companies to ask important questions such as what are they doing well. What area could they improve on? And also on an individual level, what achievements have people made that they are proud of? Marketing and Event expert Becca raises the important point that “For companies that make the shortlist, it is a great way of looking at where you stand against the competition and help you to identify ways to improve even further.” Day to day operations often make it easy to lose sight of the importance of stopping and reflecting, and entering the awards is a chance to do just that.
- Celebrate with your team!
The event will be held at The Montcalm in London and will be a night of celebration not to be missed. There will be a drinks reception, followed by a three-course meal and the show itself. Demonstrating to employees that their achievements and the achievements of the company as a whole is recognised and appreciated is important for raising staff morale and the event itself could be a way to highlight what’s really great about your company culture. Winning or being shortlisted for an award is a morale booster for sure, but celebrating that recognition as a team is even more morale boosting because it reinforces the value of teamwork and each person’s efforts being equally as important when working towards a shared goal.
- Entertain clients
If you’re looking for an opportunity to host clients and treat them to an evening of great food, flowing drinks, and entertainment the awards is the ideal setting. The awards night will be simultaneously professional, but also a chance to talk to clients in a slightly less formal setting than a meeting room or boardroom. As well as being a night to deepen working relationships between staff, it’s also equally as good an opportunity to deepen your working relationship with clients by bringing them to an awards ceremony celebrating outstanding efforts to close the gender gap in tech and make it a more diverse and inclusive place for all.
You can enter the awards here: https://www.womenintechemployerawards.co.uk/
Find out more about Women in Tech here: https://www.womenintech.co.uk/
Written by Anthony Sherick, Director at Women in Tech.
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Technojobs is one of the UK’s biggest IT jobsites that includes an exclusive network of 36 specialist skill based IT jobsites.
They work with a range of employers to support their tech talent attraction and employer branding. Clients include Lloyds, GCHQ, British Airways and many more.
Their network also includes womenintech.co.uk – a very active community and jobsite for Women in Technology.
