Celebrating Women in Tech

Happy International Women’s Day!

At Bright we celebrate all our employee’s achievements and progress in the Tech industry every day, but with International Women’s Day being upon us we wanted to shed a light on some of our amazing women by gathering a few of our Bright women and hearing what International Women’s day means to them, who the inspiring women in their lives are, an important piece of advice they have been given and much more. We also included some of our Bright men too who shared their experiences and opinions with us.

On IWD2023 and beyond, everyone everywhere can help forge an inclusive world. Let’s #EmbraceEquity to create places and spaces where women thrive.

We sat down with Aisling Hetherington, our Accounts Support Executive and Neeraja Sankaar, Director of Strategic Projects at Bright to get their views on IWD, what advice we can give to female leaders and more.

Aisling

What does IWD mean to you?

For me, International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate the achievements of women both in and out of the workplace. From years ago, when my mother’s generation were encouraged to stay at home or to give up work once they became mothers, to a world where we are encouraged to excel in our careers while also having a family. Sometimes this can be a balancing act and working for such a family friendly and supportive organisation as Bright makes this a lot easier. This is not the case in other organisations and in some countries where women face ongoing struggles for equal rights and opportunities. While I personally don’t think that gender makes a difference to your ability to carry out a job or have a successful career, it is well known that for a long-time, women have faced more challenges in the workplace. Thankfully, there is more awareness about this now (for example the gender pay gap) and we have seen great changes over the last number of years. This is an ongoing journey to improving equality for women.

On International Women’s Day, what is the most important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their careers?

They can achieve anything that they set their heart on, regardless of their gender and there is nothing that can hold them back. They should never doubt their ability or limit themselves. I have always worked hard in my career and given my all to the organisation I am working for. It is also important to switch off outside of work with family and friends. It’s great if the career path and job chosen when they finished school is one they enjoy and are passionate about. It’s also possible to change this path at any stage of their life so should never be afraid to take on something new. I know this from first-hand experience.

How can we encourage more women to pursue senior leadership roles in their career?

Organisations have responsibilities to encourage women to pursue senior leadership roles and provide the education and training to prepare them for it. Typically, these roles require time commitments that may go beyond the 9-5 workday. This is something that should be reviewed and changed if it is noticed occurring regularly in the organisation. It is important for organisations to recognise that people have responsibilities outside of the office. So many studies have been completed now looking at the working hours, working days, flexible and hybrid options, and work-life balance. Organisations need to value their employees and senior leaders and recognise that they have commitments outside of the office, regardless of their gender. Some days, more attention may be needed to a person’s home life than to their work life. I was very lucky early in my career that I had many women (and men) in leadership positions who encouraged me to take on new roles, education, projects and challenges and guided me throughout my career. Some people may not have the belief in themselves and so, if you are in a senior leadership position, actively seek out and support talented women in the organisation, take them in as a mentee and offer them the encouragement to advance their career.

Have you faced any barriers in your career due to being a woman? If so, how did you overcome them?

I have not had barriers as such but have had challenges to overcome. One of these was juggling a career, studying and 2 children as a single mum. Despite the challenges I faced, I managed to overcome these with the support of family, friends, and colleagues. I don’t think this is unique to me, or to me as a woman, as many people face barriers and challenges as they navigate their own careers. I think sometimes attitudes of others can have an impact at times and create barriers. I personally don’t see my gender as a barrier to achieving success. I appreciate that this is not the same experience as others have had and continue to face. For a large part of my career to date, I worked in the healthcare industry which typically had more female than male employees and as a result quite a few women in senior leadership positions. Perhaps this is why I do not see these barriers and I have certainly not seen them since joining Bright last year.

Neeraja

Why do you think diversity in the workplace is so important?

Although this is a IWD piece, I think diversity, beyond gender diversity, can be incredibly beneficial for an organisation. A diverse workforce means our people can bring to the table varied opinions, thoughts, and viewpoints because of their different backgrounds the more varied our perspectives, the more innovative and agile we can be as a company. For a company like Bright that is constantly evolving, and thinking of better ways to meet our customers’ needs, this diversity in viewpoints is invaluable and in turn, leads to increased employee engagement and morale.

What is your proudest achievement whilst working here?

Our HR team once shared a candidate was drawn to interviewing for Bright, specifically because our leadership team had a good gender balance (we’re working toward making this even more balanced!) whilst this is not a direct achievement of mine, I felt incredibly proud that I am part of a leadership team that is aspirational for people.

What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?

• Believe in yourself and your potential but balance that with being humble and self-aware

• Have a strong sense of purpose, and let it be the foundation for what kind of leader you want to be

• As a leader, you often have to ask yourself ‘who can I work on this with?’

• Surround yourself with people who have similar principles to yours, and inspire confidence through your actions and vision

• Seek out a mentor having a mentor can do beneficial with building your confidence and opening doors to new opportunities

What is the most important piece of advice you have been given?

This is not direct advice that was given to me but I learnt a lot when from a leader I worked with, who was excellent at bringing people along in her journey. As mentioned above, leadership a lot of the time is working with others, and this particular leader I worked with was always looking for opportunities to build and lift her team up. She was good at recognising others’ strengths, and empowered and equipped them to contribute to their full potential. This worked wonders for her, her team and the organisation she worked for. This principle of elevating people I work with and bringing them along in my personal journey as a leader underpins my approach to work and leadership.

Bright creates software for tax, compliance, practice management and payroll. We’re on a mission to make a happy and efficient working life a reality for accountants and businesses through reliable software and amazing support. We’re proud to say that 39% of our management team are women, which is above the national average of 26% of women working in tech in the UK. But, we still have a lot of work to do. To hear more from the women at Bright, we’ve done a video series on International Women’s Day that you can view in the link below.

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