Nasstar nominated in multiple categories at the WIT Excellence Awards 2024
Nasstar is proud to announce that we have been shortlisted in four categories at the 2024 Women in Tech Excellence Awards. After one of our ‘stars’ was nominated last year, we are delighted to be included in the shortlisting again.
This year, Nasstar has been shortlisted as a business in two categories: ‘Diversity and Inclusion Initiative of the Year’ and ‘Diversity Employer of the Year’. Two members of our team have also been shortlisted. Latha Balne, Software Engineer at Nasstar, has been nominated in the ‘Role Model of the Year – Consultancies and Professional Services’ and ‘Woman of the Year - Tech’ categories, while Jess Batty, Microsoft Alliance Business Development Manager at Nasstar, is shortlisted for ‘Rising Star of the Year – Tech.’
With no less than five awards up for grabs, we are extremely pleased with the progress our business is making for women in technology.
About the Women in Tech Excellence Awards
The Women in Tech Excellence Awards is now in its eighth year of providing inspiration for young women seeking a career in tech. While this is a primary purpose, the awards ceremony is an opportunity to recognise, celebrate, and showcase pioneering women from across the industry.
Highlighting the achievements of women from all stages in their career, the awards celebrate everyone from the rising stars to the first trail blazers. Thus far, The WIT Excellence Awards has celebrated the achievements of over 2,500 women in the tech space.
Our shortlisted stars
With two nominations in the ‘Role Model of the Year – Consultancies and Professional Services’ and ‘Woman of the Year - Tech’ categories, Latha Balne, has fast become a voice in our organisation, especially among our female workforce.
On her award nominations, Latha said: “I’m absolutely thrilled and deeply honoured to be nominated in two categories at the WIT Excellence Awards. These nominations mean the world to me, and I couldn’t have achieved this without the incredible support from my Nasstar colleagues. Their encouragement and belief have been instrumental, and it’s amazing to feel so celebrated and uplifted within our team. It’s a privilege to represent Nasstar and hopefully inspire more women to see that their contributions are valuable and recognised here. I’m excited to continue pushing boundaries together and advocating for a more inclusive tech space for everyone.”
Jess Batty is up for an award in the ‘Rising Star of the Year – Tech' category. When asked about her shortlisting, Jess said: “I am so thrilled that our WIT ERG has been recognised for the change it has driven over the last two years. As co-chair, I am proud that my contribution, and my overarching passion for Women in Tech and Women in Stem subjects has been recognised. I am grateful to be a shortlisted candidate in a room full of incredible women, and regardless of the outcome, I will continue to push for fundamental changes that allow equity to be present in a male dominated industry.”
The 2024 awards: Nasstar’s nominations
Diversity and Inclusion Initiative of the Year
Nasstar is shortlisted in the ‘Diversity and Inclusion Initiative of the Year’ category for our Women in Tech ERG. This group aims to foster a culture of inclusion, provide mentorship, and enhance career development opportunities for women in the tech industry through a multifaceted approach including monthly meetings, breakout groups, and events.
A significant part of this initiative is our new Early Careers programme, which focuses on attracting and nurturing young female talent. As we develop, this programme will offer internships, apprenticeships, and graduate roles, providing participants with hands-on experience and exposure to various aspects of the tech industry.
A further initiative we have sponsored this year is our comprehensive Health and Wellbeing Policy, which includes a special focus on menopause support. Women often juggle multiple roles, from professional responsibilities to family commitments and in some cases, there can be heavy societal expectations. Recognising the unique health challenges women face, especially around menopause, we have implemented measures to create a supportive environment for a better work-life balance.
Diversity Employer of the Year
Our shortlisting in the ‘Diversity Employer of the Year’ category is testament to the work we have put in to address this in our organisation. Creating a diverse team and inclusive environment that advances the progression of women in the IT industry is a key objective for us. We’re committed to ensuring that by 2030, 40% of our workforce are female, with a medium-term target of 30% by 2025.
Our Women in Tech Employee Resource Group has done some incredible work in the last twelve months, working towards driving forward a set of key objectives. So far, we’ve built a requirement to evidence a commitment to gender diversity in our recruitment campaigns, generated a Gender Pay Gap Report in advance of requirements, and sponsored more exciting initiatives in this space. Our commitment to gender diversity has also bolstered our employer brand. Over the past year, we have seen an increase in the number of female applicants and have successfully recruited top female talent.
Women in Tech: The challenge
Increasing diversity across the IT sector is firmly on the agenda for Nasstar, and has been for some time now. While the sector is making strides, unfortunately, women are still largely underrepresented in technology, particularly when it comes to senior roles. There is also still much work to be done to ensure women are paid the same as their male counterparts for the same work.
We understand that the challenge doesn’t just start in the world of work. We need to get on board much earlier on, in schools and colleges where education establishments report little to no growth in the numbers of girls and women opting for STEM subjects. This is a large driving force behind our early years programme and we hope to roll this out even further over the coming months and years.
If you’re keen to start your own career in technology, visit our careers page to view open vacancies.
