IRIS certified as one of UK’s Best Workplaces for Women

IRIS Software Group (IRIS), one of the UK’s largest software companies, has announced it has been certified as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces for Women by Great Place to Work Ltd®.

IRIS has been awarded this achievement based on the results of its employee engagement survey conducted with Great Place to Work UK. The survey asked all female employees at IRIS about their experiences at work and the results placed IRIS as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ for Women.

The certification recognises IRIS’ commitment to ensuring all employees are able to reach their full potential, regardless of gender. IRIS is a strong advocate for equality and has numerous initiatives focused on promoting women across the business, designed to remove obstacles encountered by women looking to transition into leadership positions.

IRIS celebrates the success of all women across its workforce, and promotes and showcases its female senior leaders as role models across the business;, including IRIS' CEO, ELona-Mortimer Zhika who joined the business as chief financial officer in 2016, and quickly made her way up to chief operating officer in 2018 and chief executive officer in 2019. IRIS’ female workforce accounts for 42% of the business. This is a particularly strong figure, given that only 19% of the UK's tech workforce are women. With this figure, IRIS leads the way in championing workplace inclusivity.

Mortimer-Zhika, CEO at IRIS Software Group, commented, "Gender diversity in the workplace, particularly in the tech industry, is an issue that needs addressing. We are proud that our female employees see IRIS as a safe place to grow, with equal opportunities across the board.

"Our employees are at the heart of everything we do. After an extremely difficult year, to be recognised as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ for Women is extremely rewarding. While there’s still more to be done, it’s important we recognise that such initiatives will truly shape the future workforce. There is so much beauty and strength in diversity."

The IRIS Women in Leadership programme includes a 'Returnship' initiative, aimed at women who have taken an extended career break and may require targeted support getting back into paid work. The business also runs a 'Presenter’s voice' training programme designed to help women develop their communication and presentation skills. IRIS also strives to ensure gender diversity right from the get-go and harnesses innovative recruitment avenues to source diverse female talent, such as the Women in Tech forum, to ensure the best talent is placed in each role.

Promoting a healthy work life balance is also important to IRIS, especially for working parents who have been juggling home-schooling for the past year. For this reason, IRIS gives women returning from maternity an automatic right to work part time for six months.

Stephanie Kelly, chief people officer at IRIS Software Group, said, "At IRIS, our initiatives aim to evolve leadership skillsets at all levels for female colleagues. IRIS’ vision puts customers and colleagues at the heart of everything we do. We aim to enable our colleagues to be the best they can be irrespective of their background. Through these initiatives, we’re proud to foster and build constructive and meaningful relationships and place trust in our female workforce to go on and prosper."

Promoting a healthy work life balance is also important to IRIS, especially for working parents who have been juggling home-schooling for the past year. For this reason, IRIS gives women returning from maternity an automatic right to work four days per week for six months.

Benedict Gautrey, managing director of Great Place to Work® UK, explains, "We’re delighted to recognise so many great organisations in this fourth year of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ for Women list. We are proud that, thanks to this ranking and the insights afforded by our successful organisations, we can help raise awareness of the importance of fairness around pay, recognition, training and development opportunities, and work-life balance."