MHR Champions Women in Technology

MHR is urging more women to apply for tech-based jobs ahead of Nottingham's inspireWIT Conference for women in technology.

Sue Harris (pictured right), Product Design Director, who has worked in IT for 20 years says: “Technology is a fast growing sector but one that is often overlooked by women, so we are very proud to be sponsoring the inspireWiT Conference. Due to success in my team and the wider business, I would encourage more women to look at the range of technology roles available, and the development opportunities within them.

“Three out of five directors heading up the technology teams at MHR are female, and we have a lot of home grown talent that we are very proud of. Our software is designed, built, tested, marketed, sold and implemented by our in-house teams, so there are opportunities for candidates in all areas and levels of the business.”

Sue adds: “I get great job satisfaction from developing software which helps people work more effectively. In recent years, self-service technologies have enabled HR teams to move away from traditional administrative roles, to take on a more strategic position within their organisations. More recently innovations by MHR include the launch of our HR Chatbot which uses artificial intelligence and bot technology to assist employees and managers with the automation of basic HR admin tasks and requests through a messaging app.”

Women occupy more than 30 percent of MHR’s technology based roles, compared with 17 percent nationally. Also, more than 40 percent of women at MHR have been promoted from their original position. The variety of roles range from apprentice roles, through to designers, software developers, managers and directors.

Hannah Jeacock (pictured left), Research Director, joined MHR as a software engineer in 2011 and has progressed her career over the past six years to director level. Hannah says: “Innovation is critical to MHR’s future success. We invest up to 20 percent of our total revenue into research and development, with current projects involving machine learning, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and bot technology.

“Such innovations into the future of work have influenced my passion for developing modern HR and engagement solutions, and the business has provided the education and training to support my progression to management and research.”

MHR has a focused talent management process and operates a number of schemes including a Graduate Management Programme and Apprenticeship Scheme, aimed at attracting and retaining the very best people.

Sarah Doherty is a junior software engineer who joined MHR’s Apprenticeship Scheme last year. She says: “Technology is one of my passions and I’ve always been fascinated by it. It has endless possibilities which can be life changing for the business and consumer world. Technology is the future and I want to contribute in some aspect to this ever-changing world. I enjoy working at MHR because I can do just that.”

MHR, a £60 million turnover company employing over 650 people, has ambitious growth plans with a focus on technology innovation in the HR and payrolls markets – with a strong focus on ‘the future of work’. See our careers page for further details of vacancies at MHR.