Mums in Tech – feat. comparethemarket.com

The purpose of the MotherBoard series of interviews is to educate, challenge and create a shift. We’re not here to berate, we’re here to connect, embrace and champion positive change-makers. As part of this, we caught up with Sarah Green, Talent Events Manager at comparethemarket.com.

MotherBoard is a community that has been created to drive positive change throughout the UK Technology and Data sectors. Creating environments that support the inclusion of working mothers offers a significant solution to the shortage of talent across the Technology and Data sectors.

Sophie @ ADLIB: For some background information, who are comparethemarket.com as a business and why is being inclusive to all women, especially mums, so important to you?

Sarah: comparethemarket.com is one of the UK’s most-loved price comparison websites. We’ve grown rapidly over the past 15 years, providing customers with an easy way to make the right choice on a wide range of products including motor, home, life, travel and pet insurance as well as utilities and money products such as credit cards and loans.

We challenge ourselves and build, learn and grow together, delivering exceptional customer experiences that make comparison simple for our customers.

We’re lucky to employ a collective of passionate, talented and ambitious people who go the extra mile to help our customers. We’re always on the lookout for new minds to challenge how we work, embrace the latest tech and help us remain pioneers.

Sophie @ ADLIB: Can you share a little bit about the female tech communities/ academies you are passionate about supporting and why?

Sarah: comparethemarket.com is committed to driving greater inclusion and diversity in the tech industry. We are a gold sponsor of Codebar, and regularly take part in tech meetups and events, supporting women and minority groups to learn and develop in their tech career.
As a business, we signed up to the UK’s Tech Talent Charter (TTC), which aims to address inequality in the UK’s technology industry.

Sophie @ ADLIB: What do you think are the core benefits of having more mothers in tech & data teams?

Sarah: With the skills shortages still being faced in the technology sector and the increasingly diverse range of careers now available, never has it been more important to nurture an inclusive culture. We must ensure that technology careers resonate with and appeal to the broadest possible cross section of society for the benefit of our entire business, not least for the positive impact it has on the services we provide for our customers.

Sophie @ ADLIB: How does comparethemarket.com support mothers?

Sarah: Our flexible working approach allows colleagues to shape their day to accommodate their family commitments. We also have an extensive range of health and wellbeing benefits to support colleagues with children, from enhanced maternity leave and childcare voucher scheme to free access to a virtual GP service which can be extended at cost to include the entire family.

Our Employee Assistance Programme provides access to help 24/7 on a range of topics, whether it’s family, financial, legal etc. All colleagues also have free access to the chance to get a second medical opinion following a diagnosis, mental health support and physiotherapy sessions as part of a partnership with Unum.

We also give colleagues the option of opting into a Healthcare Cashplan which offers the benefit of a £200 new baby bonus or a private medical care package with Bupa, which covers babies for free for their first year. Mums can also add dependents onto any of these mentioned benefits, so adding onto the Cashplan for example, you can then claim for things like prescriptions, eyecare and dental for children.

Thank you for the chat!

Next MotherBoard Event on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 1pm: The Tech Mum – Navigating a successful career within the tech industry as a mum.

Register HERE.

Our second event in this series will feature two incredible leaders in tech, who happen to be mothers from comparethemarket.com, Chloe Beeken, (Tech Delivery Manager) and Rosie Carr, (Tech Delivery Manager).

MotherBoard is brought to you by ADLIB, sponsored by notonthehighstreet.