Melbourne: Less than 4 years after she was made redundant from her corporate role and left wondering what on earth she would do next, Sandy Hutchison, founder of tech start up Career Money Life, has received one of Asia-Pacific’s premier business awards: a Stevie Award.
Career Money Life has won a gold award in the category of Innovation in Human Resources, recognising in particular its pioneering use of technology to build a digital career benefits platform.
With stiff competition from over 800 businesses in the Asia-Pacific region, Sandy says that the win is testament to the perseverance of the Career Money Life team: ‘Innovating in HR is certainly not easy, it’s a traditional sector with very ingrained ways of doing things.
‘So that’s meant that the challenge for us has not only been to show value in our platform, but to show the HR profession in general that digital disruption is actually a good thing.’
And persevere the team has. With clients that now include Virgin Australia, Latitude Financial Services, Newcrest Mining and Red Bubble, Sandy’s vision of empowering employers to build personalised career experiences for their people through a platform that also saves them a tonne of time and money is close to being realised.
Career Money Life’s win in the Stevie Awards, though, is significant for Sandy for another reason. Sandy is a passionate supporter of gender equality, holding board positions on the Australian Gender Equality Council, and Women and Leadership Australia.
Through the recognition she’ll receive for the Stevie Award, she wants to inspire more female tech entrepreneurs to give it a go, even if they don’t come from a tech background:
‘As a former HR Director-cum-tech entrepreneur, I can unequivocally say that my job today is almost the complete opposite of what it used to be.’
‘And there’s been lots of stumbling blocks along the way; lots of times where I’ve thought “oh, wouldn’t it just be easier to get back inside my comfort zone and get another HR job.”
‘But today I can proudly say that I’m glad I stuck it out. And I hope to inspire others to do the same, especially given the fact that tech entrepreneurship is so heavily skewed to men here in Australia.’
Sandy and her team of 9 are currently focussing on rapidly expanding their client base, both in Australia and internationally.
About Career Money Life: Founded in 2014, Career Money Life helps employers build unique, personalised and fulfilling experiences for their people through giving them total choice over their career services and benefits.
About the Stevie Awards: The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the only business awards program to recognize innovation in the workplace in all 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region. The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recognition for achievement in programs such as The International Business Awards® for sixteen years.
Advice from our Experts 