Northern Ireland's largest IT company, Allstate NI has been formally presented with the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise in the category of Sustainable Development—the UK's highest honour for business success.
Allstate’s Executive Vice President Suren Gupta and Allstate NI’s Head of Marketing and Communications Sonya Kerr attended a reception for Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2014 winners at Buckingham Palace In July, hosted by Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.
The US-owned company received its award for Sustainable Development in recognition of a sustainable employment model which creates prosperity, promotes work-life health and uses resources efficiently. Allstate NI was established in Belfast in 1998 and has grown to over 2,200 employees in a relatively short time, providing high quality software development and business services to its US parent's operations, the Allstate Corporation, the largest publicly held personal lines property and casualty insurer in America.
The company has received numerous awards for the work it does in the community including its XtheTXT—Don't Text & Drive campaign, which has been delivered to over 17,500 students over the past 4 years as well as supporting the STEM agenda to encourage young people into the IT industry. In 2013, Allstate NI employees fundraised over £100,000 for a number of local and national charities as well as committing many volunteer hours to a wide range of activities such as Business in the Community's Silver Surfers Day, Time to Read & Compute programmes & environmental initiatives. The company has won Business in the Community’s Ways to Work Big Tick award for its Cycle to Work and car sharing scheme, which offers loans for discounted annual Translink passes for employees while also offering flexible working and home working. This program, as well as many other initiatives to encourage health & wellbeing, provides an excellent work-life balance for employees.
Closer to home, the company was presented with a symbolic Crystal Award and Scroll by Dame Mary Peters, Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast at Allstate's Global Leadership Conference at Riddell Hall, Queen's University in front of an audience of 150 Allstate NI employees in May.
Allstate Corporation's Suren Gupta said:
"Winning the Queen's Award is a huge accolade for Allstate Northern Ireland and I am honoured for it to be presented by Dame Mary Peters. We operate in the global arena, not just in Northern Ireland, so winning an award of this stature further endorses the quality of work and the talent that is on offer here. Allstate's IT centre in NI has grown significantly since it opened in 1998 and, as a sign of Allstate's commitment to the region, we announced further growth last year and I'm pleased to say that we will be hiring for new positions in highly skilled research and development roles over the coming months."
For information on current job opportunities visit www.allstateni.com
Dame Mary Peters formally presents the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the category of Sustainable Development to Allstate's Executive Vice President, Suren Gupta who directs global technology and operations and flew into Belfast from Chicago, USA for the special occasion. The company received its award at Allstate's Global Leadership Conference at Riddell Hall, Queen's University in front of an audience of 150 Allstate NI employees on Tuesday 27th May.
