Cementing its place as a preferred employer of choice, Airtel Lanka, became the first telco in the country to be ranked among the Top 10 Best Workplaces for Women in Sri Lanka in the inaugural edition of the Best Workplaces for Women Study 2019. At present, amongst the Airtel female workforce; 63% occupy a managerial role, 57% are working mothers and, 70% are married.
An initiative by the Great Place to Work Sri Lanka together with the Women in Management Sri Lanka, the results of the study were compiled through an analysis of anonymous surveys exploring the extent to which women are integrated into an organisation.
The survey also focused on the degree to which women in an organisation feel supported to reach their full potential, together with an analysis of their daily experience in the office relative to those of their male counterparts. This was combined with an objective comparison of women’s representation at different levels in the organisation, with a particular focus on women in management.
“We are honoured to be in the inaugural list of Best Workplaces for Women in Sri Lanka. It validates our Human Resource strategy in creating a workplace focused on empowering our people to perform to their fullest potential. Our strategies especially look at removing the barriers which prevent women from performing to the fullest. We are confident that these values hold the key to the continued success of Airtel.” Airtel Lanka CEO/MD, Jinesh Hegde said.
Airtel as a telco, adopts a holistic approach to Human Resource Management which is primarily focused on empowering employees to achieve their fullest potential leveraging on progressive policies, skills development, and an open, idea-driven culture.
Among the numerous practices which helped Airtel to secure its place amongst the Top 10 Best Workplaces for Women in Sri Lanka was its policy of providing all Airtel employees with agile working such as flexi-hours and work from home opportunities during contingencies – an often underappreciated feature which enables more women to continue pursuing their careers while managing their personal obligations. At Airtel, women are given the freedom to move between divisions which are traditionally considered male dominant.
The company also insists on a fair parental leave policy, providing 26 weeks of maternity leave and one week of paternal leave for all eligible employees – well above the minimum legal requirements of the country. The organisation believes such policies are vital given that over 400,000 Sri Lankan women are kept out of the workforce simply due to lack of access to such flexible working hours.
Notably, Airtel Lanka’s ranking as Top 10 Best Workplaces for Women follows a spate of prestigious awards, recognising the company as being among Sri Lanka’s Top 25 Best Workplaces by Great Place to Work Institute Sri Lanka for two consecutive years. This, in addition to being awarded the Best Employer Brand by the Employer Branding Institute and the World HRD Congress in India.
Great Place to Work, headquartered in the USA provides advisory services, assessments, benchmarks and frameworks to create, sustain and recognise outstanding workplace cultures in over 57 countries and across five continents including Sri Lanka.