Zensar’s ‘Women in Workplace’ case study wins at UN Global Compact’s third Best Innovative Practices Awards

Zensar, a digital solutions and technology services company that specialises in partnering with global organisations on their digital transformation journey, has announced that its ‘Women in Workplace’ case study has been recognised as the second best in the private sector category in the Best Innovative Practices Awards.

This recognition is for Zensar’s multiple initiatives under its Diversity & Inclusion charter and to build a culture of inclusiveness across its global locations. Zensar was recognised for the UN Global Compact's ‘Gender Equality: Goal No. 5’ of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). A total of 46 organisations participated in this competition across multiple categories.

Sandeep Kishore, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Zensar, said: “It is a matter of great honour for us to be recognised on this platform. We believe in the untapped potential of our women talent and we are constantly working towards bringing in new global standards to enhance the experience of our women in the workplace across all our global locations.”

Kamal Singh, Executive Director, Global Compact Network India (GCNI), a local arm of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), New York, said: “This year, we saw multiple compelling entries from across Indian corporates. Zensar stood out for its focus and the planned approach in elevating workplace, the policies, as well as setting clear outcomes for all their women-centric initiatives. We congratulate them on their participation and win.”

According to Vivek Ranjan, Senior Vice-President and CHRO, Zensar: “We have constituted the D&I Centre of Excellence (COE) to provide the roadmap and execute the vision towards building a women-friendly workplace that helps to chart successful career paths for women. I strongly believe that balanced leadership can be achieved with consistent efforts, and earning this accolade encourages us to do more.”

Zensar has constituted the Global Diversity & Inclusion Council with various tracks and associate resource groups that has representatives from across age groups, gender and functions and seven regions. The charter involves working towards implementing the strategy for developing an inclusive culture and creating a good experience for its associates and customers.

Zensar’s women-centric policies like special referral bonus for hiring women candidates, 26 weeks’ maternity leave in India, extended maternity leave for critical cases, adoption leave, 16 weeks’ surrogacy leave, sabbatical for one year to address priority personal needs, flexible working hours, work from home, learning opportunities while on maternity leave and virtual workplace policy allows women to balance their work life and personal life while meeting their career aspirations.

Some of the specific initiatives finding a special mention are as follows:

• ZenWen-Zensar Women Executive Network – Zensar is pursuing a focused ERG charter (ZenWen) to build an organisation that is led by balanced leadership. The company’s women executive board (WEN) is focused on identifying and raising women leaders from within existing associates. The WEN drives organisational initiatives for attracting diverse women talent and nurturing their growth at every step of their respective careers. The ZenWen charter is composed of female and male representatives from various functions and geographies and is governed through a mobile app, giving the associates a digital platform to facilitate communication and enabling the tracking of goals and objectives that are set for this charter.
• Enliven – In line with one of our values ‘commitment to people and community’, Zensar’s Diversity & Inclusion COE took a step further to bring the women in technology back in careers, through the Enliven programme. The objective of Enliven is to help women build careers in technology and promote the culture of collaboration across the industry, create a framework to take the right strides for their second innings.
• Womentoring – Mentoring programme for Zensar’s women associates by women leaders from Zensar and our client partners.
• Safety and security of women at the workplace – RPG Group and Zensar are committed to create a safe and healthy working environment that enables associates to work without any fear or prejudice, gender bias and sexual harassment at the workplace. Each RPG company has constituted an Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) to redress the complaints received from the women associates in accordance with the provisions of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (SHW Act or POSH). In India, the differentiated travel and transport policy facilitates online tracking during drops in evening shifts, security guard as an escort, reserved seat for mothers-to-be, cabs provision for pick and drop during odd hours while on business travel, and an SOS button on the ZenCommute App for emergency help.