Companies have started coming up with different post-COVID policies and implementing them to reduce their attrition rate and build a diverse workforce.
As many countries emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, employees have gained significant influence over their employers, and their ‘wish list’ from potential employers is changing.
In the post-COVID era, one of the major considerations is hybrid work and how to best implement it. But driving the considerations behind the scenes are factors like maintaining a shared corporate culture of innovation and inclusiveness. This is crucial especially if companies want to adapt and thrive in the new normal and attract the best talent globally.
Accenture has recently revised its LGBTIQ+ policies. Wipro and HCL Technologies are hiring women professionals to nurture an inclusive and diverse work environment. TCS, Myntra, AkzoNobel, and Meesho have adopted a hybrid model of working for employees Post-COVID.
HCL Technologies
India’s leading global information technology company HCL Technologies has announced a HCL Returnship Program for women who are having a career break and want to return to work.
HCL Returnship program supports women who want to pursue both personal and professional goals. The company welcomes “Returners” back with a supportive workplace and matches professionals with the right job for this important stage of their career.
Wipro
IT major, Wipro is inviting job applications from women professionals in partnership with Fairygodboss. The company believes that having a diverse workforce is not only important for the business it is essential as it promotes an inclusive culture that benefits every stakeholder.
The Women of Wipro (WoW) programs are a framework for the inclusion of women in every stage of their life/careers. The framework structures Wipro’s internal policies, processes, and initiatives that promote gender inclusion and empowerment.
Commenting on the return to office plan, Saurabh said, “At Wipro, we firmly believe that coming to office will enable building and reinforcing culture as well as social capital. Having said that flexibility will be a cornerstone of our working arrangements henceforth.”
“We have opened our India offices to fully vaccinated colleagues three days a week. It is completely voluntary though we do encourage employees to come and experience the office. The significant number of people whom we have hired in the past 2 years have never stepped into Wipro offices! For them, it is a different and enjoyable experience to be with their colleagues in an office. “
He further said, “Outside India, we are following the local norms and guidance.”
Meesho Adopts a Boundaryless Workplace Model
India’s fastest-growing internet commerce company, Meesho has announced a first-of-its-kind Boundaryless Workplace Model.
Ashish Kumar Singh, Chief Human Resources Officer, Meesho said: “Driven by our mantra to build a people-centric workplace, Meesho has always ensured employees are at the core of everything we do.”
“We have been championing many industry-first initiatives that have redefined conventional workplace norms and this new policy is a step in that direction. We have studied multiple future of work models to arrive at this novel boundaryless approach. In the future, this will also give talent across the globe an opportunity to build for Bharat with Meesho.” Ashish added.
Key features of Meesho’s boundaryless workplace model include:
- Decentralized Workforce: While Meesho will be headquartered in Bangalore, the company will look to set up satellite offices across the country based on talent demand and density.
- Annual Workations: Meesho sponsored annual workations in places like Goa, Shimla, and Manali to foster team bonding and collaboration.
- Quarterly Summits: Calendarised in-person quarterly connects to brainstorm, reflect and review goals while building team camaraderie.
- New Joinee Community: Virtual boot camps and meet & greet sessions will help new joinees build a community culture and a strong sense of connect with their entire team.
- Regional Committees: Employees can be a part of location-based regional committees like sports, marathons, community volunteering, etc. These employee engagement activities will be augmented by centrally run employee delight events across boards.
- Employee Support: Meesho sponsored daycare facilities for employees with children below 6 years of age at suitable locations. This service can also be availed during official travel to Meesho’s headquarters in Bangalore.
Myntra
Myntra is transitioning into the new hybrid work culture. It is empowering a young and dynamic workforce with flexible working options.
The company believes that working from home and in the office will foster many new opportunities to learn and upgrade skills. As the employees embrace the change to provide them with multiple avenues of keeping them engaged and productive.
Benefits of Working with Myntra
- Providing Flexibility and enhancing teamwork together virtually from home or in the office.
- Encouraging new opportunities and self-learnings with development and e-courses.
- Improving communication and collaboration in a conducive environment
- Highly Inspiring, State-of-the-art Workspace
- 360 Degree Wellness Program
- Great Learning & Development Opportunities
- Industry Leading People Policies
The company is constantly evolving into newer and better forms and looks for people who are ready to evolve with them.
Accenture
Accenture has fostered a culture of equality and improved its policies in India for LGBTIQ+ employees, and those with various special needs (an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer).
It has announced coverage for gender reassignment surgery for the partners of its LGBTIQ+ employees and medical insurance benefits for the partner’s parents under the parents-in-law category.
The company has personalized medical insurance benefits based on family requirements. Beginning April, the age limit for dependent siblings was raised to 45 years and for dependent children was enhanced to 30 years. Accenture has removed age limit capping in cases where the dependent siblings and dependent children are persons with disabilities.
The company made enhancements to medical insurance programs for our LGBTIQ+ people, their partners & families, and employees & dependents with special needs.
The focus areas include:
- Professional development programs include LGBTI Leaders Learning, Hues of the Rainbow, and mentorship keeping in mind the Indian culture and work context.
- Inclusive policies and equal benefits, including up to 100% coverage for gender reassignment surgery under the Accenture Mediclaim benefits.
- Recruitment, promotion, and retention guidelines.
- Providing all-gender restrooms across all facilities.
- LGBT inclusion awareness through our Ally Network of 50000+ in India, and a global Ally program with more than 118,000 members and growing.
TCS 25X25 Model
Tata Consultancy Services has asked its top 50,000 employees to work from the office, starting 03 days a week from April this year.
By the middle of FY23, the company will have 20 percent of employees working from offices and 80 percent from home. The company said in a statement that currently only the top-level employees will be asked to visit the office. They will be asked to come 3 days a week and 2 days they will work from home.
TCS has announced that it will implement the 25X25 model in a structured way soon.
AkzoNobel India Diversity & Inclusion Policies
At AkzoNobel, we developed the “AkzoNobel Cares” program. The objective is to safeguard employees and fortify their well-being on 4 key pillars of Mental Well-being, Medical support, Hospital Insurance & Life insurance. The program created an umbrella for safeguarding employee wellbeing holistically.
Counselling programs, expert webinars, and employee Covid-19 Helpline with 140 COVID SQUAD employee volunteers were some ways we provided support to our employees during extraordinary times.
But Diversity and Inclusion are not limited to providing employees equal growth opportunities. More importantly, it’s about going ahead.
At AkzoNobel, we believe that to achieve our corporate ambitions, we need a high-performing workforce that reflects our customer base and the communities we operate in. People are a key component of our company’s purpose – People. Planet. Paint. approach to sustainable business.
To achieve this, we’re continuing to focus on creating a diverse and inclusive working environment where our people feel safe and empowered to be their true selves.
