A culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion

15 July, 2022

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is at the heart of the Aditya Birla Group’s efforts to build a sustainable business

A culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is a source of competitive advantage and a key enabler of growth for the Aditya Birla Group. It is central to the Group's efforts to build a sustainable future for the business and its globally-distributed workforce.

As on date, the Group has 140,000+ employees in 37 countries. This includes 50,000+ millennials and 25,000 women employees. Altogether, people belonging to 100 nationalities work for the Group. A key enabler in managing this massive workforce's needs and aspirations has been the Group's robust D&I strategy.

An inclusive work culture

The term D&I is about more than just policies, programmes, or headcounts. Respecting the unique needs, perspectives, and poten-tial of all employees has helped the Group earn deep trust and commitment from its employees.

Group-wide campaigns like #BetterTogether have helped Aditya Birla's D&I commitment to develop deep roots. Some of the initiatives rolled out under this campaign are inclusivity workshops, monthly inclusion nudges, digital learning modules, conversation circles, stories, films, and more.

Empowering women to take charge

The Group has adopted a 360-degree approach to drive its women-focused agenda. Its concerted efforts to increase the number of women in the workforce and ensure their representation at the top levels of management have had encouraging outcomes.

Five Group businesses have more than 20% women in the workforce. There has been an 11% increase in women hires in FY22 as compared to FY21.

Recognising that there is significant scope to drive up these numbers further, the Group has set up institutionalised mechanisms to ensure a greater role for women across all levels of the workforce.

Women-friendly policies

In tandem with the mechanisms for hiring and grooming women employees, the Group has formulated several policies keeping in view the special needs of women, so as to create an optimal workplace for them.

The Group's family-friendly policies provide for holistic maternity support beyond leaves – such as local transport support for mothers-to-be, caregiver and child travel support for returning mothers, access to transition guides (counsellors), performance and talent rating protection, etc.

Women are also extended additional benefits such as higher travel entitlements and emotional assistance programmes. The Group also extends flexible work guidelines and a paternity leave policy to its employees. Its POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) policy has been strictly implemented since 2005.

The progress achieved notwithstanding; the Group has chalked out a robust roadmap to increase women hires by 10% year-on-year across all job levels. With D&I being a continuous improvement programme, the Aditya Birla Group has drawn up plans to make its workforce more diverse and more inclusive.

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