AIA recognised as one of Sri Lanka’s ‘Best Workplaces for Women’

AIA Insurance has been recognised as one of the ‘Best Workplaces for Women’ in Sri Lanka, in the inaugural awards presented by Great Place to Work Sri Lanka. AIA said 2019 was the first year GPW bestowed this award as a separate category, with 15 companies recognised for their commitment to promoting gender parity while creating conducive environments for women, in the workplace.

AIA’s Chief Executive Officer Nikhil Advani commented, “We are immensely proud of this recognition, which is testament to our commitment to creating a truly fair and productive workplace for women. We understand that gender parity is central in having a dynamic balanced workforce and our female staff play an integral part in our business success. AIA recognised early, the trends of diminishing female participation at work and took many strategic steps over the years to ensure that our female colleagues have a work environment that provides opportunity and flexibility to arrange work within family circumstances, at times of life where such support is needed most.”

AIA’s HR Director Thushari Perera added, “We wholeheartedly believe that caring for oneself and one’s family helps us be our best at work. That is why we were the first EFC (Employers’ Federation of Ceylon) member to implement a comprehensive maternity benefit scheme for female employees, in the country. We offer a host of maternal benefits, including benefits for mothers who need special treatment and attention prior or post childbirth. We have also approved a special scheme where mothers who are adopting children are given one month paid leave to bond with their baby.”She further said, “As a result of our continuous focus to build a sense of trust, hopefulness, inclusiveness and pride in our people, we have managed to retain many of our employees, especially our female workforce. 

Our maternity focused initiatives have resulted in a thriving culture of mothers feeling that their concerns are heard, resulting in an increase in number of employees that return to work after maternity leave. With our conscious and active efforts to maintain a healthy mix of female and male employees, we have managed to increase the female employee population to 36% which is a 9% growth over the last 3 years.” 

The GPW model used the Trust Index and the Culture Audit in addition to a rigorous validation process, to select the qualifiers for this award.