Two Indian firms bagged the position of being the top employers for LGBT+ people in country’s first workplace equality index while competing with global brands.
According to the Hindustan Times, the two companies — Godrej Group and Hindustan Unilever — were named top employers while the other 19 gold award winners included tech giant Microsoft and consulting service company Accenture.
Reports suggest that companies were judged on the basis of certain specific factors including policies and benefits, employee life cycle, allies and role models, community engagement etc.
In the list of 52 award-winning organisations, 67 per cent were international, 17 per cent were Indian while the remaining ones reportedly chose to remain anonymous.
‘We are all in early stages of the inclusion journey in India,’ said Parmesh Shahani, head of Godrej India Culture Lab.
‘I am happy that so many companies are coming together to go on this journey together, learn from each other and share best practices with each other, so that we may all push each other to do more,’ he added.
Shout out to @KSF_IN @pride_circle @stonewalluk for bringing the LGBTQ Workplace Equality Index to India. Congratulations to all gold, sliver and bronze winners. ⭐️ Looking forward to seeing more companies participate next year. pic.twitter.com/dKNcuOZd9j
— Parmesh Shahani (he/him) (@parmeshs) December 11, 2020
India Workplace Equality Index
A one-of-its-kind index, being termed as a major step towards measuring the efforts taken by the organisations to promote a diverse and inclusive workplace. The index has been launched almost two years after the Supreme Court abolished Section 377.
The first list was announced on Thursday, December 10, through a virtual mode with 65 companies on the list. These companies had shared data on their diversity and inclusion practices and that allowed the index to calculate where they stand.
From the 65 that were competing, 21 one companies won in the gold category while 18 firms came under silver and the remaining 13 won the bronze category.
The IWEI has been brought to India by hotelier-activist Keshav Suri’s non-profit Keshav Suri Foundation, along with Pride Circle an LGBT+ inclusion consultancy, Stonewall UK a British LGBT+ advocacy group and FICCI(Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry).
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