Gender focused awards at workplaces

By Zanita careem

Sri Lanka’s sole gender focussed awards that measure the status of women in the Sri Lankan work places namely the Friendly Workplace Awards 2023 edition, is jointly presented by Satynmag.com and AICPA and CIMA was launched formally on March 1.

A paper in this regard was presented by Prof Arosha Adikaram, Chair of the Human Resources Department University of Colombo. Prof Adikaram is also the Head of the Panel of Judges of the Satynmag AICPA & CIMA Women Friendly Workplace Awards.This paper emphasised good practices for women and sheds light on the status of women in Sri Lanka

Satynmag AICPA & CIMA Women Friendly Workplace Awards commenced in 2021 and has been successfully recognized as the country’s only awards measuring the wellbeing and progress of women in the work environment.

This is a key metric for Sri Lanka in keeping with UN SDG 05 of ensuring gender equality as a country. With over 25 leading companies taking part in the first last year saw even a bigger number of companies including multinationals taking part this year.In her presentation of the Paper, Prof. Adikaram states that the Awards empowers a process of achieving equality and equity which will result in a process of social, economic and business development.

She said “While women consist of over 52% of the population, we see a drastic decrease in the women participation in the work force”.

They face numerous challenges in managing life events such as pregnancy, raising a family and child care; which calls for additional support to be made available when needed, so that the employment gap for women can be addressed.” She adds “We were able to gain insights into Good Practices of many organizations that have chosen to extend a high level of support to the women on their teams which is commendable indeed.”

Among the women focused initiatives that were considered exceptional and hailed as innovations, were those encouraging women to take up traditionally male dominated areas such as engineering, domestic violence support mechanism, anti-sexual harassment policies, anti-harassment and bullying policies, zero tolerance policy for harassment, whistle blowing policy, grievance handling, ensuring safe and secure employment, diversity, and equality

Additionally, encouraging more women to apply for positions, supporting women to aspire to senior positions, providing adequate maternity leave and flexi hours during early motherhood and creating a supportive and encouraging workplace culture were recognized as measures that assured women employees of support provided at work. Also associated with the launch were Nayomini R Weerasooriya, Founder Editor of www.satynmag.com, Zahara Ansary, Country Manager, AICPA&CIMA in Sri Lanka, Ken Vijayakumar HR Professional & Beshan Kulapala tech entrepreneur, representing the Board of Judges —2023 Awards.

The Satymnag CIMA Women Friendly Workplace Awards highlighted the role played by women in the Sri Lankan workplace, giving participating companies the opportunity to enhance the level of recognition available to women in their workforce.

Commenting on the Awards, Prof. Adhikaram also says that the process of evaluating participating organizations and understanding the importance of the role of women in the workplace brought out new insights into how best organizations could enhance the opportunities made available to women in their workplace.

“Ensuring that women-in the Sri Lankan work environment can thrive in an empathetic and an encouraging work culture is not only of utmost importance but it is also timely and relevant given that 50% of the Sri Lankan population comprises of females.” she added.

“In the post pandemic environment, women need a supportive workplace more than ever With practices such as Work From Home and Flex hours often in use, a challenging work-life balance for women calls for optimum balance. As mothers, wives and careerwomen, meeting workplace expectations and ensuring everything at home is managed, is a challenge we face every day The Awards recognize organizations that go the extra mile in under. standing and acknowledging these dynamics towards creating a workplace that is both nurturing and supportive for women.” adds Zahara Ansary, Country Manager for CIMA in Sri Lanka.

The first round of evaluations for the Satynmag CIMA WFWP Awards have already commenced according to the Awards team and are likely to proceed towards the Awards being held later this year.

Nayomi Weerasinghe, the Editor of Satyn said the awards have been hailed as a much needed benchmark encouraging women friendly workplace culture, and culture that is both supportive and inclusive of the opportunities available to women.

How is the evaluation done? The participating organisation were evalued on a score of having in place best practices and women friendly workplace policies by a panel of judges headed by Arosha Adikaram chair HR Department of University of Colombo, Ken Vijayakumar HR professional and Beshan Kulapala who are also present at the Board of Judges for 2023 awards.