UST Honored as One of the ‘100 Best Companies for Women in India 2021’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company, has been recognized for the third consecutive time as one of the ‘100 Best Companies for Women in India 2021’ for its exemplary efforts on gender diversity, inclusion and equality. The company also won the prestigious title of ‘Exemplar of Inclusion’ for its continuous efforts on gender inclusion in the workplace. Avtar, India’s premier Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion solutions firm along with Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media), a strategic professional services firm dedicated to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace in the United States, conducted the sixth successive edition of the Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) study in 2021.

Over 330 companies, spanning every major industry, geographical location and line of business, participated in the sixth consecutive edition of the Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI). The key segments that MICI covered were diversity, including gender, generation, people with disabilities, LGBTQ, practices for fostering diversity and inclusion in recruitment, retention, advancement of people from diverse groups, and company culture.

UST is always committed to maintaining a balanced work-life environment to support employees through important life-changing events, not limited to maternity, elderly care, and child adoption; therefore, reasonable flexibility is provided in terms of working hours, remote working, leave extensions, and holidays. Through its hiring, promotion, recognition, leadership development, and retention, UST has always ensured diversity in the process. Programs like Network of Women USsociates (NOWU), mentoring, UST Career Architecture framework, D3 – a global developers conference celebrating talent in the technology world, and ‘Women Unlimited’ have been highly impactful towards furthering inclusivity and community building. From being one of India’s first digital technology transformation companies to hire transgenders, to designing internal communities like ‘Curved Colors,’ a group for the LGBTQAI+ community, UST proved its active involvement in supporting and sustaining an inclusive culture.

UST also conducts programs like ‘Impact India,’ which identifies talent within the differently abled community. UST has an ongoing partnership with institutes such as ‘Braille without borders’ for the visually impaired and ‘National Institute of Speech & Hearing’ for the hearing impaired. UST has designed ‘Step IT Up’, an accelerated training program, in several countries they operate in, designed to train and employ women, minorities, and veterans in STEM fields. UST encourages and actively recruits women who had to take a break in career due to family or personal reasons.

“At UST, DE&I is a way of life, and we believe that the future of our organization lies in the aspiration of our diverse and inclusive talent to instill positive change. We have been deliberate and elaborate about adopting DE&I in our culture, processes, and interactions. We want our customers, employees, partners, and the communities around us to touch and feel this facet of the UST DNA. We make significant investments year on year to train, develop and create awareness of the need and, impact of DE&I. To be recognized by AVTAR and Seramount as one of the ‘100 Best Companies for Women in India 2021’ is a reflection of our ongoing effort to make this world more diverse, equitable, and inclusive,” said Manu Gopinath, Chief Operating Officer, UST.
“We are deeply honored and energized to be recognized as the ‘2021 Exemplar of Inclusion’ and listed among the top ‘100 Best Companies for Women’ in 2021. At UST, we believe in equity, inclusion, and diversity and the richness of diverse perspectives to build for boundless impact for our customers, communities, partners, and employees. We welcome open and honest conversations to empower and enrich thus creating opportunities for innovation, growth, and collaboration. We are strongly committed to creating communities by providing avenues for excelling, and empowering every UST associate paving the way for a more inclusive future,” added Anu Koshy, Head – Diversity and Inclusion, UST.

Commenting on the occasion, Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, Avtar, said “This year’s study results indicate that companies are consciously evolving in their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Maturity. This is primarily based on three factors, viz., their leadership intent, the industry they belong to and the history of their DEI journey thus far. It is noteworthy that the disruptions of 2020, have further accelerated the pace of DEI progress in the Best Companies, with 73% of them having reported an increase in their DEI spend. One such key indicator is the large number of companies which have institutionalized practices to boost representation of women and other underrepresented groups in senior leadership and executive positions.”

She further added, “Companies are increasingly building a cascade effect of DEI Accountability. As per the data from 2021 Working Mother & Avtar Most Inclusive Companies Index (MICI), 95% of companies have built their KPIs/KRAs on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for their people managers across levels.”
Recently, UST won the ‘Business Culture Team Award’ for its Office of Values & Culture (OVC) at the Business Culture Awards 2021. UST was also recognized as the Best Place to Work in Malaysia, U.S., UK, India, and Mexico. Additionally, UST was named a Top Employer 2021 in eight countries – US, UK, India, Mexico, Spain, Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia, by the Top Employers Institute (TEI). The company was also honored with a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award for being one of the Top 100 Best Places to Work in 2020. The company recently announced its aggressive hiring plans of over 10,000 employees across the globe to support its global business demand, accelerate the digital transformation of companies, and the rise of the digital economy.