In the pursuit of bagging huge profits and escalating the business, a swarm of organizations today are missing out on one prime aspect employee wellness. Not every organization goes the extra mile to recognize their employees, reward them and most importantly treat them with love and equal importance as that of their clients. Indeed, Sun Life India Service Centre is one such employee centric organization that treats employees akin to its clients and believes this as the only way for clients to relish its best in class services. With a workforce of 1,700 employees, the firm boasts a work culture that is extremely inclusive and transparent with accent on open door policy and employee wellness & development. Rajeev Bhardwaj, Vice President Human Resources, Sun Life India Service Centre, narrates, “We emphasize on the way we handle our employees besides ensuring that our culture reflects in the way we conduct ourselves”. Moreover, Sun Life’s foundation is built on four chief pillars innovation,collaboration, wellness and sustainability, which clearly resonate across its culture.

Truly Diversified with Focus on Women
Diversity has always been at the core of Sun Life’s hiring principles, encouraging senior professionals to join, stay long and grow. Aiming to achieve the IT/ITeS industry’s typical gender ratio 76 (male):24 (female) from past three years, the firm has reached 67:33 presently thereby portraying its specific importance towards women. While certain positions welcome only women, at least 33 percent of the job roles are assured to attract diverse candidates at Sun Life thus accentuating its diversity in hiring. Further, the firm has been aggressively hiring women to acquire 40 percent women leaders in its Senior Management and Leadership Team by 2021.

To further infuse the facet of diversity and inclusion, Sun Life hosts events such as fireside chat and many others each time its senior leaders from Canada or Asia visit the Indian office. These events are organized with an aim of inculcating the company’s philosophies and commitment among the employees.

Programs for Each Aspect
Sun Life takes care of its women colleagues across every step of the way from the time they join the organization to developing them for greater responsibilities to supporting them during various phases of their life change. Over the recent years, Sun Life has witnessed a great transition of women from the entry level into middle and senior management positions due to the provision of boundless growth opportunities. The women referral programs have gained huge

traction at the firm wherein the payout is much higher if the referred candidate is a female. Right from the employees’ date of joining through the phase of promotion till their tenure in the firm, Sun Life takes diligent care in bestowing all of them with essential initiatives and programs that can boost up their skills and productivity. For instance, its Buddy Program ascertains that a buddy is allocated to every new employee while the New Employee Assimilation Program ensures staying in close touch with newbies for the first 90 days. In fact, Sun Life publishes its new initiatives/ programs on dashboards to the senior management (quarterly basis) and employees(monthly basis) besides announcements during town hall meetings.

Through our internal POSH committee, we give zero tolerance to any act of misconduct

Internal growth is another primordial area of concern at Sun Life. When new job opportunities sprout up, the firm makes sure that women colleagues are treated fairly and transparently. The Education Assistance System Program with domain specific programs is conducted for employees wherein women show active participation. Further to build the pipeline of women leadership, Sun Life organizes Sun RISE, a nine month women leadership program wherein employees are exposed to industry mentors, webinars and special two day programs. Attended by 12 nominated women managers, this program stands as a platform for women to enhance their domain specific leadership skills as well as share their experiences with peers. Post witnessing enormous success and positive feedbacks, Sun Life plans on making Sun RISE a regular leadership development program. Moreover, shining star awards are given out to employees with exemplary performance.

As an organization with 91 percent millennials, Sun Life infuses fun through its fun at work club JOSH wherein many activities are initiated on Friday, festivals and special occasions besides birthday celebrations and wedding gifts for the newly married. The firm also organizes Sun Splash, the ‘Bring your Kids to Work’ initiative. Apart from this, Sun Life has unveiled health, sports & wellness club, family day and annual sports competition to orchestrate variegated sports.

The Extra Care
Among the spectrum of benefits that Sun Life delivers to its female employees work from home, flexible timings (for certain roles), six months maternity leave coupled with six months postnatal care leave and crèche facility, truly standout. As per the work from home policy, the firm presents women with laptops, data cards and broadband facility with reimbursement. Sun Life takes great care of its women employees by providing them pickup and drop facility while after 8PM a security guard goes along with them till their homes to ensure their safety. Women can also give a call on its 24x7 hotline number in case of emergencies or when support is required while the company voluntarily provides them pepper spray to stay safe. Rajeev adds, “Through our internal POSH committee, we give zero tolerance to any act of misconduct. On their request, we also consider conducting meditation & counseling sessions to the men responsible for any misbehaviour instead of filing a POSH case”.

Sun Life was recognized among the ‘100 Best Companies for Women in 2017’ by AVTAR & Working Mothers and is looking forward to participate in the same this year besides similar other recognitions. Most importantly, the firm’s prime goal is to consider the inclusion of women with utmost seriousness across all positions, primarily the senior level.

Key Management:
Rajeev Bhardwaj, Vice President - Human Resources
Rajeev is a HR professional with over 25 years of cross industry experience in HR Management.
Locations: Canada, US, China, India, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Philippines, UK & Vietnam

Offerings:
•Insurance
•Investments
•Financial Advice
•Asset Management