VFS Global, the market leader in visa outsourcing services, has achieved new milestones in termed of gender equality. The Blackstone-owned technology services specialist walks the talk when it comes to gender-diverse workforce. According to the latest data provided by the company, the share of women workforce in VFS Global has grown to 57 per cent. In the 8,800 employees working for the company, almost half of them are women.
In line with this year’s International Women’s Day theme of embracing equity, the company has setup an agenda of ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’.
Explaining the concept, Nirbhik Goel, Chief Human Resources Officer, VFS Global said, ‘Strategic integration of DEI principles in our workforce is a part of Nurturing Our Colleagues, one of the five fundamental pillars of VFS Global’s sustainability strategy. In 2022, we also linked leadership performance to annual sustainability targets to ensure year-on-year measurable improvement. Empowering women and achieving gender equality is not only important from a social perspective, but is also the right thing to do.”
Goel further added that “Organisations with more women in top management and board positions reflect the profiles of their customers and employees in a better way and benefit from more diverse views.” Sighting the 2022 data, VFS Global said that the ratio of women leaders increased by 7 per cent over the last two years reaching 27% last year.
The company is also looking towards devising strategies to mentor young women staff to take up more challenging roles. Experts of subjects and senior women leaders have been roped in to help the younger staff in learning from their experiences and enriching their work culture. Workshop has been conducted to inspire the workforce to come up with their own action plan. Other initiatives included ‘Future Skills Scholarship Programme’, ‘UAE Gender Balance Council Pledge’ among others. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates’ Dubai, VFS Global has presence in five continents.