Optum Global Advantage India recognized as Top 100 Best Companies for Women in India 2022
October 18, 2022
In a study conducted by Avtar and Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media), Optum Global Advantage India has been recognized as one of the 100 Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) for the fifth year in a row.
2022 BCWI was launched early in 2022. Applicants included 351 companies that spanned every major industry, geographical location and line of business. All answered almost 300 questions and provided data of high-order granularity on their practices, programs and policies to ensure gender inclusion in the workplace. Optum is honored to have been awarded a place in the top 100 BCWI.
"Earlier this year we were recognized as the best organization for women in 2022 by Economic Times, and now being recognized by Avtar is a matter of pride for us," said Abhishek Kumar, vice president of operations, member of the AEG leadership council and part of the India diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) core team. "We have been participating in this study for a few years, and that’s because we want to measure our efforts against the best in the industry.
"DEI is a business priority, and with the help of our leaders and extended team we are working toward enabling a diverse health workforce, building a supportive ecosystem and advancing equity through business practices. We assessed our policies across the employee life cycle to make them gender-bias free, which has helped us increase hiring of more women employees, improve retention and create a more inclusive workplace as gender diversity increased. If our efforts do not translate into outcomes, they need a relook.”
Examples of some of the newly introduced and revised policies and programs for 2022 include:
- A gender-neutral parental leave policy
- An enhanced day care benefit that provides a wider network, greater flexibility and cost-related support to help team members ensure their children's well-being
- The E-Cornell learning program for women leaders
Mili Mitra, senior director of technology and the India lead for the United Women Leading in Technology (UWLIT) program, shared, “In my 10+ years at Optum, I have seen the organization’s commitment toward equity and inclusion intensify each year. Optum has provided me multiple platforms for continuous learning whether it is through industry partnerships like NASSCOM or Cornell, external coaching interventions like Ezra or mentorship cohorts. Each of these helped me grow as a leader. This shows that as an organization we have made a conscious decision to help nurture diverse talent. The leadership team’s commitment to driving result-oriented efforts differentiates us from others.”
About Avtar
Avtar, which was established in 2000, is India’s premier DEI solutions firm. Led by the visionary Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, Avtar has helped charter DEI plans for several organizations in the country's IT/ITES, BFSI, FMCG, pharma, retail and engineering industries. As the earliest firm in India to provide end-to-end DEI solutions, Avtar’s services span a broad spectrum, such as diversity recruitment (including gender, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community), audits and advisory support toward strategic DEI planning, conferences and events that host very pertinent DEI discussions, and training interventions toward building DEI capability. To know more, visit avtarinc.com.
About Seramount
Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media), now part of EAB, is a strategic professional services firm dedicated to advancing DEI in the workplace. Over four decades, partnering with some of the most iconic companies in the world, it's built a deep, data-driven understanding of the employee experience, which lays the groundwork for everything it does. Seramount's comprehensive DEI toolkit includes actionable research and insights, membership, strategic guidance and consulting, and inspiring events, meeting each client’s needs no matter where they are on their journey and guiding them along an ever-changing landscape. Seramount has empowered more than 450 organizations to realize the business benefits of DEI. To know more, visit seramount.com.