Unilever Bangladesh introduces policies for welfare of employees
Unilever Bangladesh Limited (UBL), one of the largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company in the country, has introduced two more progressive policies as part of its effort to build equitable workplaces for its employees.
The policies—caregiver service at home and interchangeable public holidays— are aligned with Unilever’s philosophy of building a diverse and inclusive workplace that respects the dignity and worth of every employee so that they can bring their full self to work, says a press release.
Earlier this year, Unilever had introduced two progressive and gender-neutral policies namely ‘Prevention on Sexual Harassment (POSH)’ and ‘Support Survivors of Abuse’ to uphold an inclusive ecosystem and protect employees from any form of harassment or bullying, whether individual or collective.
Caregiver service policy enables the employees to avail a helping hand on-demand at a discounted cost to take care of their children, elders and ailing family members. The objective of this policy is to support its employees in times of urgency so that they can thrive both at work and at home.
Trained caregivers and certified nurses will provide services to those family members of employees who need assistance. Through this policy, Unilever employees can be benefited from Covid-19 patient care at home or hospital, nursing homecare services, physiotherapy, maternal care and nanny services.
Interchangeable public holidays policy allows employees to celebrate their special days by choosing to exchange or merge holidays with Unilever’s annual holiday list. This comes with the recognition that cultural or religious holidays are equally important, but individually driven.
This policy elaborates, there are many other important days or occasions that are celebrated by employees based on their cultural, ethnic and religious beliefs such as Laxmi Puja, Maghi Purnina, Easter Sunday etc which are not included in the annual holiday list of the company nor are mandated by the government, the press release added.
Speaking on the new policies, the chief executive officer of Unilever Bangladesh, Zaved Akhtar said, "We warmly welcome these newly introduced special policies as they testify Unilever’s commitment to equity at every stage of our employees' career. Our endeavor is to build an equitable workplace for all our employees and achieve equity, diversity and inclusion in everything we do.”
“We are striving towards a workplace that will carry a profound sense of belonging that ensures everyone is treated fairly, has equal access to resources, and has equal opportunities,” he added.
Human resource director of Unilever Bangladesh, Sakshi Handa said, "Unilever Bangladesh is committed to ensure equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace for all its employees.”
Unilever Bangladesh has incorporated these inclusive and progressive policies as an extra step to improve employee wellbeing and equality at work in order to be future-ready, she added.