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Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion

At WNS, we focus on having a diverse mix of people from different nationalities, ethnicities, gender identities, religions, age groups and educational backgrounds. It helps create a valuable blend of skills, experience and ideas. Gender advancement, enhancing inclusivity and mental wellness are the three pillars on which our diversity and inclusion strategy is built. Our focus areas for each of the core pillars are as follows:

A. Gender Advancement

We are working toward improving gender representation in the organization across levels. To hire diverse talent, our recruitment team runs multiple programs. We strive for a healthy ratio of women across all organizational levels. We have made substantial progress toward creating equality and equity. As on 31st March 2023, 45.6% women represented our global workforce and from 1st April 2023, 33.3% of the Board of Directors of WNS (Holdings) Limited are women.

Key Programs for Gender Advancement in FY 2022-23:

Centurion
This WNS flagship initiative aims to provide an enabling environment for female employees to hone their skills for the next role and help them in their career progression. Centurion provides multi-faceted development interventions to build both domain and leadership skills. We have tied up with Cornell University as an academic partner for this initiative to entail allied function exposure and certifications, participation in industry forums, and more. This supports our objective of creating a pipeline of women leaders and strengthening our diversity and inclusion agenda.

“Working with WNS has given me an immense amount of learning and platforms to upskill myself. WNS has taught me how to overcome challenging situations and perform efficiently which, I feel, is a much-needed skill in a dynamic workspace. However, my biggest achievement is having been selected for Centurion, a global transformational talent management and leadership program for 25 women, aiming to groom young talent to be leaders. Of all the things that Centurion has to offer in this journey, the most exciting part is to be in a culturally diverse environment with women from so many countries, collaborating and working toward one goal. Here’s to scaling greater heights with WNS.”

Anwesha Roy, WNS Employee
Campus Program
Our diversity and gender advancement agenda also extends to our campus recruitment program. Our hiring strategy ensures a healthy balance for our new hire batches in business and enabling unit roles. Our internal guidelines help us ensure that we have diversity and gender balance in our mid-managerial levels that pave the way for diversity across all levels and business units.

B. Enhancing Inclusivity

Fostering a culture of inclusivity is at the forefront of our people policy and we have put several initiatives in place to make this a reality. Our employees are regularly educated on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

As an organization, we realize the importance of communication and awareness around DEI. We have organized educative webinars on LGBTQ+ inclusion where we had eminent speakers from the industry talk to our employees on topics like inclusive leadership and designing an inclusive culture. We back this up by sending regular communications and information bytes on DEI. We are constantly evolving our policies and infrastructure, keeping in mind our diverse talent across geographies from under-represented groups (LGBTQ+ / PWD).

We have recently formed the DEI leadership council , which serves as a guiding force, propelling WNS toward a more inclusive future. It leads the DEI agenda for WNS, focusing on developing strategies to attract, retain and support a diverse talent pool, ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive within our organization.

Key policies and programs to enhance inclusivity in FY 2022-23:

Equal Opportunity Policy
WNS is committed to the principle of equal opportunity for everyone in employment. The organization strives to ensure that access to employment, training, promotion and the treatment of employees is:
1. Free from discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, caste, creed, religion, marital status, disability or age
2. Based solely on the objective assessment of ability and job-related criteria

CEO Millennial Council
WNS believes in providing these future leaders with a platform to express themselves and to integrate their perspectives into our decision-making. WNS decided to create a platform exclusively for our younger employees to obtain fresh perspectives, new ideas and identify new leaders. The resulting program was the CEO Millennial Council, which brings together some of the brightest young minds in the organization to voice their ideas and help shape the company’s future. The council, a formal forum 'for and by' WNS millennials and Gen Z employees, allows them to choose and drive specific, focused initiatives within the organization under the CEO's and senior management's direct leadership.

Inclusive Leadership and Managing Bias Program
As part of our ongoing journey to become more inclusive, we launched a workshop for our company managers on ‘Inclusive Leadership and Managing Bias’. The workshop is delivered using a combination of group discussions, formal presentations, educational videos, real-world simulations and the development of action plans for the future
Respectful Workplace
Being respected and valued at the workplace is crucial to keep employees motivated and engaged. We pay close attention to creating a culture of respect in our workplace. Our “Respectful Workplace” initiative educates employees and inculcates the value of respecting different perspectives and making each team member feel appreciated

C. Mental Wellness

WNS has made mental wellness one of our key focus areas. Our goal is to remove stigmas surrounding mental health challenges, and to normalize and support conversations around mental well-being. To be able to achieve this goal, WNS has a robust and structured mental well-being program which includes confidential behavioral counselling, manager training, mental health counselling and regular group training sessions.

In addition to these tenets that we centrally drive, each geography in which WNS operates also has the flexibility to focus on issues and challenges unique to their region. Details are mentioned in the latest ESG report.

Talent and Skill
Management

With the accelerated evolution of the digital landscape, our employees need to reskill and upskill themselves. Our people strategy is designed and geared toward ensuring that our workforce has adequate access, support and opportunity to develop relevant capabilities promptly. Our efforts to create a highly trained, flexible, digitally capable and resilient workforce are built on three key pillars: a future-ready workforce, a robust leadership bench and a focus on talent development.

Future-Ready Workforce

We have created diverse, self-paced digital upskilling programs to make our workforce future-ready.

Leadership Bench
Our leadership bench comprises a series of bespoke programs developed for future first-level managers up to senior executive leadership.
Signature Leadership Development Program (SLDP)
The Signature Leadership Development Program is a 12-month journey that combines face-to-face academic and corporate immersions, hackathons and virtual sessions. Some of the differentiating features of this program include world-class facilitators, an innovative design, focus on business outcomes, application centricity and a fluid approach.
Succession Planning
Signature Leadership Development Program (SLDP)
Trusted Client Advisor
A curated learning journey for the Global Client Partnering team, it comprises four modules co-created with leading learning providers.
I-Excel
This leadership learning program is specially curated to meet the learning needs of specific groups from the business units, horizontal functions and support functions. This program is in partnership with Harvard Business Publishing and Cornell University.
Gravitas
Gravitas is a leadership development program for senior finance leaders that focuses on introspection, communicating with impact, executive presence and personal well-being.

In addition to this, WNS has created a learning experience platform that hosts vast amounts of updated content, providing a spectrum of opportunities for every employee to stay up-to-date on business knowledge, product, systems and industry regulations. The WNS training team has been instrumental in creating a digital learning environment by developing more than 400 specialized e-learning modules, resulting in digitizing the entire learning function. With these modules, employees have the flexibility to drive self-paced learning. Simulation-based learning environments have also been developed to support our employees’ ongoing learning needs. This learning system effectively enables employees to work in real-life scenarios in a controlled environment.

Inclusion and Employee Well-being

Cultivating inclusion, psychological safety and employee well-being has presented unique challenges in a hybrid work setting. As a result, there is a need for increased emphasis on establishing a culture where employees feel heard, connected, safe and healthy. In response to this challenge, WNS has taken the following actions:

Created a network of teams to promote collaboration and drive inclusion
Implemented an Employee Assistance Program for counseling support
Initiated manager upskilling workshops to enhance their team’s wellness and enable them to identify potential stress points, better support their teams and promote inclusivity
Prioritized mindfulness and weekly health and well-being sessions
Provided pregnancy care program for female employees
Established employee networks that offer support on specific topics to colleagues
Provided 24 / 7 remote doctor support for employees and families