Blue Dart Express Ltd.
Employee Strength: 12,460+ (on-roll employees)
IDF Industry Council: Infrastructure
DEI Initiative in the Spotlight:
Creating a mark in the industry: Setting an industry benchmark, we launched 2 all-women service centres in 2021, consisting of employees across levels, and with maximum female employees. One centre is 100% run by women. The other one operates in a 70:30 ratio. In this particular set-up, all the roles, mostly unconventional for women, such as security staff, and delivery staff, are women employees. This has been one of our flagship programs at Blue Dart to laud and appreciate the diversity ratio that we have. The centres have been doing very well and our customers appreciate this set-up a lot. They do mention that while taking delivery of shipments when they see female staff as a welcome change, it does create a spirit of equality and people connect. Other than this initiative, we do have female staff in other locations as well who make deliveries and enthusiastically serve the customers.
We intend to maintain and enhance our position as an organization that believes in equality, at the same time providing women employees with a safe and conducive work environment, thereby enhancing the Employer Value Proposition (EVP), encouraging and empowering more women to take on challenging roles, beyond the boundaries of what is perceived as male-dominated roles. This is what we believe in as a People First organization with full passion.
Other Key Focus Areas for DEI:
Women In Management for Better Business: We are extremely focused on this and have a high-priority goal which is in line with our global agenda of enhancing our Women in Management (WiM). For every open position, during the recruitment stage, we focus on female candidates first. In fact, we have kept hiring female candidates as one of the major HR MBOs that is monitored regularly.
Hygiene Factor for Female Employees: We are making mandatory changes in the washroom facilities available across locations for the comfort and safety of female employees, and there is never any case that arises due to which we are not able to safely place a female employee at a location. This is an ongoing practice and it’s a major focus for this year as well.
Women Safety: We are continuously focusing on and encouraging all employees’ safety irrespective of any gender. However, for women employees, we are extremely sensitive. On safety norms and policies, such as Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) which is ongoing training and refreshers for all employees is done regularly to spread awareness about employees’ rights.
Referrals To Boost Diversity: Each One Refer One policy, which is the Employee Referral policy communication is strengthened, focusing on referrals of women candidates for open positions at Blue Dart.
Encouraging Policy For Gender Diversity: Internal maternity medical reimbursement policy announced and to be popularized.
Women@Blue Dart Campaign: This initiative highlights the experiences of women employees working with Blue Dart. Through this platform our women Blue Darters share glimpses of their journey to motivate other women counterparts to pursue a career in Logistics, this is an ongoing practice.
Creating A Mark In The Industry: Setting an industry benchmark, we launched 2 all-women service centres in 2021, consisting of employees across levels, and with maximum female employees. One centre is 100% run by women. The other one operates in a 70:30 ratio.
Celebrating Gender Diversity: We have also published interviews of female employees on the Career page of our BDE website to emphasize the importance of diversity that we put within the BDE culture.
Employee Testimonial for this initiative
“I am working for Blue Dart for the past 6 years. This is my 1st job and I have been assigned different roles and responsibilities during my tenure. This has presented me with an opportunity to grow within the organization. The respect, trust and support that I get from my team and colleagues from other functions is truly commendable. Though the operations area is typically male-dominated, I have always felt comfortable and confident when going about my duties. Thanks to Blue Dart for building such a diverse culture which gives us an equal platform. This is what makes BLUE DART a Great Place to Work and I am a “Proud Blue Darter”. – Female employee
Impact Statement: Diversity has always been a critical agenda for us and the IMPACT we create by instilling the faith in women employees for being an Employer of Choice for women, is what sets us apart!
Advice for other organizations
Logistics is primarily a male-dominated sector. Blue Dart is an equal opportunity employer and believes in ensuring a healthy balance on the diversity front and having more Women in Management. Our leadership strongly believes in this focus and drives the culture from the top down by communications, interactions, interventions, etc. We, being a part of a global Company in logistics, do face the issue where getting female candidates for frontline jobs is a challenge due to exhaustive work hours, challenges and women culturally and socially have more household responsibilities on them. Due to this, we do struggle in getting more and more female candidates in the frontline cadre. However, we are gradually overcoming this hurdle, by launching 2 all-women service centres consisting of employees across levels, and with maximum female employees. One centre is 100% run by women. The other one operates in a 70:30 ratio.
Maintaining diversity and inclusion balance in an organization is very important. Having a diverse workforce basically means each one complements each other; the strengths of each employee become a part of the culture and together as a team we work towards business growth. It is important to understand that each gender has a unique characteristic and that adds to the rich work culture if management can take good care of the employees. Also, communication from the top-down is critical to building a culture of acceptance of the diverse workforce.