KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Berhad (BAT Malaysia) honoured its female workforce on International Women’s Day recently.
As part of its commitment to celebrate diversity and inclusion, BAT Malaysia boasts 34 per cent female representation in management.
“Enabling and empowering women leaders is not only the right thing to do, but essential to our success as a company,” said Adrita Datta, Human Resources Director of BAT Malaysia.
“Our diversity makes us stronger, and we embrace it as a source of innovation, creativity and competitive differentiation, as we work towards building A Better TomorrowTM.
“While we are pleased with our progress, attracting, and advancing diversity & inclusion continues to be a key priority, and we remain committed to creating a culture of equality where everyone can advance and thrive.”
Some of the diversity and inclusion initiatives in BAT Malaysia include:
Parents@BAT
BAT Malaysia helps ease working mothers post-childbirth with four months’ of fully paid maternity leave, with the opportunity to extend by an extra two months at half pay. We also provide 10 consecutive working days paternity leave to our male employees.
Menstrual & pregnancy support for national sales team
Women in the national sales team, whose work primarily takes place outside of the office in their respective “territories”, are offered the opportunity to work from the office for a maximum of three days’ a month during their monthly menstrual period.
Expecting mothers are also able to work fully from the office during their pregnancy term.
Mothers’ rooms
BAT Malaysia’s Head Office keeps mothers in mind, with a fully-equipped and comfortable nursing room.
Health & wellness Initiatives
BAT Malaysia supports men & women’s health through various health and wellness initiatives, such as a monthly half-day Wellness Day, awareness campaigns, educational events, and complimentary Pap smears, ultrasounds, and prostate examinations.
Through a partnership with digital health & wellness provider employees can also access a plethora of resources to help monitor their condition.
Training & Development
Diversity and inclusion training sessions are frequently held for all employees to understand, develop and embrace skills needed to collaborate and connect with people of various backgrounds, including women empowerment groups such as Athena and Women@BAT, both of which provide networking and learning opportunities.
There is also a customised program that allows female talents to get personalised coaching to address their development objectives.
