fareWelcome! Program

“When I joined Capgemini 12 years ago, it was a very different place. The way we worked, what mattered to us as an organisation, and even what we expected from our individual careers and the organisation – was all very different from today. Capgemini in India was much smaller and almost everyone knew each other. In today’s ever-changing economy, acknowledging the changing landscape of talent, understanding their different goals and priorities, and shaping talent strategies to include them, are key for any business to succeed. I am often asked on how I have built my long term career, I respond that being adaptable, staying relevant and fearlessly marching ahead believing in what I do, are my top three must –haves.” – says Gayathri Ramamurthy, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, Capgemini India

Research shows that maternity transition can adversely impact women’s confidence; how successfully returning to work; sometime on more flexible work arrangements, can be a complex process to manage, both with key businesses and with personal commitments; and how keeping up career momentum can be challenging whilst balancing the demands of family life. Keeping in mind ask of our employees, inputs from our leaders and learning from our community, we curated fareWelcome!

The experience of our employees on, during and after maternity leave is critical in deciding next steps in their career. fareWelcome! Is aimed at both individuals and people managers, ensuring that all the stress and demands experienced currently, can be discussed and managed openly, honestly and in collaborative and supportive environment. The programme is designed to assist in transition from office to maternity leave, help stay connected with the organisation and colleagues during the maternity break, and ease ‘back to work’ transition process.

fareWelcome! program highlights:

We take pride in investing in programs and policies that support family needs so our employees can be their best at work and in life. We have launched several initiatives for our employees to support our women to absorb and integrate with a new member of the family. To be more inclusive to a family unit, we address surrogacy, adoption and paternity breaks as well.

At a time of continuous technological and other workplace changes, there is a need to build a continuous workplace connect for women during their long absence from work. Our fareWelcome! initiative assists in transitioning from office to maternity leave, help stay connected with the organization via the buddy network and colleagues, and ease ‘back to work’ after the gap. It provides employees an opportunity to constantly upskill their technical knowledge in this ever-changing world of technology.

We launched Parents@CG network for all our colleagues with child care responsibility to network and participate in sessions on different aspects of being a parent. We also provide crèche benefits to our employees through in-house crèches and tie ups across cities. Our commitment is reflected through our crèche benefit being a gender-neutral initiative to ease childcare for all working parents. We recognise the importance and benefits of breastfeeding for infants and has made special accommodations to support new mothers as part of its commitment to providing a family-friendly work environment. The lactation rooms support our employees by balancing their return to work with their needs as mothers of young children.

We also provide reserved parking slots for pregnant women and persons with disabilities (PwD) across office locations. We strive to ensure the safety and security of all our colleagues, and more so for all female colleagues. The Capgemini SOS App – ‘WS Desk’ ensure employee safety at all times-inside or outside the work premises.

Additionally, under the fareWelcome! program, the Diversity team facilitates engagement series on physical, social, developing sustainable habits, strategic career planning, achieving satisfaction in dual roles, personal and financial well-being during pre-natal and post-natal stages, for expecting and new mothers.

IMPACT of the program

The aim of this programme is to give participants an opportunity to explore how this transition can benefit  them, what they can do to make it easier and how to take control of it – effectively managing business issues and maintaining performance throughout the transition and beyond. Our endeavour is to provide positive impact on Employee Engagement and reducing women attrition due to child care, flexibility and work-life balance issues. Read More