SPN India is one of the best companies for women in India

Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), India’s leading entertainment and sports broadcast network, has been recognized amongst the 100 Best Companies for Women in India for 2017. This award is based on a prestigious study conducted by Working Mother - a global leader on gender equity - and AVTAR, a pioneer in diversity and inclusion in India. With women comprising 33% of its workforce, the company has undertaken various award-winning initiatives to create a work environment in which they can truly fulfil their potential. Grooming women leaders at various levels and building an equal-opportunity, inclusive culture have been some of the key focus areas for SPN. The network’s significant progress in this direction has been recognized in the study, making it the only media and entertainment company to be a part of this prestigious ranking this year.  
 
The Working Mother and AVTAR Best Companies for Women in India is a one-of-its-kind study to identify, share, showcase and celebrate best practices from India’s best employers to foster women’s career advancement. The 2017 Working Mother & AVTAR 100 Best Companies for Women in India were chosen based on performance across 7 key policy clusters namely, workforce profile, flexible work, women’s recruitment and retention, benefits, paid-time off/parental leave, company culture, safety and security. 360 companies participated in the study, which is India’s largest and most rigorous gender analytics exercise.  
 
Over its 22 years of existence, SPN has created a culture of high performance and engagement, with various human resources polices by the network being industry firsts. SPN was one of the first organizations in the country to extend maternity, adoption and surrogacy leave to 6 months, well before it became mandated by law. Pregnant women can also avail preferential parking on the office premises. The network has a special provision of a mothers’ room, where a new mother can pump and store milk for her baby, and near-site crèche facilities for employees to avail for their children. SPN also prioritizes women’s safety through practices like sensitizing all employees on prevention of sexual harassment (POSH), and training women employees on self-defense techniques. SPN allows its employees to strike a perfect work life balance with in-house activities like fitness challenges, an employee assistance program, healthy lifestyle workshops, desktop yoga to boost employee motivation and productivity.
 
These are just a few of the many initiatives that have contributed towards making SPN an employer of choice within and outside the media industry. SPN has won three prestigious employer awards in 2017 alone – AON India Best Employers, India’s Great Mid-Size Workplaces (awarded by the Great Place To Work Institute to our distribution business for the third consecutive year), and being among the Top 10 Companies in India for Best Health & Wellness Practices (awarded by the Society of Human Resource Management and CGP Partners for the fourth consecutive year) - which are a testimony to the outstanding people practices undertaken by the network. 

Comments:
 
NP Singh, CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India:  “At SPN, we have an inclusive culture which delivers fulfilling career experiences and growth opportunities. It is a tribute to our organization’s culture that we are being recognised as among the top 100 companies for women in India.”  

Smriti K. Singh, CHRO, Sony Pictures Networks India: “Our people practices are designed to support women employees in the unique challenges they face while balancing and excelling at various roles in and outside the office. Being part of this list reinforces our standing as an employer of choice.”