Room to Read Sri Lanka receives Great Place to Work certification

Room to Read, a leading non-profit focused on girls' life skills education and children's reading development, was certified as a great workplace by the independent analysts at Great Place to Work in Sri Lanka, the first not-for-profit in Sri Lanka to have done so. Room to Read earned this credential based on extensive ratings provided by its employees in an anonymous survey conducted by Great Place to Work Institute. 

“We are extremely proud to receive the designation as a great workplace,” said Room to Read Sri Lanka Country Director Shevanthi Jayasuriya. “As a not-for-profit organisation, we’ve worked through the challenging yet rewarding process to build a company dedicated to its mission and its people to be a leader in educating the next generation of young learners. This recognition from our team is a huge inspiration for us to continue investing in a company culture where employees grow, flourish and contribute on our journey to educate children from all walks of life.” 

These certification strengthens Room to Read’s position as a leader in the non-profit world building great working environments where employees and management encourage a collaborative culture and ethical business practices to make a difference in the world. 

“We applaud Room to Read Sri Lanka for seeking employees’ feedback and the opportunity to certify itself,” said Great Place to Work Sri Lanka CEO Kshanika Ratnayake. “These ratings measure its capacity to earn its own employees' trust and create a great workplace – critical metrics that anyone considering working for or partnering with Room to Read should take into account as an indicator of high performance.”

The results from the assessment help corporations and NGOs to understand the drivers of employee engagement and thereby, building a motivated workforce to realise their mission. Driven by active employees who regularly share feedback and participate in decision making, Room to Read has established itself as a company with forward-looking employee policies. 

“NGOs (not-for-profits) are among the organisations who have to motivate employees to believe in and achieve organisational objectives without being able to provide high monetary incentives, benefits and plush facilities. Therefore, it becomes essential for NGOs to build a ‘Great Workplace’ culture that encourages and enables employees to perform in a high trust based environment supplemented with sense of pride in work and camaraderie among colleagues,” said Great Place to Work Project Manager Ruwani Alwishewa.