‘Kids at Work’ at Standard Chartered

Saturday, 22 October 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

For the third consecutive year, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) hosted the children of employees to a special Kids @ Work event on 14 October.

Almost 100 children spent an afternoon at the bank, where they were shown a movie over lunch and then given a guided tour of their parents’ workspaces. Every department handed out goodies, and it was a pleasant and welcome diversion to have the children roam the floors, the bank said.

SCB prides itself on the integral role diversity and inclusion plays in the way it does business. The Bank operates in a variety of markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East and employs a spectrum of culturally and ethnically diverse talent, which is viewed as a tremendous asset for the organization.

The Diversity and Inclusion Agenda (D&I) is a group wide initiative focusing on engendering an inclusive culture that values and leverages differences in ethnicity, gender and disability across the entire SCB footprint to enable a competitive advantage.

In the spirit of D&I and addressing work-life balance, SCB Sri Lanka has introduced a flexible working-hours policy, a paternity leave policy and an adoption leave policy.

SCB Sri Lanka also boasts a unique KidKare Centre in Colombo, which provides day care services and educational activities throughout the working day for children aged between six months and 12 years.

D&IChampion 2011 Delon Kellar said, “At Standard Chartered, we work hard to create a more inclusive workplace and, in particular, a supportive and enabling environment for employees to balance both personal and professional commitments. We believe that our success is made possible by our people and the broad range of talents that they bring to the Bank.”

This year the evening ended with a special party organized at the Warehouse Project, where the SCB children joined over 50 under privileged children from the Warehouse Project. These children were treated to an evening of fun and games, and gifts were shared out by the SCB children to their guests.