Sri Lanka firms to benefit from widening diversity

Dec 12, 2012 (LBO) - Sri Lankan firms can benefit from being more inclusive, and while comprehensive diversity policies were still rare, many were making a start by promoting equal opportunity and combating sexual harassment, top executives said. Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, managing director, Transportation Sector, Hemas Holdings recalled an instance where a new person who joined a team always came up with a contrary position to the annoyance of other members.

She was addressing senior corporate leaders at the LBR LBO CEO forum on the topic of "Business Case for Workplace Diversity & Inclusion."

Later she said, they wondered whether the apparent contrariness of the person was due to unwillingness of other members of the group to listen to different ideas. Now the person is considered valuable contributor of a different ideas, she said.

Sunil Dissanayake, head of human resources Hayleys a group said non-discriminatory HR practices helped keep employees happy.

Dissanayake, who had also worked abroad at international firms like Citibank said when he worked in Dubai, the firm he worked for had no cage of age, marital status, gender, and there was no difference in pay whether expatriates were Asian or Western.

"But there were