dtac has announced a set of policies to foster inclusion of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) employees. The policies reaffirm that dtac has zero tolerance for discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, while also offering new benefits for LGBTQ employees. The benefits dtac offers to legally wed couples will now be offered to same-sex couples in committed relationships. In addition, dtac now offers parental leave for adoptions and medical leave for gender reassignment surgery. dtac expects the policies to foster diversity and inclusion, which will in turn increase productivity and improve services.
Nardrerdee Arj-harnwongse, Chief People Office of Total Access Communication PLC, or dtac, said, “dtac is passionately committed to the equal treatment of all our customers and employees. We have zero tolerance for discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, or religion. This has long been part of our code of conduct. Our new policy for LGBTQ employees reaffirms our existing position on diversity. But it also extends our benefits to be fairer and more inclusive in every aspect of our employees’ lives, from marriage to health and parenting. The net result of fairer policies for LGBTQ is to drive our diversity and inclusion across the whole organization. There is a lot of evidence that organizations scoring highly on diversity outperform their peers.”
The following benefits currently offered to legally wed couples will be extended to same-sex couple who can demonstrate that they are partners in a committed relationship within a single household.
- Matrimony leave of up to six days and an allowance of 5,000 baht.
- Funeral leave of up to 15 days a year and an allowance of 10,000 baht for the death of a family member.
- The right to purchase family health plans and health checkups at company rates.
In addition, dtac will now treat sexual reassignment surgery as part of medical leave. A seven-day will also be granted to all parents adopting a child under the age of one.
In 2020, McKinsey revealed that the most gender-diverse organizations are 48 percent more likely to outperform their least diverse peers. They are also more valuable. Funds focused on companies with strong commitments to Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria attracted US$340 billion dollars in investment in the past two years according to the Financial Times. (Diversity and inclusion are part of the social pillar in ESG criteria.)“At dtac, we have a very diverse employee base spanning multiple generations and nationalities. Protecting and fostering the wellbeing of our LGBTQ employees is part of our continued efforts to be a leader for inclusion at work. We believe it is the right thing to do and that it translates to better service where every dtac customer is treated like family. Businesses where employees can bring their whole self to work are quite simply better businesses,” said Ms. Nardrerdee.
The announcement is part of dtac’s support for Pride Month, which also saw the release of support badges on Facebook for the public. dtac’s Code of Conduct can be found here.
