How Diversity & Inclusion is powering Mastercard’s growth plans

Businesses outpace the competition by not only focusing on customer experience but also creating a healthy workplace environment. After all, employees are the key drivers of growth for any successful business and creating a conducive environment for them should be of utmost importance. Whether it is a big corporation or a startup, employers these days are working towards a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

Diversity & inclusion is more than favourable policies and wellbeing programmes. It is about equal representation and how well the contributions of different groups of people are acknowledged, valued, and integrated into the culture. An organisation with a diverse and inclusive culture ensures everyone feels heard and respected, irrespective of who they are and what they do.

Several reports and findings have shown many benefits of a diverse and inclusive workplace such as higher revenue growth, higher productivity and readiness to innovate, greater employee retention, and more.

Ensuring a fair and equal path

If employees feel safe and supported regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, designation etc. they are more likely to perform better and stay in the company longer. Mastercard has amplified its efforts to level the playing field and build development opportunities for all.

In its 2020 global inclusion report, the company has reiterated its commitment to drive for inclusive economic growth and create an environment where everyone is empowered to achieve their highest potential.

At the workplace and beyond, Mastercard is driving inclusion through various initiatives such as:

• Equal Pay for Equal Work, where women employees at Mastercard doing the same role globally receive the same pay as their male co-workers. Based on the company's most recent annual pay equity analysis, women employees earn $1.00 for every $1.00 men employees earn.
• Business Resource Groups (BRGs) are employee-led groups that are created to promote a more inclusive culture including people with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQ+ community in the Mastercard offices worldwide. These groups come together to drive awareness and actively support inclusion.
• Project Oorja aims at working towards enhancing the inclusion and empowerment of women through initiatives like ‘Return to Work’, designed especially for mid-career women professionals on a break with an opportunity to re-enter the workplace. The project also includes other benefits such as financial assistance to all employees for adoption, surrogacy and fertility treatments, 16-week leave for new parents, the India Leadership Mentorship Program for mid-career women employees with an opportunity to be mentored by senior leaders, and more.
• Girls4Tech program: Apart from encouraging more women-in-tech at the workplace, Mastercard also inspires young girls to pursue STEM careers through a fun, engaging curriculum, incorporating its deep expertise in payments technology and innovation. The company believes that the best way to reduce the gender gap when it comes to STEM is through educating and motivating girls at an early age. Having reached out to 1 million young girls globally, the company set a new goal of inspiring 5 million girls by 2025.

Mastercard’s India Tech Hub is one of the best examples of its efforts towards building a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.

Inclusion at the India Tech Hub

Diverse and inclusive work ethos is intrinsic to Mastercard workplaces globally. The India Tech Hub is the company’s largest technology hub outside the United States. The hub plays a major role in bringing many digital payment solutions and technologies to life - working on cutting-edge tech and collaborating with global and regional teams to innovate and implement solutions that facilitate faster, smarter and safer cashless payments for customers in India and globally.

The India Tech Hub currently houses more than 3000 strong workforce in India. The employees are supported through best-in-class practices and upskilling opportunities in the tech space.

Rajesh Mani, recently appointed India Tech Hub lead said,” Creating a dynamic, engaged, and balanced workspace is crucial to build an empowering work culture. We work towards finding ways to level the playing field and build pathways that offer priceless possibilities for all. When we make inclusion and diversity a key priority, the path to opportunity opens up. Diversity and inclusion are conducive to evoking honest conversations, appealing to different groups and encouraging creativity. Thus, different perspectives allow us to collaborate more effectively and innovate better to build products, solutions and services that keep people from all walks of life in mind”

“We have always empowered people by providing them the space to be themselves personally and professionally. Be it through upskilling via diverse learning programs or enabling a sense of fulfilment through volunteering programs.” Rajesh added

Mastercard India tech hub believes in:

• Opportunity and inclusion and giving people access to the networks they need to live up to their potential;
• Open dialogue and creating safe spaces for people to speak up
• Fostering inclusion in tech innovation by providing equal upskilling and career opportunities to all

Great place to work

Mastercard has won several accolades as a global leader in building, sustaining, and recognising high-trust, high-performing workplace cultures. Some of the recent accolades are as follows.

• Best Workplaces in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 2021 & Workplace with Inclusive Practices 2021 – by Great Place to Work®
• Among India’s Best Workplaces for Women by AVATAR and Working Mother 2021
• ‘Gold Employer’ in Pride Circle’s India Workplace Equality Index 2021 – India’s first official LGBT workplace inclusion benchmarking tool
• One of the top companies for innovative diversity practices in the JobsForHer DivHersity Awards 2022

Mastercard believes that employees are your most important customers who can power the growth of the company. Thus, fostering a culture that focuses on cultivating an inclusive atmosphere is what makes Mastercard stand apart.