PhonePe All Set to Create a More Diverse & Inclusive Workplace


PhonePe All Set to Create a More Diverse & Inclusive Workplace

Flipkart owned Bangalore-based digital payment platform, PhonePe, has announced its Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) charter, with the first phase focusing on gender, sexual orientation and people with disability, identifying specific actions in each of these areas. The firm has decided to increase female representation in its two senior most leadership roles, including directors and Vice Presidents, to 25 percent from 16 percent by December 2021 as stronger representation at the top level is easily noticed and it sets as a role model for other broader organizations. The initiative’s aim is to build a large, scalable & open transaction ecosystem that creates the maximum positive impact for all stakeholders

Speaking about the development, Sameer Nigam, co-Founder and CEO, PhonePe, said, "As we build solutions for a billion Indians, it is important for us that the organization we create truly represents the diversity of our customer base. I have always felt strongly about creating a diverse, inclusive and vibrant organisation. "There are sound rational reasons to do this - there is a strong correlation between diverse organizations and increased shareholder value; as a diverse workspace we will be able to attract from a wider talent pool; and we will be able to encourage deeper, more holistic thinking.”

For the LGBTQ community, PhonePe’s initial focus will be on creating spaces for conversation and awareness, and to review policies, processes and systems to be more inclusive. In addition to representing women at top level it is also reviewing its current roles, policy frameworks and infrastructure to enable disabled people to be a larger part of organization.

“People work best when they have a safe environment to bring all of their capabilities and creativity to the job. Diversity for us will never be only about representation, but about letting people be their true selves without the need to hide any aspect of themselves. How we do this will be a process of ongoing learning - from people’s lived experiences, and from all the work that has gone before," said Manmeet Sandhu, Head of Human Resources, PhonePe.

“From day one we have been an engineering-centric company. A lot of what we built, engineering and product were at the core of it. Over the last three years, a lot of product lines have matured. As they mature, other functions start playing an important role - business development, marketing, finance, legal,” said Chari. 

As the company is expanding it has planned to hire 550 individuals on board for the various roles like engineering, corporate functions, sales, business development and marketing in addition to the 1800 member workforce strength of the company. While many other organizations are laying off employees, PhonePe takes this as an opportunity to hire top talent from this larger available talent pool.