By: Nirbhik Goel, CHRO, VFS Global

You may have heard the incredible stories of VFS Global’s growth from one visa centre serving one client government in one location to now serving 67 client governments in 151 locations. From five employees in one country to 12,000 plus employees across 5 continents - that is the company’s true growth journey. Add to this our many accolades as an employer – Great Place to Work and ET Now Best Organizations for Women 2024 in India, and DEI Employer Award in China being among the most recent - shows our continuing and unwavering commitment to our people.

With a global network of operations, we employ 131 nationalities across the world, working together to ensure we scale greater heights every year. We pride ourselves in championing diversity and inclusion, creating a safe and vibrant workplace where every voice is heard and valued.

Now, while it is important to dispense with the buzzwords when addressing this topic, employee satisfaction and nurturing talent are beyond these. What is the work done by organisations behind the curtains to create and sustain an efficient, empowered and, most importantly, engaged global workforce? I am happy to share with you some of our best practices.

Hiring and retention: We lay great emphasis on hiring and retaining top talent, along with identifying the key roles and employees who are developed to succeed in these roles, while also focusing on their potential successors. These are essential processes that help in creating a robust succession pipeline, giving us a talent pool that will one day proudly lead the company into the future. 

Training and development: Our Learning & Organisational Development team dedicatedly curates specialised development programmes aimed at fostering the growth of individual employees and cultivating a leadership pipeline within the organisation. We also encourage and support personal and professional development programmes outside the organisation with corporate sponsorships, empowering employees to choose and pursue courses that are relevant and catalyse their effectiveness in their individual roles and responsibilities.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Our workforce diversity for the last three years has remained consistent, with women forming over 50 percent of the entire workforce. However, I am proud to add, we have gone a step beyond DEI as just gender balance. We regularly plan sensitisation trainings on working and catering to people of determination. In countries like the UAE where we have a large expat workforce, we conduct cultural sensitivity programmes, to better integrate staff into the country they work in, as well as make it easier for them to work with and serve people from other nationalities. Our VFS Global Women’s Network offers mentoring programmes for the career enhancement of women in the organisation. These are just a few examples of our efforts.

Wellness: VFS Global lays strong emphasis on wellbeing and work-life balance, understanding its importance in ensuring a healthy and efficient workforce. From our operating hours to our maternity leave policy, we are not only compliant with local laws, but go a step further where we can, to provide our employees comfort and flexibility where they may need it.

Active listening: Last but not least, we pay close attention to what our employees have to say. While our leaders constantly engage with their teams, we also conduct an annual employee survey to gather and address any employee feedback. This not only helps us identify areas of improvement, but also formulate action plans to continue on our journey of being an ‘employer of choice’.

These best practices form the strong foundation for an engaged and productive workforce, taking our organisation to greater heights year after year.

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