Synergy Group recently received a “Best Practices in Diversity” award, given by the Maritime SheEO, for its commitment towards diversity within the shipping industry.
To remind, Maritime SheEO is an IMO-endorsed leadership accelerator organisation for women in the shipping and logistics sectors.
As explained, the ship management company holds hong-standing and comprehensive diversity, gender equality and leadership acceleration procedures and practices.
In addition, the company has set a variety of policies across its global offices to mitigate against unconscious bias in recruitment and talent reviews.
In light of the situation, Sanjam Sahi Gupta, Founder of Maritime SheEO, marked:
Synergy Group has become a leading light in our battle to bring more diversity to shipping. Women make up just 2% of the global shipping workforce and less than 1% occupy leaderships roles. This is an issue that is failing our industry as well as failing the women in it. So it is heartening that companies such as Synergy are making such fantastic, positive strides.
What is more, the Singapore-headquartered ship manager is currently partnering with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in order to develop group on-line resources for employees to guide their understanding of diverse cultures and biases.
In our three offices in the Philippines we are close to a 50/50 gender balance. In the not too distant future, we will have a 50-50 gender split at sea and shore. Not just in the Philippines, but globally.
…accepting the award on behalf of Synergy Group, Priya Jaishankar, Senior Manager for Procurement, said.
Synergy is claimed to be the first mainstream ship manager to appoint a woman to captain an ocean-going oil tanker. Currently, the company has many women in management level positions across its fleet.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has pledged support for Maritime SheEO. Speaking at the virtual conference, Kitack Lim, IMO Secretary-General, said:
“People are at the heart of this industry at every level. We must ensure we manage the sector in such a way that we utilise all talent across the gender divide.”
Captain Rajesh Unni, CEO and Founder of Synergy Group, also told delegates that gender equality and diversity were critical considerations in all Synergy recruitment decisions.