On International Women's Day, Borusan Group Announces Kindergarten Benefit for its Employees and Arranges "Inspiring the Future Gatherings

Believing that gender equality is an indispensable element of sustainable development, Borusan has been taking concrete steps over the past decade, and making a difference in this area. As part of its gender mainstreaming efforts, Borusan has introduced a new practice: female employees with children aged 0 to 66 months will be paid child care (kindergarten) benefits.

Addressing gender equality as a key component of its sustainability strategy, the Group will be releasing a video podcast series called 'Inspiring the Future Gatherings' to explore a series of major issues that are interlinked to the sustainability focus areas of climate, human and innovation. Scheduled for March 8, International Women's Day, the first episode will feature Bekir Ağırdır, General Manager of Konda and Zeliha Ünaldı, Programs Manager at UN Women Turkey.

Borusan adds another item on the list of gender equality efforts the company undertakes. Designed to offer solutions that would make employees' professional lives easier, and implemented under the umbrella of Equal Borusan Platform, the Gender Lens Program entails providing kindergarten and day care benefits to female staff members.

All female employees including factory, field and office workers will receive a net monthly benefit of TRY 1,000. Introduced across all Group companies, the amount of this benefit will be increased by factoring in the inflation rate each year.

Inclusive solutions through the Gender Lens

Among other practices aimed at facilitating work life within the framework of the Gender Lens program are: private health insurance scheme including childbirth for female and male employees, opportunity to combine pregnancy and maternity leaves for a period up to 5.5 months for women, childbirth and post-delivery support program, 2-week paternity leave, leave of absence on the first and last day (report card day) of school, flexible working options, and face-to-face sharing meetings with female employees. In addition, staff members are encouraged to report cases of gender equality violations to the Ethical Hotline.

“Gender Equality, the Key to Social Development”

Indicating that they had been involved in promoting gender equality for more than a decade at Borusan, Erkan Kafadar - CEO of Borusan Group said “At Borusan, we view gender equality as a key component of advancement and development, and we are positive that we can achieve greater levels of prosperity only if we work hand-in-hand as women and men. That is why, we place great emphasis on promoting female labor force. Having to drift away from their professional lives as female employees take on so many care responsibilities after having children is a major barrier to women's employment these days. We are committed to supporting our employees and helping them with their child care responsibilities by offering kindergarten and daycare benefit payments”.

Inspiring the Future Gatherings

Borusan is making great strides across its sustainability focus areas of climate, human and innovation, and disseminating these efforts through inspirational events. In line its aspiration to leave a livable world to the future generations, and its vision to "become a 200 year-old company", Borusan is inspired by the world, people, society and innovative ideas, and it inspires the future. Driven by the concept of "inspiration" and bringing its efforts together under this umbrella, the company is releasing a video podcast series called "Inspiring the Future Gatherings". This series is aimed at broadening the horizons of the participants by hosting inspirational guests, and addressing sustainability through different perspectives. The first episode of the series focusing on sustainability will air on March 8, International Women's Day at 11:00 a.m. and at this gathering, two public figures of Turkey will be talking about gender equality which is a key component of sustainable development.

Sustainability and women's struggle to be discussed

Bekir Ağırdır, General Manager of Konda Research and Consultancy and Zeliha Ünaldı, Programs Manager at UN Women Turkey will delve into how sustainability is linked to women's struggle at the gathering to be moderated by Barış Doğru, Editor in Chief at EKOIQ. Believing that equality is a prerequisite for sustainable development, Borusan will ensure that this gathering incorporates the responsibilities of organizations and individuals as well as the dynamics of the private sector, in an effort to foster equilibrium. The event is designed to serve as forum for sharing eye opening ideas, and raising awareness on gender equality as a hot topic worldwide. The coming episodes of the series will feature guests from different backgrounds related to the Borusan's sustainability focus areas of climate, human, and innovation, and sustainability will be addressed in all aspects. Inspiring the Future Gatherings will be streamed on Borusan Holding's YouTube and Spotify channels.

Release date and time: Marc 8, Tuesday at 11.00 a.m.

To watch the Inspiring the Future Gatherings, please click on the link:
youtube.com/user/borusanholding
To listen to the Inspiring the Future Gatherings, please click on the link: spotify.com/borusanholding

About Equal Borusan Platform

Launched in 2015, Equal Borusan is a platform tasked with undertaking efforts for ensuring that gender equality is embraced and internalized at both corporate and individual levels. In line with its Equal Borusan vision, Borusan Group focuses on upholding gender equality across all of its decision making and implementation processes of professional life, adopt inclusive policies aimed at eliminating inequalities, and making a commitment to take action for addressing this issue.