In line with its commitment to promote a culture of inclusion and empowerment within its operations, Fine Hygienic Holding (FHH), one of the world’s leading wellness groups and manufacturers of hygienic paper products, has announced a new program in Saudi Arabia focused on integrating and empowering women in its workforce.
The new program further reiterates the company’s dedication to gender diversity in the workplace and aims to not only diversify its leadership team, but also provide comprehensive training and preparation for women within the company for future leadership roles. By fostering gender diversity, the company hopes to open the door to a myriad of opportunities and fairness in all internal processes by valuing the opinions and perspectives of all employees equally.
With the implementation of the new program, Fine aims to significantly increase its current female representation.
James Michael Lafferty, CEO of Fine Hygienic Holding, said: “A positive workplace culture facilitates a shift in the collective corporate mindset — and, in turn, enables a resilient economy which is more reliant on a young and emerging generation ready to seize the limitless opportunities of the future. In line with these aspirations, Fine has been focused on hiring and empowering an equally diverse pool of talent and fostering a work environment where women have equal opportunity to thrive and progress. Women in Saudi today are increasingly taking up more prominent roles such as sales, marketing, and supply chain, among others.”
Lafferty added that the company has been investing in developing practices that empower women in the workplace such as the Fine Female Network, a support group for female employees across the MENA region which aims to address gender diversity issues and provide support to female employees, as well as ‘Shine with Purpose’ Female Leadership Program, which focuses on promoting female talent from within. He further noted that female representation in leadership roles within the Group has grown from zero to nearly 30 per cent over the past three years.
In addition, the company has come up with several policies to support women employees within the organization. One example is Fine’s progressive maternity leave policy, which is on par with global standards, offers flexible work arrangements for the working mothers and includes 16 weeks of paid leave, and an additional 16 weeks unpaid if needed, with the option to work from home or even shift to a part-time basis.
Other benefits for working mothers including work from home, daily half-hour workday reduction, breastfeeding breaks, as well as management support to make the process as easy as possible. The company also has a return-to-work policy at 60 per cent, 80 per cent or 100 per cent for women employees to rejoin working.
Additionally, Fine introduced a benefit, known as Ladies Day, to accommodate its female employees. Through the benefit, women employees are entitled to a one-day paid leave per month without the need to submit a medical report. It is worth mentioning that Fine is among the first to introduce a benefit of this kind within the region.
157 Comments