Uzabase Sri Lanka—the Colombo-based research unit of a Japanese business intelligence platform ‘SPEEDA’ that caters to a global clientele— deploys competency-based evaluations and transparent pay grades that eliminate subjectivity and discrimination based on age, gender, religion, or ethnicity. The Colombo office is female-founded, and one-third of managerial positions are held by women, with a team that includes a healthy gender mix and various ethnic backgrounds, and its commitment to diversity and inclusion runs deep, offering flexibility to working mothers to ensure they are not penalized for maternity leave while providing extra days off work to cover medical and other emergencies. Echelon explores more:
How has Uzabase Sri Lanka evolved, especially during the past few years, and what are your growth plans?
Uzabase Sri Lanka is a part of Uzabase, Inc., which is a Tokyo-based provider of a business intelligence platform that caters to clients worldwide. The Colombo office was founded by Mifnaz Jawahar, CFA. Having launched its Colombo-based research unit with just seven employees in 2016, in a little over six years, by July 2022, Uzabase Sri Lanka reached a team size of a hundred, expanding amidst one of the most challenging times for the country. As of today, Uzabase Sri Lanka has more than 100 members and is the second-largest office within the Uzabase group. Most notably, the company recruited the most number of employees in a single year during the pandemic— a headcount addition of close to 40!
What began as a team of analysts grew rapidly as Uzabase Sri Lanka added new verticals every year. Currently, the Colombo office includes verticals such as industry research, customer success, editorial, statistics and data assurance, marketing, design, and software engineering.
Looking forward, we expect the software engineering vertical to be a key growth area for Uzabase Sri Lanka. In 2022, for the first time, we hired three software engineers with proven skills and knowledge to deliver world-class output.
How important is DEIB to Uzabase?
Very. The Japan headquarters has a separate committee that handles diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) initiatives at Uzabase group. Additionally, Uzabase Sri Lanka has a workforce where women make up over 65%, highlighting the significance of DEIB to the company. Uzabase stands out for its unique policy, wherein all pay grade levels are completely transparent. Furthermore, pay levels are based solely on competency, and high-performing employees are transparently rewarded. The company does not practice restrictions such as “bell curve” promotions. Instead, all employees have an equal opportunity to perform and earn promotions based on pre-established competency criteria.
How does Uzabase foster diversity, equity, and inclusion across the company, and how have these initiatives helped the company be great at what it does?
The competency criteria-driven evaluation framework eradicates subjectivity, enabling fairness across the board. There is no discrimination based on age, gender, religion, or any other factor. A member’s educational qualifications, values, and skill set are the criteria the company looks for in an employee.
Our team at Uzabase Sri Lanka is diverse, from a healthy gender mix to a variety of ethnic backgrounds. We practice diversity and inclusion in our dayto-day activities. For example, when we have global events (including Town Hall meetings) we have interpreters (English language and sign language interpreters) so that any employee can attend the sessions without an issue.
The headquarters in Japan has a DEIB committee to ensure diversity at the group level. In Japan, there are certain legal requirements such as a required percentage for women and representation of persons with disabilities (physical and psycho-social), for instance. One of the seven values of Uzabase is “We Need What You Bring”, which embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and encourages employees to be who they are. The emphasis on this value also gives employees a sense of belonging to the company regardless of their backstory; encouraging and awarding freedom to employees to bring their individuality into the workplace has benefitted Uzabase immensely.
Our company’s culture is very receptive to employees’ voices. To that end, the company runs a bi-annual organizational survey to understand the employees’ sentiments, motivational levels, and concerns. If there are any concerns revealed in the survey results, they are approached swiftly. One of the categories covered in the organizational survey is D&I. The company encourages feedback via 360-degree surveys, enabling employees to foster a growth mindset and contribute to both their personal growth and that of the company.
Within the Uzabase DEIB framework, how is Uzabase creating better opportunities for women to thrive?
Firstly, the Colombo office is femalefounded and the highest position is held by Mifnaz Jawahar. Additionally, a third of managerial positions are held by women. One reason for this progress is the company’s flexible working arrangement and environment, which makes it a very attractive workplace for women, especially working moms. This option has ensured that those who go on maternity leave come back to work confident that there is no impact on their progress, as the company also ensures they are not penalised for the leave period and are entitled to performance bonuses.
Because women have unique challenges, how do you foster great employee experiences, work-life balance, and well-being, especially amidst an economic crisis?
We have quite a few working mothers who enjoy the flexibility offered by Uzabase that allows them to sustain, not sacrifice, their professional careers. There are no standard working hours or strict requirements to come into the office, so some working moms have the flexibility to attend to other needs. The company is outcome- and result-focused, rather than monitoring the number of hours put in; this understanding has made things very easy for the women in the workforce. Women play a key role in their families, so we understand the significance of catering to their circumstances. In addition to maternity-related leave, we offer extra leave to cover circumstances such as medical and other emergencies, as required.
As long as the work is of the required quality and delivery is timely, Uzabase does not restrict employees from pursuing other avenues of employment (subject to prior approval from the management) that can generate supplementary income, which could help during the economic crisis.
Additionally, Uzabase Sri Lanka’s Human Resources team conducts one-onones with all employees every six months to understand the pulse of the team and to identify any pressing concerns. These regular check-ins help employees balance their work lives better, especially since most employees work remotely. The company’s overall sensitivity to mental well-being ensures there is assistance in extenuating circumstances. This approach has benefited our female employees, in particular, in managing their work and personal responsibilities.