Swiggy steps up to support the LGBTQ community as it builds an in-house support group and hires its first transgender employee Samyukhta Vijayan, a techie as its Principal Program Manager.
Vijayan has previously worked in Amazon for many years and also runs her own startup named Toutestudio that focuses on upskilling transgender women in areas related to fashion, design, makeup and hairstyling. The startup is currently operational at a smaller scale.
She has worked in Europe and the U.S for many years before finally making her way back home to India in 2017.
“As soon as I joined Swiggy, I was made a part of the ‘Women in Tech’ group along with a Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Council. I’m currently working with the team to have an in-house LGBT support group as well. We plan to start a pride network and actively work towards increasing LGBT visibility and diversity through hiring, within the company,” said Vijayan.
Vijayan believes that what companies are doing currently might showcase them as allies and supporters but they need to focus on having LGBT support groups and actively hire from the community.
Acknowledging the challenges that most transgender candidates go through, Vijayan thanked her family for their support in education and extra curriculars, what made her financially independent.
She also believes that for companies to have an inclusive work environment they need to extend these policies to non-corporate employees like a housekeeping person.
“For transgender candidates who have the potential but do not have the traditional qualifications (like a university degree or a certain skill) companies should put together an internship or a training program to train them with the right skills and then absorb them into the firm as an employee,” said Vijayan.
Way to go Swiggy!
