Company takes home top honors in two categories and finalists in eight other categories in 2022, further establishing its reputation as a global leader in business culture
Thiruvananthapuram: UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company, has been named a winner in the Best Large Organization – Business Culture and Building a Culture of Innovation categories by the UK-based Business Culture Awards 2022. These prestigious awards recognize exceptional business culture at global organizations, with more than 100 companies participating across multiple categories this year. This is the third consecutive year that UST has been named a winner by the Business Culture Awards, earning the Business Culture Team Award in 2021 and Best International Initiative for Business Culture in 2020.
UST was also named a finalist in each of the other eight categories it had entered this year – Leading with Purpose for Business Culture, Business Culture Leadership, Best International Initiative for Business Culture, Best Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, Best Wellbeing Initiative for Business Culture, Best Internal Communications Strategy for Business Culture, Best Internal Communications Strategy for Business Culture, Best Employee Voice Initiative for Business Culture, Best Employee Voice Initiative for Business Culture and Best Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative. Praveen Prabhakaran, Chief Delivery Officer, and Vishnu Rajasekharan Nair, Global Program Manager – Strategy & Culture, UST, and other officials attended the ceremony and received the trophies.
UST’s unique corporate culture is guided by award-winning COLORS of UST, a comprehensive strategic employee engagement framework that unites employees across all levels of the organization through participative management. Colors of UST adopts a non-hierarchical structure that allows all employees to contribute according to their passion and skill set. Every associate has the option of contributing to one or more “COLOR” of their choice, and with more than 10,000 active volunteers ranging from organizational leaders to new joiners, their efforts benefit all other associates and the society at large.
The decision to present UST with the award for Best Large Organization – Business Culture was made based on UST’s strong response to COVID-19. UST was able to engage in a comprehensive pandemic response strategy that exemplified the organization’s core values of Humility, Humanity, and Integrity. The multipronged response included efforts to accommodate the transition to work from home for employees as well as corporate social responsibility initiatives that were aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. By keeping employees engaged and fostering an open environment, UST was able to maintain its distinct corporate culture while also encouraging employees to volunteer and contribute to CSR projects. For example, during the pandemic over 500 UST volunteers were engaged in Covid-19 relief projects.
UST maintains a holistic innovation ecosystem powered by its volunteer-driven Colors program which achieved rapid improvements for clients as well as internal employees. This comprehensive innovation framework and structure creates a valuable set of internal services for UST employees, creating a culture defined by highly motivated innovators.
“Creating a positive social impact has always been a key element of our identity and as a leader in the IT space, I’m proud of how our diverse team of employees has harnessed innovation to create positive outcomes for clients and the world at large. This recent recognition from the Business Culture Awards helps to confirm our legacy of success and we will continue looking for opportunities to further distinguish our workplace culture within the industry,” said Sunil Balakrishnan, Chief Values Officer, and Global Head for Development Center Operations, UST.
One of the judges commented, “I loved that UST have fully integrated and embraced ‘innovation for purpose’ and not innovation for innovations sake. Some of it with significant impact, some for smaller wins.” Another judge observed, “The democratic, non-hierarchical nature of the ‘Colours of UST’ programme seems to be the cornerstone of its success as an innovation pipeline and employee engagement tool. UST employees clearly feel empowered to challenge the status quo, which itself fosters innovative thinking that ultimately provides real-world benefits to tech end-users.” “UST clearly has a significant positive impact on the communities within which they support. Their values are well established and understood by employees. The Founder, though long passed, set a very strong foundation for the culture of the business, founded on the core values which live on to this day through the work of employees,” remarked another judge.
In addition to driving social good through various initiatives, UST is committed to harnessing the power of its advanced IT solutions to drive innovation and create breakthroughs that have a real impact and accelerate the positive aspects of drive digital transformation.
