• Environmental Engagement: Company plants up to 10,000 trees as birthday gifts for its global workforce
  • Focus on diversity: Female to Male ratio of over 50%. Women in leadership roles to increase to more than 28% by end of 2022 from 23% in 2021
  • Performance goals: Company links leadership performance to sustainability goals
  • Integrated Report 2021: VFS Global launches Integrated Report for 2021 based on Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) standards

Dubai, UAE: VFS Global, the world's largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, reported key sustainability achievements in 2021 and shared its Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) targets for the near future. The company documented these highlights and key business developments in an ‘Integrated Report’, released on June 06, 2022.

The 2021 report based on Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) standards captures VFS Global’s sustainability strategy based on five distinguished pillars - Contributing to Sustainable Economic Growth, Delivering Good Governance, Nurturing our Colleagues, Protecting our Environment and Supporting our Communities. Each of these pillars is aligned to the organisation’s business strategy, the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, and national priorities. They also include a considerable focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Employee Empowerment, Reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Community Empowerment.

“VFS Global’s first Integrated Report demonstrates the importance we give to Sustainability and to integrating our ESG goals within our business strategy. In 2021, we built a Sustainability strategy spanning across five fundamental pillars backed by well-defined KPIs and targets linked to the performance goals of the senior management and cascaded across the organisation to maximise impact,” said Dr. Elena Primikiri, Head – ESG, VFS Global.

Highlights 2021

Reduction of GHG Emissions - Through measures for energy conservation, purchase of renewable energy, and offsetting initiatives, VFS Global takes reasonable steps to reduce its carbon footprint and contribute to the global efforts to tackle climate change.

  • 52% of VFS Global’s electricity usage worldwide is covered by renewable energy
  • More than 1,500 trees planted in India and the UAE: Co2 sequestering of 9.2 tonnes in 2021
  • Support of the Kolar bio-gas project, which eliminates approximately 4.5 tonnes of firewood usage (per household); enabled the offsetting of 73,429 tCo2 emissions in 2021 for our business-related travel
  • Green procurement: 18% of our locations worldwide use certified green printing paper
  • VFS Global to introduce a Climate Change & Comprehensive School Safety education curriculum for classes 3 to 10 students across 45,000+ schools in coordination with the Department of School Education (Govt. of India) and SCERT (State Council of Educational Research and Training) of Tamil Nadu (India)

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

  • Female to Male ratio (across all ranks): 58:42
  • Female ratio in senior management: 23%, targeted to 28% by end of 2022
  • 99% of the women employees in India returned to work courtesy of elementary benefits such as flexible working hours and creche facility
  • Close to 60% of operations staff (workforce managing visa application centres) worldwide are women
  • Equal pay ratio 100%

Workforce empowerment

  • Employee engagement: 67% - (above the industry average of 58%*)  
  • Training & development: 82% of the global workforce attended at least one training programme in 2021
  • Average person-days of training participation: 2.9

Community Outreach

  • More than 55,000+ individuals benefited through VFS Global outreach initiatives
  • In 2021, 60+ community initiatives rolled out across 22 countries

(* Industry (IT/ITES) average of from 2019)

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About VFS Global

VFS Global is the world's largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions. VFS Global is the trusted partner of 64 client governments, operating a global network with more than 3,500 Application Centres in 141 countries. The company has processed over 241 million applications since its inception in 2001. The company manages non-judgmental and administrative tasks related to applications for visa, passport, and consular services for its client governments, enabling them to focus entirely on the critical assessment task. VFS Global has its headquarters in Zurich/Switzerland, and Dubai/United Arab Emirates.

VFS Global is majority-owned by funds managed by Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Blackstone seeks to create positive economic impact and long-term value for their investors, the companies in which they invest, and the communities in which they work. Blackstone’s USD 915 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets, and secondary funds, all on a global basis.

The Swiss-based Kuoni and Hugentobler Foundation and EQT, a global investment organisation headquartered in Stockholm/Sweden, hold minority stakes in VFS Global.