The Satynmag Women-Friendly Workplace Awards 2026 concluded on Friday, 21 August, bringing together organisations from across Sri Lanka’s corporate landscape to recognise workplace practices that support women’s careers, leadership, wellbeing and long-term progression.
Held at Victorium Château – The Grand Maitland, Maitland Place, Colombo 7, the 2026 edition recognised 31 companies across the Most Outstanding Women-Friendly Workplaces and Special Awards categories, while also presenting the She Wins recognition for an outstanding woman in the Sri Lankan workplace and the She Grows award for a female-friendly workplace innovation.
The event marked another stage in an initiative that began in 2021 and has continued to develop alongside the wider conversation around women’s participation in Sri Lanka’s workforce. What began as recognition of organisations working to build better environments for women has, over six years, increasingly moved towards a broader examination of how women enter workplaces, remain in their careers, progress into leadership and gain access to meaningful opportunities within their organisations.
Six Years of Building the Women-Friendly Workplace Conversation
The Satynmag Women-Friendly Workplace Awards were established at a time when discussions about women at work were often centred on participation numbers, maternity benefits and basic workplace policies. Those issues remain important, but the conversation has become considerably more complex.
Today, organisations are also being asked to consider whether flexible working supports career progression, whether women are moving into decision-making positions, whether family responsibilities create invisible barriers to advancement, and whether workplace systems allow women to build sustainable careers over many years.
That broader view has become central to the awards. The initiative seeks to recognise companies not simply for having women-friendly policies on paper, but for the workplace structures and practices through which women can continue to develop professionally.
Founder and Editor of Satyn Magazine Nayomini Weerasooriya welcomed participants to the 2026 event, reflecting the publication’s continuing focus on women, careers and workplace development. Over the years, Satyn has increasingly extended this conversation beyond editorial content, using the awards as a platform through which organisations can examine the practical conditions shaping women’s working lives.
An Independent Three-Member Judging Panel
The 2026 entries were evaluated by a three-member judging panel bringing together academic and management expertise.
The panel was headed by Dr. Samantha Rathnayake, Senior Faculty Member at the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), who served as Head of the Panel of Judges. He was joined by Dr. Riyad Ismail, Visiting Lecturer at the Postgraduate Institute of Management, and Ms. Manojee Dabare, Management Consultant.
Their role was particularly important in an awards programme where the substance behind workplace initiatives matters as much as their visibility. Women-friendly employment is increasingly difficult to judge through a single programme or statistic. Leadership progression, flexibility, family support, workplace safety, career development and organisational culture have to be viewed together to understand how effectively an employer supports women throughout different stages of a career.
The evaluation therefore provides a structured way of recognising companies operating across very different sectors while acknowledging that the challenges faced by women in manufacturing, banking, technology, plantations, hospitality or professional services may not look identical.
20 Most Outstanding Women-Friendly Workplaces Recognised
Twenty organisations were named Most Outstanding Women-Friendly Workplaces 2026, representing a broad cross-section of Sri Lanka’s private and public-sector economy.
The recognised organisations were Ansell Textiles Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Atlas Axillia, Brandix Apparel (Pvt) Ltd, Capital Maharaja Group, Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Dialog Business Services (Pvt) Ltd, Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC, Eswaran Brothers Exports (Pvt) Ltd and Finlays Colombo Limited.
They were joined by Hemas Holdings PLC, HNB Life PLC, HSBC Electronic Data Processing Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Janashakthi Insurance PLC, Kelani Valley Plantations PLC, People’s Bank, Sysco LABS Technologies (Pvt) Ltd, Unilever Sri Lanka Limited, Union Bank of Colombo PLC and WNS Global Services (Pvt) Ltd.
The range of businesses recognised is significant. The 2026 list extends across apparel, banking, insurance, technology, consumer goods, plantations, automotive, exports and professional services, showing that building stronger career environments for women is no longer a discussion limited to any particular type of workplace.
For corporate Sri Lanka, that breadth is important. Women may experience different barriers depending on the industry in which they work, but career progression, fair opportunity, workplace safety, flexibility and supportive leadership remain relevant across sectors.
Special Awards Highlight Different Areas of Workplace Progress
The 2026 Special Awards were designed to recognise particular areas in which organisations have developed practices supporting women’s participation and progression.
Amari Colombo, Sri Lanka was recognised for Creating Career Pathways for Women in Hospitality, while B. Braun Lanka (Pvt) Ltd received recognition for Advancing Women’s Careers Through Family Support. Hayleys Fentons Limited was recognised for Supporting Women’s Careers in Engineering, and the London Stock Exchange Group in Sri Lanka for Supporting Women Through Flexible and Hybrid Work.
Oxford College of Business (Pvt) Ltd received recognition for Advancing Women’s Representation in Leadership, while People’s Leasing & Finance PLC was recognised for Ensuring Significant Career Advancement for Women. SANASA Development Bank PLC received the award for Empowering Women Through Inclusive Finance.
The remaining Special Awards recognised Sino Lanka Group (Pvt) Ltd for Creating a Safe and Healthy Workplace for Women, Suwanda Industries Private Limited for Creating Sustainable Livelihoods for Women and Families, TIQRI Software Pte. Ltd for Empowering Women and Girls in Technology, and Wijaya Products (Pvt) Ltd for Advancing Women’s Leadership in Manufacturing.
Taken together, these categories show how the meaning of a women-friendly workplace has expanded. Career support can involve leadership pathways, family responsibilities, flexible work, financial inclusion, engineering opportunities, technology skills, safe working conditions or the ability for women to establish sustainable livelihoods.
She Wins Recognises an Outstanding Woman in the Workplace
The She Wins 2026 – Most Outstanding Female in the Sri Lankan Workplace recognition was presented to Chamika Thishani Jayawardena, Manager – People & Culture at HNB Life PLC.
The category brings an individual dimension to an awards programme otherwise centred largely on organisations. Workplace systems matter, but so do the women who build careers within them, take responsibility, develop professionally and contribute to the organisations in which they work.
Recognising individual achievement alongside organisational practices reinforces the connection between the two. Strong workplaces can create the conditions for women to progress, while women who grow within those environments demonstrate what those opportunities can make possible.
She Grows Recognises Workplace Innovation
The She Grows 2026 – Most Female-Friendly Innovation award was presented to Kelani Valley Plantations PLC for its Mother and Child-Friendly Estate Model.
This recognition brings attention to another important aspect of workplace development: solutions need to reflect the realities of the workforce they are designed to support. An effective initiative in one industry may not automatically work in another, particularly in sectors where geography, working patterns, family responsibilities and access to services create very different employment conditions.
Innovation in workplace inclusion therefore does not always mean introducing new technology. It can also mean redesigning systems around the realities faced by employees and creating practical solutions that allow women to remain economically active while meeting responsibilities outside work.
Satyn Circle Relaunched for Career Women
Alongside the continued development of the awards, Satyn has also relaunched Satyn Circle, its updated digital platform created for career women.
The platform extends the workplace conversation beyond the annual event by creating a dedicated space around professional development, careers, leadership and the issues women encounter as they progress through working life.
For Satyn, the development reflects a wider direction in which supporting women at work requires more than annual recognition. Women need access to information, professional networks, career knowledge and opportunities for continued development throughout the year.
That wider ecosystem also makes the awards more relevant. Recognition can highlight examples of workplace progress, while an ongoing career platform can continue the discussion with the women those workplace policies are ultimately designed to support.
Satynmag Women-Friendly Workplace Awards 2026 – From Recognition to a Continuing Workplace Standard
The conclusion of the 2026 Satynmag Women-Friendly Workplace Awards leaves a broader message for employers.
A women-friendly workplace cannot be defined by one benefit, one leadership programme or the percentage of women on the payroll. Increasingly, the real measure is what happens to women after they enter an organisation: whether they can grow, whether their careers remain sustainable through different stages of life and whether they can progress towards positions where they influence decisions.
The 31 companies recognised in 2026 represent different industries and different approaches to that challenge. Their inclusion does not suggest that workplace development is ever complete. Rather, the value of an initiative such as the Women-Friendly Workplace Awards lies in keeping expectations moving and encouraging organisations to examine where meaningful progress is being made and where further work remains possible.
Six years after the initiative began in 2021, the conversation around women at work has become more ambitious. Participation matters, but so do progression, leadership, safety, flexibility, family support and the ability to build a long-term career without being forced to choose between professional growth and the realities of life outside work.
The Satynmag Women-Friendly Workplace Awards 2026 concluded by recognising organisations and individuals contributing to that progress, while also signalling that the conversation will continue beyond the ceremony itself.
For corporate Sri Lanka, that may ultimately be the most valuable outcome: keeping women’s career progression not as a once-a-year discussion, but as an ongoing part of how modern workplaces measure their own development.
This article is for business news and informational purposes. Award categories and recipients are based on the official Satynmag Women-Friendly Workplace Awards 2026 final results.
