Boss of China’s Trip.com on a mission to promote working mothers
- Staff benefits at the country’s biggest online travel agency include flexible working, free taxis for pregnant employees and offering women the option of freezing their eggs
- Chief executive Jane Sun says she wants women to be more confident
The head of Chinese travel company Trip.com is on a mission to propel women through her workforce, spearheading novel approaches such as encouraging babies on business trips and free egg freezing.
As a working mother, Jane Sun understands the challenges faced by many women in China, whose participation in the labour force has been falling for decades.
The Silicon Valley returnee runs the country’s largest online tourism agency and has the ear of the government. As well as moving the business to new markets globally, Sun is also looking closer to home for growth.
She wants to drive female representation across the firm’s 45,000-strong workforce, including efforts to accommodate breastfeeding mothers by inviting them to take their babies along on work trips and introducing nursing rooms.
Staff benefits include flexible working, free taxis for pregnant employees and offering staff the option of freezing their eggs – funded by the company.
“I think we are really taking the leadership, and that pays off,” she said, with female representation at middle management level now 40 per cent and one-third at executive level.
