To empower women, workplaces must offer equal opportunities, mentorship and inclusive cultures. Businesses must commit to diversity and inclusion at all levels for innovation and growth. By championing gender equality, not only are businesses enhanced, but broader societal change is driven.

It is no secret that women have historically been underrepresented in the top/senior positions and have faced barriers to advancement in the workplace. Circa 2024, the situation has improved but the question remains—Is it enough?

As Hillary Clinton, American politician, rightly said at the Women in The World Summit held in New York in 2015, “All the evidence tells us that despite the enormous obstacles that remain, there has never been a better time in history to be born female. But the data leads to a second conclusion: That despite all this progress, we’re just not there yet.” 

While the gender gap in the workforce has narrowed in recent years, there is still much work to be done to achieve true gender equality. Although women form 50 per cent of the global workforce, not enough of them are seen in leadership positions, across industries.

Numerous studies have shown that diversity in the workforce leads to better decision-making, increased creativity and improved performance. Statistics support the argument: gender-diverse teams tend to outperform their male-dominated counterparts, driving more creativity, innovation and ultimately, success for the business. A McKinsey report found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 39 per cent more likely to experience above-average profitability compared to those in the bottom quartile.

Why does gender diversity matter so much? The answer lies in the unique perspectives that women bring to the table. By prioritising gender equality and creating pathways for women to advance in their careers, businesses can unlock a wealth of new ideas, solutions and innovations that can propel them forward in today’s competitive marketplace.

Diverse teams approach challenges from multiple angles, leading to more comprehensive and effective solutions.

However, the benefits of investing in women go beyond just driving business success. Research has shown that companies with diverse leadership teams are better equipped to understand and meet the needs of a diverse customer base. By championing gender equality in the workplace, businesses can build stronger relationships with clients and customers, ultimately leading to increased loyalty and profitability.

As leaders, it remains our mission to create a workplace where women are empowered to succeed and thrive. This means, implementing policies and practices that support equal opportunities for women to advance in their careers, providing mentorship and training programmes, and fostering a culture of inclusivity and respect — all with the aim of accelerating progress.

It is imperative that organisations demonstrate their strong commitment to valuing the unique perspectives and contributions of all employees by promoting diversity and inclusion at every level, from the boardroom to the frontline. By fostering a culture that embraces diversity and fosters collaborative work environments, businesses unleash the full potential of their workforce, fuelling innovation and accelerating growth. As we work towards creating more equitable organisations, we also have the power to influence larger change around us.

I am proud to share that Godrej Capital has maintained a 40 per cent mix in C-suite leadership and boasts an impressive 27 per cent diversity in the workforce (while the BFSI sector’s benchmark stands at 21 per cent).

Bhavya Misra is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Godrej Capital

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In a world tilted towards men, their allyship is the missing piece. True allies go beyond quotas and empty gestures. They’re champions for collective progress, willing to challenge the status quo.

As Shailesh Singh, CPO, Max Life Insurance, puts it, “It’s about active sponsorship – believing in a woman’s potential and advocating for her like you would for your own.” This sponsorship, often seen at senior levels, needs a groundswell of support from men at all rungs of the corporate ladder.

The current system inherently favours men. Unless men acknowledge this imbalance and become active agents of change, progress will be glacial. Male allies can amplify women’s voices, advocate for their rightful promotions, and dismantle ingrained biases.

“They bring a fresh perspective and influence,” says Suchismita Burman, a senior HR leader, “often holding positions of power where change is most impactful.” Their genuine advocacy is the wind propelling the sails of gender equality.

“It’s about active sponsorship – believing in a woman’s potential and advocating for her like you would for your own.”

Shailesh Singh, CPO, Max Life Insurance

But advocacy is just the tip of the iceberg.  Male allies can champion the undeniable business case for diversity.  “It’s not about ticking boxes,” explains Kinjal Choudhary, CHRO, Cadila. “A diverse workforce strengthens the bottom line. Our customers are a kaleidoscope, and our workforce should reflect that to truly understand and serve them.”

Overcoming unconscious bias is another battleground. Stereotypes such as women prioritising work-life balance more than men are deeply embedded. Male allies can dismantle these biases, especially those they might unknowingly perpetuate. Additionally, men and women often have different career trajectories.  “Women often feel the pressure to prove themselves exceptional for leadership roles,” observes Burman. Male allies can offer a different viewpoint, advocate for their qualifications, and help women overcome self-doubt.

“Male allies bring a fresh perspective and influence often holding positions of power where change is most impactful. Their genuine advocacy is the wind propelling the sails of gender equality.”

Suchismita Burman, a senior HR leader

Language too is a weapon in this fight. Replacing gendered terms such as ‘manpower’ with neutral alternatives such as ‘workforce’ chips away at unconscious bias. Acknowledging the unique challenges women face, such as balancing childcare, fosters a more supportive environment.

Empowering women is equally crucial.  “Women need to believe in themselves, continuously learn, and strive relentlessly,” says Singh. By shattering societal expectations and showcasing their capabilities, women redefine perceptions and pave the way for future generations.

“A diverse workforce strengthens the bottom line. Our customers are a kaleidoscope, and our workforce should reflect that to truly understand and serve them.”

Kinjal Choudhary, CHRO, Cadila

Becoming an effective ally requires introspection. “Male allies must be sensitive to non-verbal cues to understand power dynamics,” suggests Burman. Recognising their own position and how it influences interactions with women is vital.

Organisations must be the wave that lifts all boats.  Diversity targets need a clear rationale that goes beyond just financial performance. They should showcase how inclusion fosters innovation and creativity. Employee support groups and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) campaigns can equip men to become allies.  These initiatives should go beyond awareness training and provide practical tools and strategies for everyday interactions.

Finally, framing male allyship as a core leadership competency elevates its importance. When viewed as architects of change, bridge-builders, and catalysts for progress, organisations unlock the full potential of their workforce and create a more equitable future for all.

The impact of male allyship creates ripples far beyond individual career advancement.  Studies show companies with diverse leadership teams outperform industry norms.  Gender diversity isn’t just a social good; it’s a smart business strategy.

Furthermore, male allyship fosters a more positive and inclusive work environment for everyone.  When employees feel valued and respected, regardless of gender or background, they’re more engaged, productive, and innovative.  This domino effect attracts and retains top talent, creating a virtuous cycle of success.

In conclusion, male allyship is more than just mentorship. It’s a tidal wave of change, creating a more equitable and successful workplace for all. By harnessing the combined power of male and female voices, organisations can ride this wave and reach their full potential in the ever-changing global landscape.

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This onboarding marks a substantial milestone in Tata Steel’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) efforts. It brings the company’s total transgender workforce to 120, a testament to their dedication to creating an inclusive environment.

For years, Tata Steel has championed DE&I principles. Their initiatives focus on fostering a respectful and welcoming atmosphere for all employees, irrespective of gender identity, sexual orientation, or other background factors. This commitment manifests through various programs, encompassing unconscious bias training, employee resource groups, and inclusive benefits packages.

“We are thrilled to welcome our new HEMM Operator Trainees,” said Anurag Dixit, general manager, West Bokaro Division, Tata Steel. “This is a momentous occasion as we strive to build a truly inclusive workplace. We have full confidence that our new trainees will make valuable contributions, and we are committed to providing them with the support and opportunities they need to flourish,” he further added.

The West Bokaro division has emerged as a frontrunner in integrating transgender individuals into its workforce. Notably, in 2022, they onboarded a similar group of 14 transgender employees who are currently operating 100-ton dumpers at the mines.

This progressive move extends beyond mere job creation. It empowers transgender employees, fosters a more inclusive work environment, and strengthens the overall diversity of Tata Steel’s workforce. By taking this initiative, Tata Steel sets a commendable example for other companies in India, demonstrating the value of inclusivity in building a successful and diverse workforce.

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The initiative recognises the unique skills, drive and perspectives that women bring to the workplace after taking time away for child birth and child care, during one of the most important phases in their lives.

The company acknowledges that giving birth to a child makes women more strong and ambitious. It instils in them “the power to capture the whole world”. Leverage wishes “to be enablers to these rockstar women and provide them the rocket thrust they need to change the colour of the skies”!

Therefore, Akshay Chaturvedi, founder & CEO, Leverage.biz, agrees that every day should be Women’s Day.

The company believes mothers rejoining the workforce possess unmatched grit, power and persistance to outperform others in the workplace.

A few years ago, the company—which is an AI-based marketplace that helps students with higher education and career guidance—had announced period leaves for women in the workplace.

Last year, that is, July, 2023, the study-abroad platform had raised funds to the tune of $40 million in a Series C round led by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the Princeton-based global education testing and assessment organisation. The company had posted a three-fold increase in revenue last month, even though its losses increased owing to more expenses. Its revenue from operations in FY23 was Rs 68.9 crores, which is 228 per cent than the Rs 21 crore revenue it posted in FY22.

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These leaves are in addition to the maternity and paternity leaves that employees are already enjoying. That is not all; the B2B platform—which offers embedded supply chain financing and integrated raw material purchase solutions—has set aside funds to offer financial support to employees who opt for any of these procedures.

While most organisations offer insurance-based coverage for family planning, Bizongo offers flexibility and financial support to employees who opt for the same.

This support and coverage is offered to everyone in the workforce, regardless of their marital status, gender identity, or family structure. The company is clearly committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion at the workplace.

These benefits are aimed at helping employees effortlessly manage their professional and parenting responsibilities simultaneously.

“At Bizongo, we believe in creating a diverse and inclusive work environment where everyone feels empowered to pursue their personal aspirations alongside their professional goals,” said Sachin Agrawal, CEO and co-founder of Bizongo.

According to him, “The parenthood journey policy aims to educate and empower employees, normalising these procedures and bringing a fresh perspective that aligns with societal progress. We, as a company, want to respect individual choices and promote a positive shift in mindsets regarding these progressive procedures.”

Bizongo recently invited Aditya Tiwari, the youngest man in India to adopt a child with special needs, to share his experiences and insights on the challenges and processes involved in child adoption. The company has also been inviting gynaecologists to address queries that employees have about egg freezing procedures.

Through these initiatives Bizongo, the vendor digitisation platform, is creating a supportive and inclusive workplace for its employees along with a culture that values individual choices and well-being.

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Varghese M. Thomas, chief communications officer, Greaves Cotton, says,”The#CountMeIn campaign exemplifies Greaves Cotton’s steadfast dedication to nurturing diversity and inclusion, both internally and externally. With this empowering rap anthem, we aspire to magnify women’s voices and advocate for significant investment in their boundless potential to catalyse meaningful transformation and progress.”

The impactful #CountMeIn video, directed by Prashanth Ranganath, Creative Director at Tapasya Media, showcases original music, sound, and lyrics explicitly crafted for this project.

Through rap, the campaign promotes gender equality and empowerment, reaching out to a wide and dynamic audience. It is hoped that the campaign will result in women being recognised for their talent and more investments being made in their development.

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Indian Navy Chief Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar has revealed that a proposal has been submitted to the Ministry of Defence that since women sailors cannot be addressed as seamen, it was time to make the ranks/titles gender-neutral.

With women now being inducted into the Navy, it is hoped that there will be a woman chief of naval staff in three decades’ time. There is a woman commanding officer already in a Goa-based ship

It has now been suggested that the ranks of seamen class I, seamen class II should be changed to nausainik class I or nausainik class II to make the ranks gender neutral.

Till now, the rank nomenclature from the British era was being followed. The naval chief said that it was time to change all that and introduce more of Indian heritage.

While speaking at the inauguration of a new administrative building of the Naval War College (NWC) at Verem in North Goa, the chief admiral revealed how all branches of the Navy are now open to women. He also revealed that over the last one year, about 1,124 women sailors have joined and are preparing to board ships.

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This achievement stems from Vedanta Aluminium’s commitment to expanding opportunities for women, including night shifts, and fostering a culture of inclusivity. The company implements gender-neutral hiring practices, progressive workplace policies, and world-class amenities, making it an attractive employer for women seeking diverse and fulfilling careers. These efforts have led to a significant increase in female professionals joining Vedanta Aluminium across various core functions, including smelting, mining, power generation, and finance.

Recognising the need for a more inclusive workforce, John Slaven, CEO, Vedanta Aluminium, emphasised, “As the world transitions towards a low-carbon economy, the future will be heavily reliant on metals. To accelerate this evolution, the global manufacturing industry must embrace diversity and inclusion by empowering women professionals. This not only fosters better decision-making but also allows us to cater to diverse markets and provide superior customer service.”

Suneela MVS, head, project Management office, Vedanta Aluminium, echoed this sentiment, stating, “Working at Vedanta Aluminium has been truly empowering. The company’s commitment to equal opportunity has allowed me to advance my career and pursue my ambitions.” Lt Col Hemant Raghav, Head of Plant Security, further highlighted, “Women are increasingly breaking barriers and achieving excellence in various fields, including the traditionally male-dominated manufacturing industry. By focusing on capability, Vedanta Aluminium empowers women and provides them with the platform to thrive in their careers.”

Vedanta Aluminium actively supports its female workforce through progressive policies like spouse hiring programs, year-long childcare leave, and flexible work arrangements. Additionally, the company’s “Shree Shakti” initiative, one of the first of its kind in Odisha, allows women to participate in night shifts. Moreover, employees enjoy world-class townships with modern amenities such as schools, healthcare facilities, daycare centres, and recreational facilities, creating a supportive environment for families.

The company’s commitment extends beyond its existing workforce. Through “Project Panchhi,” Vedanta Aluminium is transforming the lives of 1,000 young girls from marginalised communities across rural India. This unique initiative provides financial support for their higher education and guarantees them job opportunities upon successful completion.

Vedanta Aluminium, a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest aluminium producer, contributing over half of the country’s total aluminium production. The company is a leader in value-added aluminium products and ranks first in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2023 for the aluminium industry, reflecting its commitment to sustainable development practices. Vedanta Aluminium strives to be at the forefront of responsible manufacturing, focusing on building a diverse and inclusive workforce while driving sustainable solutions for the future.

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Tata Motors, a notable industry player, boasts a workforce of over 6,500 female shop floor technicians across its manufacturing facilities, producing electric cars, SUVs, and heavy commercial vehicles. Notably, the assembly lines for its flagship Harrier and Safari SUVs are managed by a 3,000-strong all-women team at the Pune plant. Additionally, the company has over 3,700 women shop floor technicians contributing to the assembly of commercial vehicles across various plants.

Similarly, Hero MotoCorp has made strides in female workforce inclusion, employing 3,500 women on its shop floors, with women leading assembly lines at factories in Tirupati, Haridwar, and Neemrana in Rajasthan. The company has set ambitious goals to increase the female workforce to 30 per cent by 2030, focusing on recruitment drives, learning programs, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

In parallel efforts, MG Motor India reports that women constitute 34 per cent of the 3,001-strong workforce at its manufacturing unit in Halol, Gujarat. These strides reflect the changing dynamics within the automotive sector, indicating a notable increase in female representation.

To attract and support female workers, companies are offering a range of benefits, including safe transportation, medical coverage for IVF, and gender-neutral parental leave. Hero MotoCorp has implemented crèche facilities and a buddy system for returning mothers, while Mercedes-Benz India ensures designated personal spaces and conducts monthly catch-ups to address concerns and gather feedback for improvement.

Looking ahead, automotive firms aspire to achieve a more balanced gender representation of 30-50 per cent of female workers on their shop floors, marking a significant step toward further improving overall female workforce participation.

In October 2023, the Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) recorded a notable increase of 4.2 percentage points, reaching 37 per cent. Deloitte’s Blue Collar Workforce Trends Report 2023, released around the same time, reported an eight per cent female participation in the blue-collar workforce, a substantial growth from the two per cent reported decades ago. The report highlighted that industries such as life sciences, automotive, and engineering design are leading in gender diversity ratios. This shift is attributed to factors like high automation levels, a demand for skilled talent, premium pay, and a notable shift in mindset within these industries.

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Effective July 1, 2024, all LSEG employees with over 12 months of service will be eligible for 26 weeks of paid leave upon welcoming a child, regardless of their gender, parental path, or location. This equal opportunity policy empowers all LSEG parents to actively participate in childcare responsibilities. Meanwhile regions with local laws offering more than 26 weeks of paid leave will continue to honour those provisions.

The enhanced programme further includes an eight-week phased return-to-work option, allowing employees to gradually transition back while working 80 per cent of their regular hours at full pay. Additionally, LSEG recognises the unique needs of families with newborns requiring neonatal care by introducing expanded leave provisions in such cases. Alongside the enhanced parental leave policy, LSEG introduced neonatal care leave. This initiative offers up to 12 weeks of additional leave for cases where newborns require extra medical attention within the first 28 days after birth, regardless of prematurity.

“We’re thrilled to roll out these offerings, underscoring our commitment to building a truly inclusive workplace,” said Erica Bourne, chief people officer, LSEG. “Our new global parental leave policy fosters shared parental responsibility and promotes gender equity within our industry. We remain dedicated to introducing benefits that drive inclusion, enhance the employee experience, and empower our colleagues to thrive.”

Recognising the critical role of supporting employees during life-changing events like welcoming a child, LSEG emphasises its commitment to providing a supportive environment. This enhanced global parental leave policy empowers employees to effectively balance their professional and family responsibilities, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive and productive workforce.

LSEG employs 23,000 people globally, with over half based in Asia Pacific.

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Some of the firms that participated in this endeavour to hire top talent with disabilities from premium B-Schools were EY, HDFC ERGO, Axis Bank, Anarock, Lpoint Advisors, RingCentral, Nestle, PhonePe, Brookfield, Godrej Agrovet and Bindwel.

This tie-up with Atypical Advantage is proof of IIM Bangalore’s commitment to upholding inclusivity. The Institute’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion ensures that students with disabilities are able to flourish and overcome the hurdles faced by those with disabilities in an environment that is only growing competitive with each passing year.

The platform has successfully bridged the gap between talent and opportunity, empowering individuals with disabilities to achieve their full professional potential.

Students are offered personalised guidance and support to give their confidence the much-required boost.

Over 26 students with visual impairment, hearing impairment, locomotor disability and even neurodivergent students have been able to land rewarding jobs via this partnership.

Through this collaboration, Vineet Seraiwala, founder and CEO, hopes the platform will be able to “enhance and strengthen the commitment of these institutions to provide equal opportunities and foster inclusivity.”

Atypical plans to achieve similar collaborations with other IIMs to faciliate a “seamless placement process for their students.”

The platform already has a pool of over 15,000 talented people with disabilities, and has worked with more than 250 corporates in the last three years.

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The programme aims to empower workers so that they are able to make the most of better opportunities that will become available to them post training, even globally. This will not only make them more skilled and improve their prospects, but also help the Indian economy to grow.

According to Labour Minister Raaj Kumar Anand, training camps will be arranged at labour chowks and construction sites to impart training to the workers. The workers attending these skill-training camps will not have to worry about losing out on their daily earnings while attending the training sessions. They will be compensated for the loss of wages during the training period.

Meanwhile, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) has collaborated with Enable India to conduct a 70-hour interactive employability skills course for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

The course will allow PwDs better access to gainful employment opportunities.

Additionally, the National Council for Vocational Education and Training, has tied up with the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, to launch a comprehensive ‘Guidelines for Accessibility Standards’.

These guidelines are meant to improve the lives of people with disabilities and make customized physical and digital skill-training infrastructure available to them. These guidelines will also ensure that the prescribed standards are adopted nationwide by all government-associated skill-training organisations, giving rise to a more inclusive environment.

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For some time now, Russia’s labour force has been reducing, thanks to the low birth rates. The situation has only worsened further with the Ukraine conflict that has pulled men out of the active workforce.

According to Putin, this is the time for girls and women to step up and join sectors that have yet to exploit women’s potential. He also brought up the fact that women do find hurdles in the form of family commitments and also have physical challenges to overcome due to their gender but emphasised that these are not issues that cannot be resolved or limitations that cannot be lifted.

As per data from the World Bank, adult literacy (percentage of people aged 15 and above who can read as well as write and also understand a short simple statement about their everyday life) in the Russian Federation was nearly the same among women and men in 2020. In fact, 99.7 per cent of men and an equal percentage of women in the Russian Federation were literate in 2020.

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Tata Steel has implemented progressive employment policies such as equal benefits for LGBT+ partners which goes beyond just medical coverage and includes benefits such as a honeymoon package, gender transition support for employees and gender-neutral parental leaves.

The company has actively promoted employee resource groups (ERGs) to provide a supportive network for the LGBT+ community. It has also engaged in outreach programmes, community initiatives and partnerships to foster a culture of acceptance and understanding.

According to Atrayee Sanyal, vice president, human resource management, Tata Steel, the company’s “journey towards LGBT+ inclusion has been a continuous evolution” and it “reflects our dedication to creating a workplace where every individual, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, feels valued and respected. An inclusive workplace that promotes zero tolerance for biases and fosters a culture based on meritocracy.”

The organisation’s efforts in terms of policies and benefits, employee lifecycle, employee network group, allies, and role models, senior leadership, monitoring, procurement, community engagement and additional work have resulted in significant progress in upholding its commitment to inclusivity.

Tata Steel, together with its subsidiaries, associates, and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 77,000.

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Going all out to support #MothersOfMahindra, the five-year inclusive maternity policy promises the women a stress-free motherhood experience.

As part of the pre-childbirth support offered for a year, the policy reimburses 75 per cent of the cost incurred on two IVF treatment cycles. The expectant women can travel premium economy within the country and business class for international travel. They will also be reimbursed up to Rs 600 for their daily commute to work in the last trimester.

As part of the maternity assistance, the new mothers are eligible for 26 weeks of maternity leave (even in cases of adoption and surrogacy). In the unfortunate event of a miscarriage, they can avail 45 days of miscarriage leave. Up to Rs 1.25 lakh of the expenses incurred during maternity can be reimbursed.

The policy also provides post-maternity assistance for three years. That means, for three years, the new mothers can enjoy flexible work schedules, provided they are at the base location and have obtained approval from their line managers. An allowance of Rs 5,000 is granted for two years, for baby care.

These benefits go a long way in putting expectant and new mothers at ease, mentally and physically, ensuring their overall health and well-being throughout their maternity journey.

That is not all, while these women are on leave, they need not fear that their career has gone out the window. They are eligible for performance pay for full year and also considered for promotions. When they rejoin work, same or comparable roles are made available to them.

That is not all. The ‘Back to Mahindra’ programme encourages women employees of Mahindra on a career break to get back into the groove. They are offered a year’s sabbatical for childcare (up to 12 years of age).

Additionally, all women at Mahindra are assured safe transportation facility between 8 pm and 6 pm.

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The programme also provided women entrepreneurs an opportunity to explore business opportunities with P&G. The firm has already spent ?400 crore on working with women-owned and women-led businesses in the last two years, as was committed by the company in 2018.

LV Vaidyanathan, CEO, P&G India believes “this initiative is in line with our global commitment to empower women-owned and women led businesses, which is an important aspect of our citizenship efforts.” The initiative is a “holistic capability platform which will help women entrepreneurs build their businesses sustainably” because “empowering and enabling equal and inclusive business practices will not only stimulate economic growth, but also bring about a long-lasting social change.”

Following the training, P&G India’s flagship External Business Partner Summit saw the firm announcing a ?300 Crore ‘P&G Supply Chain Catalyst Fund’ to collaborate with external partners and innovators, in co-creating solutions that accelerate its journey towards Supply 3.0 – the modern supply chain ecosystem.

The fund is aimed at creating a supply chain that provides greater agility, flexibility, scalability, transparency and resilience.The announcement is in line with the Prime Minister’s Gati Shakti initiative aimed at multi-modal connectivity in the country, that will enhance seamless movement of goods and services through targeted interventions. The strategic investment will ensure supply chain optimisation, digitisation, capacity enhancement and sustainability, all designed to strengthen and catalyse the company’s supply chain.

This new fund is part of the ‘vGROW’ programme that focuses on identifying and collaborating with start-ups, small businesses, individuals, and large organisations offering innovative industry-leading business solutions.

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The event was supported by UN Women and UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) signatories. A virtual fair will take place on 14 September 14, 2023, where walk-in interviews will also take place.

The ‘UNite HER’ Job Fair aimed to provide jobs to women graduates even while addressing the need to reintegrate women into the workforce, particularly those who were forced to take a gap due to family commitments, personal responsibilities or motherhood. The fair had already received over 3,500 generations before the date f the event.

Nina Nair, senior vice president & HRD head, India & Americas, [24]7.ai, firmly believes “in the power of diversity and inclusion” and said that the “partnership with UN Women India exemplifies our commitment to these values.” She also stated that the fair “is not just an event; it’s a step towards reshaping the future of work for women.”

Suhela Khan, country programme manager, Women Economic Empowerment (WEE), UN Women India, believes,”The private sector is one of our key allies in strengthening economic opportunities for women. UNite HER Job Fair and mentoring platform demonstrates how UN WEPs signatories can translate their commitment into action. “

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The initiative will offer support to the PwDs in terms of on-the-jobtraining, intervention and an environment of acceptance and inclusion. These trained PwDs will then be employed across Amazon’s fulfilment centres, sortation centres and delivery stations for various roles, including stowing, picking, packing and sorting among other roles.

Liju Thomas, director – people experience and technology (PXT), India Operations, Amazon, explains how Amazon believes in fostering “a culture conducive to growth and offers people equal opportunities to unlock their full potential. With this initiative, we aim to focus on skilling and livelihood for PwD across Amazon India’s Operations network, over a period of three years.”

Amazon India already employs thousands of associates with hearing and speech impairments in its network. To accommodate them the company has made infrastructural changes too.

‘SignAble’ is one such initiative, which is a virtual and interactive interpreter platform that enables real-time communication between associates with hearing and speech disabilities and other associates on the floor. This tool has ensured higher collaboration and also strengthened morale. Through ‘SignAble’, Amazon India has enabled seamless trouble shooting and effective interaction. Customised safety orientation and presence of interpreters or fellow associate ‘buddies’ across shifts is also ensured for the PwDs. A token system helps track associate movements at work, and there are also whistle/strobe light and paging systems for emergency communication.

Amazon India’s ‘Silent Delivery Station’ is run by individuals with speech and hearing impairment. Since 2017 the company has been creating jobs for people with hearing impairment in its operations sites. It started with a few associates with speech and hearing impairment being trained to pack shipments at the Amazon fulfilment centre. Now, this initiative has expanded across Amazon India’s operations network across the country.

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Through this endeavour, HCCB aspires to support women, enabling them to take charge of their financial independence and embrace the opportunities the government and digital world offer. HCCB has facilitated several women-led self-help groups countrywide, empowering them to run their enterprises today. HCCB aspires to create more entrepreneurs through this drive.

The financial literacy training will cover concepts pertaining to banking basics, account opening procedures, unified payments interface (UPI) training, investment guidance, net banking, and information on various government schemes for women such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Sukanya Sam Riddhi Yojana Nari Shakti.

The digital literacy training will cover topics such as mobile banking, digital market linkage, and cyber safety and security to equip these women with the tools required to succeed in the digital era.

The women will be divided into groups basis their requirements, needs, digital literacy level and financial knowledge. The effort is aimed at promoting a more concentrated and efficient learning experience.

According to Himanshu Priyadarshi, Chief Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Officer, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, “A key element of the culture at HCCB is to ensure an equitable environment, not only for our employees but also the communities in which we operate. By boosting these women’s financial literacy and digital competence, we hope to contribute to the country’s economic growth.”

It is HCCB’s beliefe “that the financial and digital inclusion of underserved women is essential to unlock the economic potential of India. This effort also aligns with PM Modi’s recent call for women-led development and the importance of technology in fostering inclusivity and driving positive change in his several G20 addresses.”

Gaurav Sharma, chief people officer, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, asserts, “For us, empowering women isn’t confined to HCCB as an organisation but extends far beyond society, thus creating sustainable progress.” He is confident that “The training sessions will work as impactful conduits to uplift and equip these 25,000 women with the required digital and financial skills and create a ripple effect of positive change in the larger community. We’re glad to play a part in creating a more empowered, inclusive and resilient society.”

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Earlier, under the Ladli Behna Yojana, women were granted Rs 1,000 per month. This amount has now been hiked to Rs 1,250 per month, as announced by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, ahead of the Raksha Bandhan. This will benefit about 1.25 crore women. The amount will be increased gradually, and is expected to touch Rs 3,000 so that the women are in a better position economically. Women will also be granted small pieces of land in industrial estates so that they can set up their own small-scale units. The state government hopes that women will be able earn at least Rs 10,000 a month through these efforts.

Additionally, women are being given cooking gas cylinders at the rate of Rs 450 for the holy month of Sawan. Work is in progress to make this a permanent subsidy. 1.25 crore women have been given Rs 250 each ahead of the Rakhi festival.

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The station, used by about 380 passengers daily, will be managed by 12 women, including four deputy station superintendents, four points women, three railway-protection personnel and one station ticket-booking agent.

This is another achievement towards making the Railways more inclusive.

It is interesting to note here that in 2018-19, about 786 women were hired against 5,707 men whereas in 2019-20, about 8,957 women were recruited against over 12,800 men. In 2020-21, the number of women hired was 779 as against 4779 men. In 2021-22, 276 women were hired against more than 4,000 men. The ratio hasn’t improved much in 2022-23. As per provisional data, It is 1,611 women against about 20,000 men.

While all posts or vacancies notified by the Railways are open to both men and women, the application fee taken from women candidates is refunded to those who appear for the test or exam.

Also, the upper age limit in case of widows, divorced women and women who are legally separated from their husbands and have not remarried, is relaxed up to the age of 35 years.

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The branches will provide various services to women employees such as home loans and MSME loans. Furthermore, these branches have the flexibility to introduce additional features based on customer feedback and preferences. Besides, each branch will have a dedicated team consisting of 7 to 15 women employees. This deliberate approach is aimed at creating a diverse and skilled workforce capable of efficiently meeting the requirements of customers.

The company intends to establish full-service branches in different locations such as Ajmer Road in Rajasthan, Chattarpur in New Delhi, Mohali in Punjab, Mumbai in Maharashtra, and Tripunithura in Kerala.

On the inauguration of ‘Maitreyi’ branch, Jairam Sridharan, managing director, Piramal Finance, expressed his enthusiasm calling it a significant step towards fostering gender equality and empowering women in the financial services sector. “Through our branches, we aim to provide simplified, efficient, and impactful lending solutions that cater to consumer financing needs,” he added.

The name ‘Maitreyi’ carries immense significance as it symbolises a wise, intelligent, and knowledgeable woman. This name reflects the company’s strong belief in the extraordinary abilities and potential of women professionals, who have the power to shape their own destinies while serving the financial needs of customers. The establishment of ‘Maitreyi’ branches signifies a significant milestone in empowering women and ensuring they have equal opportunities in the field of financial services.

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The group has introduced LGBTQIA+ and Partners Benefits Policy which will help redefining equality with extending comprehensive benefits to employees and their partners.

The policy will cover all the employees and their partners irrespective of sexual orientation or marital status, which is its primary aim. This progressive policy will acknowledge the partners of its employees, as being equal to a ‘spouse’ or a ‘spousal equivalent.’ This means that both same-sex and heterosexual partners now have the same privileges as spouses, such as insurance coverage, leaves, social security, and retirement benefits, as mandated by the law.

Additionally, the policy guarantees that legally adopted children of employees’ partners are considered ‘dependents,’ thereby extending the benefits to the entire family unit.

Speaking on the initiatives, Harsh Goenka, chairman, RPG Group, shared his beliefs and emphasised how they are not only embracing diversity as a choice, but their responsibility. “As we celebrate #PrideMonth, let us remember that true progress lies in respecting and uplifting every individual’s journey. Together, let’s create a world where love, acceptance, and equality reign,” he further added.

Moreover, S ‘Venky’ Venkatesh, president group-HR, proudly expresses his enthusiasm towards the initiative by acknowledging the ways in which RPG is creating inclusive, safe, and happy work environments for its employees. “Our LGBTQIA+ and Partners Benefits Policy reflects our belief in equality and recognises the importance of extending benefits to all partners, regardless of sexual orientation. We lay equal emphasis on mental health as we do on physical health, which is why we have tied up with a mental health care clinic to provide free services to our employees,” he added.

He also talked about how the group is trying to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and respected. For instance, the company also has an R-Shield, a dedicated helpline against harassment, that reinforces its commitment to provide a voice and support system for all, ensuring that such behaviour has no place within RPG Group.

In line with its commitment to LGBTQIA+ inclusivity, the group’s efforts have always been beyond mere policies. Starting in 2022, the Group took great pride in actively recruiting transgender individuals for positions across its factories and offices in CEAT and KEC. This initiative not only promotes equal employment opportunities but also fosters a more diverse workforce.

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In June 2020, the company had set itself a target to increase the percentage of women in its India workforce from 28 to 40 per cent, in four years’ time, that is, by 2024. However, it managed to achieve this target in less than three years.

“Diversity and inclusivity are not mere destinations but an ongoing journey towards cultivating an organisational environment built on trust, empathy and purposeful collaboration.”

Lokendra Sethi, head of HR, DXC Technology, India

The company — which helps global firms modernise IT, optimise data architectures, and ensure security and scalability across public, private, and hybrid clouds — managed to accomplish this by hiring more women graduates from universities and also reaching out to women candidates for experienced hiring.

Additionally, DXC focused on building mid- and senior-level women leaders by instituting a series of leadership programmes for women, in addition to fostering an inclusive culture by implementing several industry-leading programmes, initiatives and engagement practices thoughtfully designed for taking care of women employees.

Nachiket Sukhtankar, managing director, DXC Technology, India, is “immensely proud to be a part of an organisation dedicated to bringing about a transformative shift through equality and representation”.

The company realises that “the technology industry in India is grappling with the challenge of underrepresentation of women, both in terms of their entry into the sector and their advancement to leadership roles”.

Sukhtankar firmly believes “this step holds immense significance in achieving an equal future. We will continue to work towards dismantling barriers and creating an empowering environment for women to thrive in the technology sector.”

Lokendra Sethi, head of HR, DXC Technology, India, believes that “diversity and inclusivity are not mere destinations but an ongoing journey towards cultivating an organisational environment built on trust, empathy and purposeful collaboration”.

Sethi is excited because the firm achieved the goal of 40 per cent women in the workforce “in a very short time and six months ahead of our expectations”. According to him, DXC’s “purpose remains to keep paving the way for a future where women are encouraged, enabled, and empowered to become catalysts of change and the next generation of industry leaders.”

This achievement is reflective of DXC’s commitment to creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable environment where every employee, regardless of gender, feels valued, respected, and empowered to reach their full potential. In addition to becoming a diverse and inclusive employer, DXC is also training underprivileged women students. It recently trained 10,000 women engineers to make them more employable, using the same curriculum as its own employees.

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The global engineering and product-development digital services, has launched a hiring campaign focused on gender diversity that aligns with its commitment to promoting gender diversity within the organsiation.

The Rainbow initiative has been working on not only onboarding more women but also creating a support framework for them to succeed. The programme is based on the following four key pillars: hiring, communication, growth and enabling.

Efforts are focused towards attracting and onboarding a diverse talent pool. Tata Technologies aims to hire 1000 + women engineers in FY24, to strengthen its gender diversity ratio further and has identified specific opportunities for women. It is creating more platforms for employee participation and dialogues so that bias is broken and a culture of inclusivity is built ground up. The company also recognises women innovators within the organisation through the ‘SHEnnovator campaign’.

As for growth, it is grooming women leaders for tomorrow through the LeaderBridge-WINGS programme, a six-month long developmental intervention aimed at helping women employees develop their leadership potential further and excel in their careers. The organsiation aims to create a conducive ecosystem and infrastructure that nurtures a diverse workforce

The leadership team already boasts of 27 per cent women. The latest initiative will now also ensure that an inclusive culture is created within the organisation.

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‘The sky is the limit, not your career’ says the post by Ruchi Dhawan Sharma, vice president and head – HR, Indigo (InterGlobe Aviation) on LinkedIn.

Last year, that is, in July 2022, IndiGo had made headlines when its crew had gone on mass leave in protest of continued salary cuts. Turn by turn, the airline’s pilots, cabin crew and even technicians had gone on leave and reported sick as a way of expressing their displeasure at the pay cuts that had begun during the pandemic and had continued even after the flights had resumed. The airline had said at the time that it was constantly discussing with its crew to sort out their issues and grievances. A month later, in August, the airline had announced that its crew’s salaries will be restored by November.

Meanwhile, IndiGo saw its shares surging over eight per cent today as Go First, the smaller but rival airline, files for bankruptcy. Hopes have been raised regarding market share gains. With about half its fleet grounded, Go First filed for bankruptcy, accusing Pratt & Whitney of supplying them with faulty engines.

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What the numbers say

The Indian economy relies heavily on its 63 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as they contribute significantly to the gross domestic product (GDP), as well as to its exports and employment. In 2020-21, MSMEs managed to generate employment for 9.3 million people. That’s not all, these MSMEs are currently sustaining over 111 million jobs, accounting for 30 per cent of GDP.

India has about 3,40,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), of which 17,500 are owned by women!

Role of ‘Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women’

This programme is committed to supporting the economic empowerment of women in India. While it is a known fact that women-owned MSMEs are expected to contribute over US$2 million to the Indian economy by 2023, these businesses do face challenges in terms of finding the right talent, obtaining loans and raw material, accessing latest technology and resources, reaching out to potential markets and so on.

Considering that MSMEs play a big role in mitigating poverty and accelerating growth among the underprivileged lot, by ensuring a more proportional distribution of income and labour, empowering women entrepreneurs has been a step in the right direction.

The programme understood that access to finance is a major issue for women-owned businesses which also experience a rejection rate for loans that is 2.5 times more than what is experienced by businesses run by men.

Of the women who have participated in the ‘10,000 Women’ programme, 43 per cent had encountered direct challenges in accessing capital before being part of the programme. Four in ten participants admit that gender bias had held them back before they joined the programme.

The complex documentation required by banks is a big put off for many, especially when the awareness regarding the available products is low. Also, most do not have collateral to offer and are discouraged by the rigid eligibility criteria. Add to that the prejudice that exists in India against women who choose to own and run businesses of their own.

The programme realises that the key lies in recognising the value that women entrepreneurs bring to the business ecosystem. There is a need to address the unique challenges that women need to overcome due to which the size, scale, and productivity of their businesses is adversely affected. That is where they require the real support to grow their businesses.

What does the programme actually do?

Negotiation: The programme has helped its participants learn the skill of negotiation, not only to get more orders, but also to build robust business ecosystems. It offers women the required tools to be able to excel in marketing and managing their own businesses, thus accelerating growth.

Confidence: The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women programme helps boost the confidence of the women allowing them to communicate and negotiate convincingly with potential clients.

Assessment: It teaches the businesswomen to evaluate the feasibility of projects in terms of revenues, costs, and risks. It teaches them how to raise finances externally and generate revenue without making additional investments.

Encouraging results

Across key business areas, ‘10,000 Women’ graduates are doing much better than their peers. A whopping 90 per cent have either introduced or increased the use of technology in their business since the pandemic struck. About 32 per cent have managed to launch a new product or service within six months of graduating!

A significant 40 per cent are trading their goods and services internationally within 30 months of graduating. The possibility of growth is rather promising, with a good 87 per cent of the graduates from the programme expecting to increase the number of people employed in their businesses in the next two years! A majority (95 per cent) anticipate an increment in revenue in the next two years.

That is not all. On average, each Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women graduate creates five new jobs and and also adds Rs 12 million in the form of revenue within 18 months of graduating.

The 10,000 Women community, on the whole, has created 2,000 new jobs and added Rs 28 billion in revenue within 18 months of graduating.

Upholding ‘Make in India’, many ‘10,000 Women’ graduates are exporting overseas, expanding their client bases globally. About 40 per cent of the businesswomen have traded their goods and services worldwide, while 29 per cent of the total revenue of these graduates comes from international clients. About 34 per cent of these graduates have expanded their business operations to international markets or are catering to global clients. A significant 74 per cent of these graduates have trained their staff. Forty per cent have implemented formal written feedback for their staff.

Eight per cent offered commission, merit pay, bonuses, or other incentives to their employees. A very encouraging 90 per cent have either introduced or increased the use of technology in their business since the pandemic. About 81 per cent are actively engaged in digital marketing activities, more than double the number before they joined the programme. It is also heartening to see that 90 per cent of graduates are actively leveraging social media for wider outreach.

About 93 per cent of graduates feel that sustainability is integral to their business plans, with 60 per cent stating their businesses should actively contribute to the net-zero agenda and support green initiatives.

‘Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women’ graduates employ twice as many women on average compared to other women entrepreneurs. Eighty-eight per cent also mentor other women in their network, while 58 per cent participate more frequently in local community groups and associations. Sixty-five per cent have taught business skills to other women in their network and community.

With an estimated 16,500 women being mentored every year, a programme like this can truly champion women’s empowerment in the country.

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Interestingly, as per data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD), women’s labour participation in the KSA has touched a record 37 per cent.

The Ministry has brought out a list of 13 new jobs available to domestic job seekers, including women, for which they can apply via the electronic platform called Musaned. The move is expected to give a much-required boost to the domestic labour market.

The 13 new professions include that of private tailor, personal care worker, home guard, home attendant, home coffee-maker, home farmer, house manager, support worker, private driver, personal assistant, and private speech and hearing specialist.

It is hoped that the Musaned platform will help regulate the labour market, and assist people to become more aware of their rights and duties. It will also provide information on services pertaining to visa issuance, job applications and employer-employee contracts.

It has been made mandatory for contracts to be drawn via the Musaned platform, which is now the official hiring platform for KSA. The platform offers a feature using which employers/hiring managers can sort applications by profession, gender and nationality.

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The report cites some rather disappointing findings of a survey by FSG, wherein 6,600 working-age women were interviewed, from low-income households in 16 cities across 14 states in India.

It is alarming to see that women still have to seek permission from men to go out and take up a job or work. A whopping 84 per cent women identified a male family member without whose permission they cannot decide to go out and work. Only over 30 per cent of women have had some level of vocational training, while a good majority (85 per cent) of the trained women have been trained in gendered areas of work that is, stitching/tailoring (62 per cent), beautician or makeup services (16 per cent), and Mehendi application (7 per cent).

While most women begin working to earn money, they wish to continue working whether they need the money or not. What seems to motivate them, according to a majority (90 per cent) is the fact that they are able to take care of their own and their family’s expenses. For 40 per cent of working women, the ability to pay for their children’s education is the main driving force. Only about 20 per cent of working women admit that they would stop working if they had no financial needs to fulfil. A significant 78 per cent intend to work until their health allows them to or till the age of retirement.

Women have a strong preference for fixed-location jobs, with 72 per cent willing to work from an office and about 52 per cent ready to work from a mall or store. They’d rather avoid jobs that require field work or daily travel. Only about 22 per cent of the women interviewed were keen to take up a job that requires them to go door to door.

While women feel that mothers should take up work outside the house, men do not share the same opinion. About 88 per cent of women feel that women can go out and work even after becoming mothers. About 52 per cent of women believe that mothers of children below six years of age can work outside of their house, about 61 per cent of the key decision-makers, primarily men, believe that women with small kids, below six years of age, should not take up work that requires them to step out.

Interestingly, women are not keen to migrate for a job. A majority (86 per cent) will not migrate even within their own state for a job even if it offers them Rs 12,000 – 15,000 per month.

However, it is heartening to see that one in two women is either working in a job or looking for a job. Only about 15 per cent of women wish to never take up a job. Of these, 29 per cent are above 44 years of age.

An encouraging 64 per cent of women are of the strong belief that work is important to make them self-reliant. About 52 per cent of working women enjoy working, while an overwhelming 90 per cent of working women admit that that working is the right thing to do.

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Women engineers and professionals whose careers may have taken a back seat due to family commitments or other personal reasons can now hope to restart their career, hone their skills and even upskill themselves as an active part of the corporate culture.

To begin with, the Company is looking to hire mechanical, electrical and robotics women engineers with at least a year’s experience. Skilled professionals are also sought for various functions, including research and development (R&D), purchase, tool, operations, Tailoring, stores, administration, HR, and finance functions.

As an incentive to draw more women, the company is offering immediate joining to qualified women candidates with a reduced probation period and retention bonus.

There will be walk in interviews as part of the first hiring drive to take place from 23 to 24 Feb, 2023 at Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh, where the Company’s manufacturing facility is located. Interested women may also apply via the official website, https://pinnacleindustries.com/evolutionari-campaign/ or by using the QR Code available across Pinnacle Industries’ digital platforms

Pinnacle Industries, the Indian company that manufactures seating systems, automotive interiors, railway seating and specialty vehicles, is open to hiring women irrespective of how long their career break has been.

Arihant Mehta, president, Pinnacle Industries, who is “excited to launch ‘EvolutioNARI’, to promote gender diversity and inclusivity in the manufacturing, engineering, and automotive industry,” strongly believes that “with the increased women talent pool, we will be able to create a more holistic and inclusive workplace, which is a strong growth driver for innovation, precision and outclass performance”.

The Company realizes “that women’s talent continues to represent an underutilised resource, especially in the automotive and manufacturing sector”. Through this recruitment campaign, Pinnacle is “looking to gain a competitive advantage by hiring skilled women professionals looking to reboot their careers”.

Valuing diversity, equality, and inclusivity, Pinnacle Industries is committed to providing a supportive work environment and opportunities for professional growth.

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The efforts put in by the Company to improve gender diversity at the workplace have been selected as one of the eight case studies featured in the Global Parity Alliance: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Lighthouses 2023 report.

The report was published at the time of the World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos, Switzerland from 16 to 20 January 2023.

The Global Parity Alliance is a cross-industry group that works to advance DE&I around the world – and the associated DEI Lighthouse Programme launched to identify proven, effective DEI initiatives from companies across industries and geographies, organised by WEF’s Centre for the New Economy and Society in collaboration with McKinsey and Company.

As per the ‘Lighthouse Report’,“Tata Steel’s case for change centred around the conviction that in order to achieve their aspiration – to be the most valuable steel organisation in the world with a ‘future ready’ and ‘pioneering’ workforce – they needed to invest in culture as a key enabler. Tata Steel’s leaders identified DEI as a central pillar of that culture because of the importance of diversity and inclusion in fueling innovation.”

The report acknowledged the challenges faced by Tata Steel, as the mining and manufacturing sector is known to be largely dominated by men, and appreciated the Company’s impact-driven approach to bring more women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community into the workforce. Its ‘25 by 25’ programme aims to have a 25 per cent diverse workforce in Tata Steel by 2025.

As for the other seven organisations that whose case studies were part of the list, EY made it with its inclusive recruiting processes and working environments for neurodivergent candidates and employees through upskilling and process redesign.

PwC was picked for social mobility for individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds in the United Kingdom through advocacy, community development, upskilling and inclusive workplace hiring practices.

Randstad was recognized for economic empowerment for at-risk women in the US through upskilling and opportunity creation.

Schneider Electric featured in the list for pay equity across all offices, in over 100 countries, with a global-local compensation framework, supported by a robust governance and automated analytics.

Shiseido was recognised for accelerating gender parity, at board and executive-management levels, for women employees in the Japan office and business community, through inclusive work policies, upskilling and community impact.

Limak was chosen for its gender parity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions, for women and girls in Türkiye and Kuwait, through upskilling and opportunity creation.

Walmart also made it to the list for the way it ensures social mobility for associates (employees) in the US through free, career-enhancing education and upskilling.

Tata Steel, along with its subsidiaries, associates, and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000.

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The Bank has also rolled out a unique ‘AU Forever Pass’ for employees who move on from the Bank after a period of three years. Selected employees who have a gold-standard service record and have made valuable contribution to the growth of the Bank, will be awarded the pass. This is equivalent to a membership that assures the exiting employees a job at the Bank if they are to return to it ever in the future.

Speaking about the Bank’s “ethos of ‘badlaav’”, Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO, AU Small Finance Bank, said, “We are working towards bringing progressive changes within our organisation to make it more supportive and inclusive for everyone”.

Emphasising the importance of appreciating the “needs of its varied workforce including women and even exiting employees” in order to make the culture “fully inclusive”, Agarwal said that these revolutionary policies “can pave the way towards building a friendly professional environment for women seeking to enter the workforce, through sensitising the organisation”.

The AU Forever Pass, according to Agarwal, honours “the contribution of our employees who leave our organisation due to personal exigencies or professional aspirations”.

The scheduled commercial bank, with an employee base of 29,883 employees, is determined to “continue to march ahead holding hands with all our employees”, in its journey of ‘badlaav’.

Vivek Tripathi, head – HR, AU Small Finance Bank, reiterates that these initaitives “make the workplace safe and healthy for its employees”.

Recently, the Bank has adopted policies such as ‘AU Forever Pass’ initiative, menstrual leave policy, birthday leave, marriage anniversary leave, paternity leave, donating leaves policy, paid sabbatical leave for long serving employees, education assistance programme, personal loan policy, concessional home loan policy to address the changing needs of employees, families, and communities.”

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As reported by ANI, Veer Guardian 2023, is the name of the exercise that will be held from 16 to 26 January 2023, at the Hyakuri Air Base and associated airspace in Japan’s Sayama. What is a matter of pride is the fact that Squadron Leader Avni Chaturvedi, who is a Su-30MKI pilot, will travel to Japan to participate in the aerial wargames in Japan.

This is the first time that a woman fighter pilot of the IAF is going outside India to participate in the wargames.

While the Indian Air Force has been the first of the armed forces to appoint women in combat roles, now, Captain Shiva Chauhan from the Corps of Engineers has become the first woman officer to be posted at Siachen, the most difficult and arduous posts. She has been able to qualify for this position after intense training. She will be deployed at the Siachen Glacier, which, at 20,000 feet, is the highest battlefield in the world.

She will have to endure extremely low temperatures and frostbite, and even climb ice walls among other activities.

India has also sent its biggest all-women platoon to be part of the peacekeeping force of the UN. This contingent comprising 25 female soldiers and two female officers, will be deployed in Abyei, on the Sudan-South Sudan border.

Last year, the IAF had decided to include women in its prestigious Garud commando force.

The Indian Navy will also allow women to join its team of marine commandos or Marcos, provided they meet all the criteria for selection.

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This is EDel’s way of providing jobs to women drivers, who will undergo a special training programme to operate EVs.

Rampraveen Swaminathan, MD & CEO, Mahindra Logistics, said: “We encourage and value diversity amongst our employees, associates, business partners, customers and communities. We have taken several initiatives to make our workplace attractive by providing equal opportunities to women. Hiring women drivers for EDel in Bengaluru is one such step in this direction”.

More women drivers cum owners, fleet owners and other transporters are being encouraged to join EDel for last-mile delivery. “By empowering these associates with skills which enable their long-term career development & employment,” MLL is furthering its diversity agenda.

According to Suman Mishra, CEO of Mahindra Electric – Last Mile Mobility, “Our electric 3-wheelers are employment generators for women, thereby helping them to be an integral part of the EV revolution. The twist and go operation, vibration- and noise-free drive experience, the reliability, as well as the superior Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) motivates women to drive EVs to support their families.”

Mahindra Last Mile Mobility’s electric three-wheelers make up 85 per cent of MLL’s existing 1000-strong fleet of EVs. The recently launched Zor Grand DV+ is the latest addition to the fleet. It can be used in various first and last-mile applications such as e-commerce, FMCG, retail, pharma and more.

Currently in the process of expanding its fleet with 1000 larger cubic-size vehicles over the next six months (across India), MLL is piloting its soon-to-be-launched electric two-wheelers in Kochi. About 20 EV charging hubs have also been set up to recharge these vehicles.

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It is impossible to truly understand the struggles and difficulties of the specially-abled co-workers unless employees spend a few hours actually dealing with the same struggles. Future Generali India Insurance Company (FGII) came up with a unique way to create this empathy and sensitise its employees.

The Company wanted to make the employees realise the struggles that their specially-abled colleagues encounter daily, by making them walk in their shoes!

“Merely talking about their challenges will not really bring that understanding, awareness and empathy. We wanted to create empathy by giving our employees first-hand experience of the same struggles that our specially-abled employees go through in their lives,” shares Ruchika Malhan Varma, CMO, Future Generali India Insurance, who also leads the diversity and inclusion agenda at FGII.

The insurance company recently concluded its week-long event called ‘DiversAbility Week’ with the theme of the event being ‘A day in the shoes of…’.

The even and theme focussed on creating empathy amongst employees by putting them in the shoes of their specially-abled co-workers. The Company did this through various activities organised from 21 November to 25 November.

Talking to HRKatha, Varma shares that the event focused on three kinds of disabilities or impairments — visual, hearing and limb.

On 22 November, the focus was on visual impairment. Employees were given handouts to understand the braille language and were then assigned tasks that involved decoding a message on a card using the braille language. After this, the employees were blindfolded and then asked to identify objects by touching them or feeling their shape and size. This activity was organised pan India in collaboration with an NGO.

“Merely talking about their challenges will not really bring that understanding, awareness and empathy. We wanted to create empathy by giving our employees first-hand experience of the same struggles that our specially-abled employees go through in their lives”

Ruchika Malhan Varma, CMO, Future Generali India Insurance

On 23 November, the focus was on hearing impairment. Employees at FGII’s Vikhroli office in Mumbai, were first given handouts to understand the sign language and were then asked to order lunch using the sign language to communicate with the deaf and mute restaurant staff. For this activity, the Company had partnered with a restaurant that employs deaf and mute people.

On 24 November, the focus was on limb impairment and handicap. A motivational speaker was invited to talk about her struggles arising from her disability and how she rose up to face those challenges.

According to Varma, the event received a fairly good response as almost 70 per cent of the workforce participated in all the activities organised across locations. The activity requiring people to order lunch using sign language was compulsory for all.

“Post the event, many employees came back and shared how different and emotional an experience it was for them,” says Varma with pride.

Future Generali also ran a campaign called ‘#DisabledByYourJudgement’, where the company tried to sensitise employees through internal communication channels, e-mails and social media.

“We want our employees to look not at the disabilities of the specially abled but at their abilities that can add value,” mentions Varma.

Apart from the above-mentioned activities, FGII also organised a cricket match between the FGII team and a team of visually-impaired players. A dance performance was organised involving specially-abled employees, including those with visual, hearing and limb impairment.

These activities further helped employees to notice and acknowledge the real potential of their specially-abled co-workers.

As a company, FGII takes its diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) agenda very seriously. It has a DE&I committee which includes all the CXOs.

Varma admits that the representation of specially-abled employees at FGII is fairly limited as of now, but the Company is working to increase the same in the future. “The challenges we face in attracting specially-abled talent are, the limited talent pool and the lack of the right kind of skills and education amongst this community,” asserts Varma. “We want to be an employer that provides white-collar jobs to such a diverse community in India,” reveals Varma.

She goes on to add that FGII has identified many roles, which can be easily executed by specially-abled employees.

Another area of focus for the Company is the hiring of members of the LGBTQ community and creating an environment that embraces gender equality.

It is FGII’s sincere wish to make its workforce 22 per cent diverse by the year 2024.

“We take our DE&I agenda very seriously and recognise the fact that diversity leads to more innovation in business,” concludes Varma.

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Amrita Padda, chief people officer, Bharti Airtel, has reportedly stated during an interview with the Economic Times, that Airtel will also offer remote-working options to women engineers. To help them take maximum advantage of the flexibility offered, these women will receive support from Airtel to set up a workspace at home.

That means, women engineers across Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Nagpur, Guwahati, Patna, Panipat, Siliguri, Delhi and Gurugram can look forward to some interesting work opportunities.

The shift from 4G to 5G is a major leap, and therefore, requires existing employees to upgrade their knowledge and skills and be more familiar with advancements made in technology.

Through initiatives, such as the 5G Academy and IP Academy, Airtel will upskill its employees, helping them become Cisco-certified network associates (CCNA) and network professionals (CCNP). These professional courses and certifications will be available free of cost to the employees.

The upskilling initiative has already benefitted about 20,000 Airtel employees, who received training on the fundaments of IP technology ahead of the launch of 5G services.

The post Airtel to hire women engineers, offer WFH options appeared first on HR Katha.

The celebration was complemented with the launch of a unique campaign #DISABLEDBYYOURJUDGEMENT’ which spreads the message to not let your judgement end up disabling your specially-abled colleagues.

The theme of the Divers‘Abilty’ week celebration revolved around spending ‘a day in the shoes of…’ encouraging employees to experience the constraints faced by their specially-abled colleagues.

Employees were provided special handouts to familiarise themselves with the Braille language requesting them to decode a special message in Braille, perform activities while they are blind-folded and order their lunch in sign language.

Motivational speakers Virali Modi and Vineet Saraiwala were invited to share their experiences, and further educate and sensitise employees. The event also featured a panel discussion, an exhibition of products made by the specially-abled and a talent show.

This was a three-pronged approach to educating and sensitising employees, helping them empathise, and also recognising the specially-abled employees.

To commemorate the start of the Divers‘Abilty’ Week, FGII released a short video as part of the #DISABLEDBYYOURJUDGEMENT campaign, depicting the manner in which the specially-abled employees are made to feel different by their peers at the workplace. It exemplifies how everyone should learn to look past someone’s disability and appreciate them for who they are and what they can do.

According to Ruchika Varma, chief marketing officer, Future Generali India Insurance, the Divers‘Ability’ week will “break inherent biases in the workplace and bridge the gap between our diverse employees in a healthy and innovative way. The video takes the narrative ahead and conveys the campaign’s central message: ‘YOUR JUDGEMENT IS MY DISABILITY.’”

Like she points out, it is easy to focus on the disability of specially-abled individuals, and ignore their individualities and contributions in the workplace,” while the need of the hour is “to look at things through a positive lens, with an emphasis on ability and break biases in context to work environment”.

The post Future Generali celebrates contribution of specially-abled employees appeared first on HR Katha.

Swiggy realised that as gig workers, delivery executives were not covered under the ambit of Indian laws for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH). What also was a cause of worry was the fact that many of its delivery personnel were unaware of what exactly constitutes sexual harassment or misconduct and what are the ways to address it.

Swiggy’s Sexual Harassment Redressal Policy 2022 is aligned with the POSH Act. It covers how sexual harassment can be reported and how it will be investigated and acted upon. In case of a sexual harassment case arising due to customers, male counterparts, restaurant partners, or Swiggy employees, the woman delivery executive can reach out to Swiggy’s Emergency SOS number for support. After providing emergency assistance, if the woman seeks an investigation, she is able to lodge a complaint with the Company’s on-ground team.

If the pepetrator is a Swiggy employee, the incident is treated as a POSH case since the employee is bound to the company. If the perpetrator is a restaurant partner/ consumer or co-delivery partner, then the matter is investigated by an internal committee headed by a woman. Guidance is given to the delivery executive on the actions she can take. She is enlightened regarding the IPC codes available, the kind of support available to file a complaint, and the level of cooperation and support given to the authorities in the investigation.

According to Mihir Shah, head of operations, Swiggy, “There is no place for sexual harassment or gender-based misconduct in Swiggy’s delivery universe. Through the sexual harassment redressal policy, we are taking a proactive step in building awareness and accountability among various stakeholders in the community”.

Shah hopes that “these efforts will stop incidents from happening and also encourage women delivery executives to recognise and report incidents with the faith that action will be taken”

The policy aims to “empower women to feel safe on Swiggy’s delivery platform”.

Swiggy is working on a solution to ensure that if the harassment takes place at a customer’s location, then once the initial investigation is over, no other women delivery executive employed with Swiggy is ever assigned to that customer.

The number will be highlighted so that a woman executive is not assigned even if the customer changes locations. Grievous offenses punishable by law may even result in the removal of customers from the Swiggy platform.

The woman delivery executive is empowered to raise a police complaint against the respondent at any given point. In such cases, Swiggy will always support the authorities in the investigation.

In the last 45 days, women delivery executives have been receiving regular communication in Hindi, English, and regional languages on the definition of sexual harassment, Swiggy’s redressal policy in this regard, and the process of raising and registering a complaint.

As part of its safety measures, the Company undertakes regular pulse checks and audits, both internal and external, to spot any element or factor that can create a hurdle in the path of more women taking up gig work.

In 2021, Swiggy became the first platform to offer paid period time off to its women delivery executives. Other practical initiatives included access to vehicles as well as hygienic restrooms.

Prioritising the safety of the delivery executives, irrespective of gender, Swiggy provides an SOS button on its delivery executive app. This offers 24×7 support and connects executives to an ambulance, the local police station, or the Swiggy helpline as and when the need arises. Delivery executives are also allowed to decline deliveries if they deem an area to be unsafe. Such refusals do not invite any interrogation or disincentives.

This process also allows Swiggy to map and avoid unsafe neighborhoods, especially for women delivery executives. The internal tech team is already working on a solution to ensure that women delivery partners are not assigned to potentially unsafe areas or neighbourhoods.

This is combined with in-person sessions for the delivery executives, starting with cities such as Bangalore and Chennai where their number is highest.

Swiggy has been in regular touch with its restaurant partners to sensitise them and seek support from their staff. Male delivery executives have been receiving communication about sexual harassment and the redressal policy.

The Company is also in the process of sensitising and seeking support from its customers. The track screen that carries the delivery executive’s details will have a safety and awareness message for women executives.

Presently exploring partnerships with NGOs and other agencies working with gig workers, Swiggy wishes to promote awareness among women delivery executives on sexual harassment.

It is the Company’s hope that its initiatives will encourage the implementation of the right tools and policies that will make more gig platforms safer and more inclusive for women.

The post Swiggy launches Sexual Harassment Redressal Policy appeared first on HR Katha.

It is common for assembly lines at manufacturing sites to be largely dominated by men. The situation wasn’t any different at Sterlite Technologies, which has manufacturing facilities across India involved in producing optical fibre cables and solutions. However, things are changing, and surely for the better now, with STL making conscious efforts to increase the representation of women in its plants.

An all-women assembly line at its STL’s Aurangabad and Dadra plants is the highlight of these efforts. That is not all. At one of its plants, women make up 60 per cent of the workforce, while the rest are men.

Talking to HRKatha, Anjali Byce, CHRO, Sterlite Technologies, proudly mentions that STL currently has 250 to 300 women in plant roles alone. “At the plants, 21 per cent of the workforce comprises women and we aspire to take this number to 50 per cent in the future,” shares Byce.

How did STL achieve this?

The first thing that the Company did was build a culture of inclusion, by sensitising its people and managers and creating a culture where differences are recognised and celebrated. “We first aimed at building a culture that respects differences,” reveals Byce.

Sensitisation of the workforce at the plants is a mission that the firm undertook with great seriousness. It was made mandatory for every STL employee to go through sensitisation training. Moreover, policies have been created to ensure an inclusive workplace, which includes the provision of crèche facilities at the plants.

The Company has a six-month maternity-leave policy for women and all policies are gender agnostic. “We try to keep are policies aligned with our global standards and also give flexibility to make it as local as necessary,” asserts Byce.

Generally, it is very difficult to attract women to plant roles, but speaking from her own experience, Byce feels women are very much open to taking up roles in plants, provided “we give them an opportunity and a platform to succeed”.

She admits thought that the women’s talent pool in the manufacturing space is quite small and needs a targeted approach. Therefore, STL utilises every possible techique to attract women talent, either from colleges or via targeted platforms and services that reach out to women talent.

“We first aimed at building a culture that respects differences”

Anjali Byce, CHRO, Sterlite Technologies

Technology has also helped the Company in bringing about diversity in its workforce. For instance, STL uses an artificial intelligence-based resume/CV shortlisting tool, which selects resumes on the basis of skills and pure competencies required for the role. This leaves no scope for bias of any kind by recruiters.

In fact, Byce proudly mentions that on an average, every year, about 40 per cent of its campus hiring includes women talent.

Byce proudly claims that women are found in every role across the plants, including quality assurance, safety, plant associate, maintenance and processing.

Equal growth opportunities is yet another factor that makes the environment at STL conducive to women. “We ensure a fair opportunity and accelerated career growth progression for women at STL,” Byce states, adding that there are many leadership roles at the STL plants, which are held and led by women.

Another plan as part of the diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) strategy of the Company is inclusion of people with disabilities or PwDs. Byce reveals to HRKatha exclusively that in the coming days, STL is ready to welcome five people with disabilities, and that too at the plants!

This is like a pilot project for the firm, which will allow STL to analyse its capabilities to include PwDs at the plants. With this big change, Byce admits that some major infrastructural changes had to be made at the plant. For one, all managers were trained in sign. Tight carpets and ramps have been ensured for smooth operation of wheelchairs. Card readers with adjustable height, as well as pictographic charts and maps have been arranged for instructions and visual-safety alarms.

The hiring process of PwDs has also been different. A translator is always present during the interviews. “The only guideline for hiring managers and recruiters was to focus on capabilities and things that these people can do, rather than what they cannot do. It is just that there are things which these people do differently than others,” enunciates Byce.

Going forward, STL plans to have different forms of diversity and also wishes to focus on inclusion of members from the LGBTQ or lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in the workforce.

The post How Sterlite Technologies is hiring more women for its plants appeared first on HR Katha.

As per the updated policy, employees who are becoming parents through natural birth, surrogacy, or adoption will be eligible for this parental break, regardless of their gender.

The Company also encourages team members and managers of employees to regularly check-in with people who are on parental break and give them updates on their ongoing project. This ensures that the employees on leave remain engaged with the organisation, even while their learning curve smoothen at the time of their joining back.

When employees join back after a parental leave break, they either resume working on their previous project or put on a new assignment.

Cure.fit claims that the programme also addresses the most common grouse of decelerated careers during parental breaks, by not altering the employee appraisal cycles.

“One of the core values at Cure.fit is ‘doing the right thing’. In an era, where we’re collectively on a journey to remove labels and enable all individuals to discover their best selves and be better every day, this programme organically seemed like the right thing to do. The programme empowers our employees to design a life best suited to their aspirations and eliminates bias,” shares Ankit Gupta, head of product & engineering, Cure.Fit.

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 prescribes a maternity leave of 26 weeks in India. The Central government employees are entitled for a 15-day paternity leave but no such guidelines exist for the private sector. With this updation, Cure.Fit is equalising the parental-leave programme in the Company.

The post Cure.fit updates & equalises its parental-leave policy appeared first on HR Katha.

Apple is looking to shift its manufacturing outside China and focus on expanding its supply chain in India.

The Hosur plant expects to bag more orders from Apple, and will therefore need more hands in the near future.

The factory manufactures the cases for iPhone and will soon be setting up a new production line as reported by Bloomberg.

The women working in the Hosur factory reportedly earn more than Rs 16,000, way above the industry average. They also enjoy food and accommodation within the premises. The Tata Group trains and educates them before putting them on the job.

Meanwhile, in China a seven-day lockdown has been imposed in the area around Foxconn Technology Group’s primary iPhone manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou. This is expected to adversely affect iPhone shipments from this factory to various parts of the world. With the holiday season fast approaching, this kind of lockdown will also restrict the mobility of workers at a time when additional resources are required to increase production. The Taiwanese company is already in the midst of a resource crunch with a recent COVID infection that resulted in about two lakh of its workers into quarantine and scared away many others.

Not surprisingly, Apple is trying to move the manufacturing outside China.

Tata Group is reportedly also discussing with Wistron, the possibility of assembling iPhones in India. Wistron is another manufacturing giant from Taiwan that assembles iPhones for Apple.

The post Tata Group to hire 45,000 women in 2 years, at iPhone parts plant appeared first on HR Katha.

In two similar cases, a majority of the justices seemed to be in favour of putting an end to affirmative action initiatives and programmes that were put in place to ensure diversity in the university campuses across the US.

That means, students cannot seek any benefit based on race, as this will now be considered as an act that discriminates against other student applicants!

By that same logic it will not be long before the diversity and inclusion initiatives at workplaces also come to be regarded as dubious. In fact, all the efforts that organisations and even the military have been putting in to ensure diversity and inclusion, and to compensate for the damage caused due to slavery and ensure equal representation of genders / races may come to be considered as constitutionally wrong.

The Court seems to be upholding the ruling from the past wherein it was stated that the only way to put an end to discrimination based on race is to simply stop discriminating on the basis of race.

This comes at a time when post the murder of George Floyd two years ago, workplaces have gone out of the way to prioritise diversity and inclusion.

The post Will D&I policies become unconstitutional & illegal in the US? appeared first on HR Katha.

Jay Shah, secretary, BCCI announced the pay parity on Twitter. “I’m pleased to announce @BCCI’s first step towards tackling discrimination. We are implementing a pay equity policy for our contracted @BCCIWomen cricketers. The match fee for both men and women cricketers will be the same as we move into a new era of gender equality in Indian Cricket,” Shah tweeted on October 27.

It is a big jump for the women’s Indian Cricket team as before this decision, the match fee for International women players was Rs 20,000. Now with the revised pay system coming into play, International women players will receive Rs 15 lakh for Test, Rs 6 lakh for ODIs and Rs 3 Lakh for T20s as match fee. It is a 1500 per cent jump in match fee for women cricket players in India!

But there is still a massive gap in the central contract between men’s and women’s cricket in India. Apart from the match fee, players also receive an annual contract pay as per their grade. As of now in women’s cricket, Grade A players receive an annual pay of Rs 50 Lakh which is half of what Grade C players in men’s cricket receive in India. Moreover, in men’s cricket, they also have a ‘A Plus’ grade which includes players such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.

For Women’s cricket team the central contract pay stricture in 2021-22 is:

Category A (Rs 50 lakh)

Category B (Rs 30 lakh)

Category C (Rs 10 lakh)

For cricket team the central contract pay stricture in 2021-22 is:

Category A+ (Rs 7 crore)

Category A (Rs 5 crore)

Category B (Rs 3 crore)

Category C (Rs 1 crore)

People are hopeful that the BCCI will bring in gender parity in the annual contractual fee gap as well.

The post BCCI announces equal match fee for men and women players appeared first on HR Katha.

Located in Bengaluru, this centre has an all women staff that will serve men as well as women investors/ clients from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Many similar DCs are in the pipeline.

“The Women-Only DC is another step in HDFC Securities’ aim to foster diversity within the organisation, while also empowering its customers with technology that eases their journey to financial freedom,” said Dhiraj Relli, managing director & chief executive officer, HDFC Securities.

Relli further revealed that the Company is already in the process of hiring “600 relationship managers for our pan-India DCs.”

Young relationship managers, below 30, it is believed, will be able to give their younger clients “unique insights into the needs of our largest customer demographic”.

The DCs will give women easier access to HDFC’s services. Since “only seven per cent of Indian women invest independently in the financial markets, and 33% of women don’t have any financial investments. We aim to encourage these women to take charge of their finances with a women-only team at the new DC,” said Relli.

Mufaddal Matcheswala, chief growth officer, HDFC Securities, believes, “when women run the centre, it will encourage other women to manage their own investment portfolios, make informed decisions and gain financial security. We believe that hiring women as relationship managers for the DC will further our efforts to ensure diversity and empower women to take charge of their finances”.

The post HDFC Securities opens ‘women-only’ DC in Bengaluru appeared first on HR Katha.

Blind recruitment & other sector-specific policies

It is neither uncommon nor unnatural for interviewers to nurture unconscious bias even before the actual interview. Blind recruitment is often held by experts as effective in helping reduce such bias.

Seema Bangia, VP & CPO, Mahindra Agri, Defence & Aero, says this practice is strictly adhered to at her organisation in the preliminary shortlisting round. “When the CVs are sent to the hiring managers, the name and other personal information of the candidates, such as gender, age and address are hidden,” she elucidates.

The first selection for interview is done purely on the basis of skill-sets, experience and background. However, she adds that details regarding experience could indicate, by default, the age of the candidate.

“Although we are a gender-neutral organisation, the aero-defence sector is unfortunately male dominated and preference is given to male candidates for a variety of jobs,” laments Bangia. “Nowadays, wherever possible, we try to recruit women and differently-abled candidates as long as business objectives are being met,” she says, on a more optimistic note.

“When the CVs are sent to the hiring managers, the name and other personal information of the candidates, such as gender, age and address are hidden.”

Seema Bangia, VP & CPO, Mahindra Agri, Defence & Aero

Bangia expresses a desire for better gender diversity in the sector. Accordingly, the job description or JD is kept gender neutral. “Also, we are increasingly giving preference to hiring women candidates, while ensuring that merit and business needs are not neglected,” she states resolutely.

Speaking of the tech industry, Chirag Doshi, CHRO, Thoughtworks, emphasises the need to widen the talent pool to achieve greater diversity. “Right from the time of the sourcing stage of interviews, the number of female applicants can be increased through efforts such as special referral campaigns, regularly connecting with women’s colleges, and running marketing campaigns that speak to women in IT to encourage it as a career choice,” suggests Doshi.

Speech patterns, language & bias

According to new research cited by the Harvard Business Review, experienced interviewers are able to quickly and accurately discern the socioeconomic background of candidates by listening to them speak. Consequently, their opinions can be negatively influenced, causing them to judge those displaying a ‘lower class’ speech pattern as less competent, deserving of a lower starting salary than their higher status counterparts, and a worse fit for the job in general. Alarmingly, according to the study, these judgments were made without any information about the candidates’ qualifications.

“Questions such as ‘when are you planning to start a family’ – particularly to women candidates – are a strict no-no.”

Mangesh Bhide, senior VP & head of HR, Jio Network & Infrastructure

Mangesh Bhide, senior VP & head of HR, Jio Network & Infrastructure, opines that language and speech patterns should solely be used to gauge linguistic competency for meeting specific role requirements. Bhide cites the example of BPO call centres to drive home his point. “Proficiency in English or other foreign languages is a must for candidates applying to work at international BPOs. However, there is no question of rejecting a candidate for their English if they are to be recruited for a domestic call centre, where fluency in the local language is required.”

When it comes to other aspects of inclusive interviewing, Bhide rejects the practice of asking interviewees personal questions. “Questions such as ‘when are you planning to start a family’ – particularly to women candidates – are a strict no-no,” he stresses.

A streamlined hiring process

According to Bhide, organisations that recruit candidates on the basis of knowledge, experience and skill set; have clear hiring guidelines and a robust standardised hiring process, are more likely to conduct inclusive interviews.

The same idea is echoed by Doshi. “Having a uniform, structured interview process is critical. An unstructured interview could set off a domino effect, reducing inclusivity over time,” he explains.

“Right from the time of the sourcing stage of interviews, the number of female applicants can be increased through special referral  and marketing campaigns.”

Chirag Doshi, CHRO, Thoughtworks

Doshi goes on to describe several practices that help Thoughtworks — an organisation in which women and gender minorities comprise 39.1 per cent of the workforce — ensure diversity and talent among new hires. These include attribute-based hiring and a strengths-oriented approach. “We are very clear about what skills/attributes are needed when hiring for specific roles. Accordingly, our interview process is designed to uncover a candidate’s strengths that are in alignment with those needs,” says Doshi, elaborating the former practice. As for the latter, he describes it as an approach in which the hiring process is geared towards identifying strengths and hiring individuals for those rather than focussing on weaknesses and rejecting people on their basis.

“Additionally, we ensure diverse interview panels, so each candidate meets at least five Thoughtworkers during their interview process. The entire interview panel, across all rounds, typically represents diversity of gender, age, tenure and even roles to make sure we are able to see the candidate through a broader spectrum of experiences,” elucidates Doshi.

Doshi further informs that interviews at Thoughtworks are conversational with real-life puzzles and real-life situations thrown in as topics, rather than in a Q&A format. “Additionally, in most interview rounds, we let candidates interact with a pair of interviewers. Pairing lends interviewers each other’s support and guidance in creating an environment that allows the candidate to be their best,” says Doshi.

Inclusive interviews may call for additional resources and time, but the efforts are worthwhile.

The post Practising inclusive interviewing, the first step towards building a diverse workforce appeared first on HR Katha.

Of the Company’s total workforce of around 28,000, about 3,000 are corporate employees and the remaining 25,000 are working at the factories and warehouses.

As per Kumar, at the shop floor where all the cutting and sowing happens, the number of women is fairly more than men but at the warehouses, the number of women and men are almost equal.

When we think of factories and the shop floor environment, we can only imagine men lifting and working heavy machineries. Though some industries are still facing challenges when it comes to increasing the number of women at the factories, there are certain businesses, which naturally attract women talent at the shop floor. Such is the business of Page Industries.

Kumar tells HRKatha that at the shop floor, the skills required pertain to cutting of cloth, sewing, inspection of the quality and packing. Being naturally gifted with the required skills, Kumar admits that women are usually more inclined towards and adept at these tasks, and much better at these than men.

In fact, it may not be just about skills because Page Industries has a well-defined process to train new joinees at the factories. For months, they are trained in the nuances of cutting, stitching, quality checking and packing.

Another major reason why Page Industries has more women at the shop floor is because most of the Company’s factories are located in the rural parts of India and generate employment for the local women. “Generally, the men in the rural areas tend to move out to look for jobs in the cities. Women, on the other hand, do not wish to migrate too far from their homes in search of work, and that is where we fit the bill,” points out Kumar.

For the shop floor, the Company picks talent via aptitude tests and emphasises on gauging what motivated the individual to join the brand. “It is not much of a challenge to attract women talent at the shop floor as they are aware of the Jockey brand. However, nowadays, women have multiple options to join shared services centres or call centres as they are educated and can speak English and regional languages as well,” says Kumar.

“Generally, the men in the rural areas tend to move out to look for jobs in the cities. Women, on the other hand, do not wish to migrate too far from their homes in search of work, and that is where we fit the bill”

Ravi Kumar, chief people officer, Page Industries

Kumar shares that at Page Industries, the HR people working at the shop floor go out to the villages to attract talent. “I call them my field force at Page Industries,” quips Kumar.

When it comes to creating an environment for the women to flourish, the Company provides a pickup and drop service to employees who live far away from the factories, especially the ones who work in shifts. There is focus on keeping the women employees healthy by providing nutritious snacks and lunch. “Women have the tendency to skip their meals as they put their family first and are preoccupied with caring for them. Therefore, such initiatives support our women and help fill that gap,” shares Kumar.

In-house doctors and nurses are available for the pregnant employees.

Since the mix of both genders is important, Kumar shares that representation of both the genders is balanced in corporate roles. “When it comes to fashion products, sometimes men may have better ideas that will suit women and vice versa,” tells Kumar.

In addition to gender diversity, the Company is also focusing on attracting talent from different industries, which means hiring people with diverse experiences. “My appointment as the chief people officer is one example. Our COO and the head of manufacturing were picked from outside the retail industry,” confirms Kumar.

Hiring people from outside the industry helps drive innovation and such people also challenge the existing processes which can bring more efficiency.

“Our leadership team carries an open-minded approach. We have a culture where every voice is heard and given a patient ear,” concludes Kumar.

The post How Page Industries has almost 90% women at the shop floor appeared first on HR Katha.

‘Diversity & Inclusion’ talks

The organisation regularly holds ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ talks aimed at dispelling bias and increasing acceptability. According to Shukla, the talks — typically conducted by team leaders — are focused on removing bias on the basis of issues, if any, flagged by female colleagues.

They could also pertain to something the leaders may have noticed. Diversity is often at the centre of these talks. “Our customer groups are diverse and we would like our product development team to be just as diverse,” explains Shukla.

Moreover, instead of being held as an annual, pan-organisation event with the participation of all employees, the talks are of an informal nature and conducted as frequently as twice a week. This is to ensure that such subjects seamlessly flow into everyday conversations, pervading the company culture and collective mindset.

Is there any way of knowing whether the talks are yielding results?

According to Shukla, Comviva largely relies on surveys and anonymous analytics to dig into issues such as unconscious gender bias and prejudice, fair talent ratings, as well as equal pay and compensation benefits for equal work for both the men and the women in the workforce.

She also elaborates that each such discussion is typically followed by an instant feedback survey, giving an opportunity for unresolved issues to be addressed by the leadership.

“The surveys have revealed that the concerns raised by male and female employees are organisational in nature and not gender-specific. We have made an emphatic effort to mete out equal treatment to both sets of workers,” she underlines.

Motherhood & the workplace

From managing household responsibilities to experiencing workplace-related burnout, working mothers are on constant ‘double-shift’ mode. According to a Mckinsey survey, the pandemic saw a growth in this double-shift burden, with mothers increasingly having to shoulder an overwhelming majority of housework and caregiving responsibilities.

Shukla says that Comviva’s slew of women-centric programmes are designed to help women — both new and expecting mothers — overcome the dual challenges of managing home and work. The organisation’s initiatives include flexible working hours, providing crèche facility at subsidised rates, and covering nanny expenses for all new mothers for their first two babies —up to 2 years of age — without having to furnish receipts.

“Surveys have revealed that the concerns raised by male and female employees are organisational in nature and not gender-specific. We have made an emphatic effort to mete out equal treatment to both sets of workers”

Vaishnavi Shukla, head of HR, Comviva

“Launched about four years ago, the ‘Transition Support to Motherhood’ programme is commendably progressive,” opines Shukla, her voice tinged with pride. She further elaborates that the policy was shaped by a desire to help ambitious and capable women who wanted to return to their career after childbirth make a guiltless transition. “This programme is about providing an actual support mechanism; enabling new mothers to meet the obligations of their job, while fulfilling the duties of motherhood,” she adds.

Other progressive measures at Comviva include the facility of a specially-designated office parking space for expecting mothers and female staff, and assessing women employees who go on maternity leave mid-year, only for the duration they were active and present at the workplace.

Communication is key

A 2015 survey, by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, demonstrated that a growing number of highly qualified urban Indian women were quitting work to become full-time mothers, avoiding walking a tightrope between raising children and pursuing a career.

According to a more recent study conducted by the Genpact Centre for Women’s Leadership, 50 per cent of working women in India gave up their jobs to take care of children. The study further revealed that merely 27 per cent of women progressed in their professional lives after attaining motherhood.

What is Comviva doing to retain talented women workers who may be in the family way?

Retention at Comviva is achieved by an enabling environment, replies Shukla. “Enabling mechanisms include offering a sabbatical, flexible working hours, a role change, job rotation, or even providing help in terms of technical upskilling and training,” she elaborates. “These options exist for any talent – man or woman – who wants to grow,” she adds.

Moreover, stressing the importance of communication, Shukla explains that HR managers are instructed to engage in conversations with women employees right before their maternity break and at the time of resuming work, with the idea of making them feel comfortable. “We don’t leave them to their own devices!” she jokes. “In fact, we have had multiple cases of women being awarded and promoted while they were on maternity leave for the exceptional work they did. There are several instances of women having risen through the ranks following the break,” she adds on a more serious note. Eventually, the word spread, reassuring other women employees that it wasn’t difficult to continue being their best at Comviva even after becoming a mum.

She also mentions easy access to counselling sessions conducted by the organisation’s professional well-being partner. Aptly called, ‘Your Dost’, the sessions help address emotional and mental health challenges faced by employees, both female and male.

“Moreover, there is palpable camaraderie at the Comviva offices,” Shukla points out. “New mums resuming work often reach out to their peers, team leads, managers and HR business partners, frankly sharing their doubts, fears and misgivings. This is the culture at Comviva!,” she emphasises.

Respecting individuality

According to a 2019 study highlighted by Forbes, an important reason women were quitting their jobs was “lack of effective communication with management”.

Shukla shares that not only is regular two-way communication facilitated at Comviva, individuals and their individuality are deeply respected. “Each person in a six-member team may be in a different life cycle with unique goals, needs, problems and aspirations,” she notes. “We have never believed in the broad-brush approach. Solutions to employee concerns are uniquely tailored,” she reveals.

She goes on to point out how the performance management system (PMS) at Comviva is known as PDED, short for Performance Development & Engagement Dialogue. “We make sure there is a quarterly — not annual — connect between an employee and her manager. This is a dialogue based discussion,” she highlights. “The dialogue focuses on goals and objectives. Is the worker’s progress in alignment with her goals? What are they headed for? Allowing such conversations gives employees a chance to articulate what they want”. Moreover, she highlights that the last few years have seen HR business partners ally with managers to iron out issues, if any.

Interestingly, the tech organisation’s hiring policy includes a target of recruiting 35-40 per cent women employees at the entry level. However, at present, women comprise 19-21 per cent of the total workforce with no more than 13 per cent in senior managerial roles. “Comviva is an unequivocally merit-driven organization,” emphasizes Shukla. She adds that by ensuring equal opportunities for all, Comviva enables each employee to become the best they can be. “Subsequently, we allow the natural trajectory of growth,” Shukla offers.

‘Enabling’ may indeed be empowering after all.

The post How Comviva is empowering women employees by enabling them appeared first on HR Katha.

At present, women and gender minorities comprise 39.1 per cent of the workforce.

Vapasi, for instance, is one such programme that it enables experienced women developers currently on a career break to re-enter the world of programming post a three to five-week boot camp. The short and intensive training programme is designed to impart as well as gauge knowledge related to the core of software development.

Another programme named WiLD – short for Women in Leadership Development – helps emerging women leaders in the organisation gain exposure to leadership skills, including ways of resolving conflict and mentoring others, and recognising their key strengths and areas of interest.

“Each participant is offered personalised guidance to help them achieve their personal vision of contributing to Thoughtworks in a leadership role,” explains Chirag Doshi, head of people, Thoughtworks India.

“Thoughtworks is growing rapidly. We need leaders who will grow faster than we are. Therefore, we feel the need to continuously invest in helping them reach the next level,” he addd.

Thoughtworks, a global technology company spread across 17 countries, is devising new ways to increase the representation and advancement of not just women but also other underrepresented groups such as Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and LGBTQ+ community members.

Addressing mental-health challenges

The organisation has also been taking steps to support those grappling with mental health issues and personal challenges, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. Shining a spotlight on the initiatives being taken, Doshi says that Thoughtworks has tie-ups with other organisations, giving Thoughtworkers easy access to counselling support and professional guidance around self-care.

Moreover, training sessions are regularly conducted in which leaders are coached in ways to educate and guide employees on where to reach out in case of mental health problems.

However, the impenetrable stigma around mental health struggles isn’t easy to dispel given people’s reluctance to speak of these issues, particularly at the workplace. According to Doshi, the act of sharing helps dismantle the curtain of shame around these struggles. “Thoughtworkers – both senior leaders and newly-joined employees – are encouraged to share their personal stories about mental-health challenges at company events. Uninhibitedly talking about these issues makes people feel that mental health issues can afflict the best of us. It makes the fact of battling mental-health issues seem more relatable, even normal,” opines Doshi.

Welcoming & supporting people with disabilities

Notwithstanding the growing awareness with regard to making workplaces more friendly and accessible to PwDs, the ubiquity of ableism can scarcely be denied. According to Doshi, Thoughtworks India has focused on promoting diversity since day one. The Thoughtworks India offices, across seven Indian cities, are PwD-friendly and have multiple employees with various kinds of physical disabilities.

Doshi further informed that whenever global town-hall meetings are held at which the CEO or global leadership addresses employees on a zoom call, sign language experts are called in to communicate the address to colleagues with hearing disability. “These are small but visible steps through which a signal is sent out about how we desire inclusivity,” he points out.

Doshi also underlines how employees are themselves becoming more sensitive and conscious of the need to ensure accessibility. “Whenever Thoughtworkers want to get together to discuss a new subject of technology, they create a flyer or poster – typically containing an image – and e-send it across the office. Each time, they make sure the flyer contains the most important part of the information in text so as to enable visually-challenged colleagues using a screen reader to read without difficulty,” he says.

“We’ve run campaigns such as ‘Talk Tech to Her’ to help overcome the stereotypes. However, the mindset needs to shift; women must battle it out to establish themselves as equal players in the technology industry”

Chirag Doshi, head of people, Thoughtworks India

Supporting sexual minorities

Today, organisational decisions related to employee-resource groups, recruitment practices, and marketing are increasingly being shaped by a regard for LGBTQ+ rights. In line with this corporate zeitgeist, Thoughtworks has introduced a host of LGBTQ+ inclusive policies. These include the ‘Intern with Pride’ initiative, a five-month training internship programme for fresh tech graduates from the LGBTQ+ community. The organisation is also providing insurance cover – in collaboration with its medical insurance partners – to LGBTQ+ employees for gender affirmation surgery, besides extending other types of support such as sanctioning a break from work during the procedure. It has also introduced a gender-neutral parental leave policy that extends the definition of parenthood to include surrogacy and adoption.

However, research shows that sexual orientation remains a workplace taboo with most LGBTQ+ workers reluctant to come out of the closet, fearing exclusion and joblessness. Besides, negative social attitudes towards the community are deeply entrenched.

What is Thoughtworks doing to sensitise existing cisgender employees towards their LGBTQ+ counterparts?

“We regularly organise events and panel discussions that involve the participation of LGBTQ+ workers as well as those who see themselves as LGBTQ+ allies. Listening to their journeys and lived experiences helps foster understanding and engagement,” responds Doshi.

He goes on to mention that the Thoughtworks Indian leadership team had, in the past, conducted a series of workshops titled ‘Being Inclusive’. The workshops were aimed at helping employees learn about inherent, unconscious biases that made the workplace a less welcoming place for sexual and other minorities.

More pertinently, Doshi explains that the Thoughtworks worldview is articulated to potential employees at the interview itself. “We educate them regarding our beliefs. That initial conversation allows us to set expectations from them,” he enunciates. Unsurprisingly, Doshi reports having observed a correlation between candidates who displayed resistance to ideas of inclusivity and were close-minded about other things as well.

Shattering stereotypes, banishing stigma

However, gender inequality remains rife in the technology sector. According to a report by Deloitte, 38 per cent of women workers quit the technology industry within two years of joining. Doshi opines that the broader challenge in the industry was to address and shatter all-pervasive stereotypes. “If someone mentions a programmer, most would imagine the person to be male! That stereotype has to be shattered,” observes Doshi. “We’ve run campaigns such as ‘Talk Tech to Her’ to help overcome the stereotypes. However, the mindset needs to shift; women must battle it out to establish themselves as equal players in the technology industry,” he emphasises.

As far as the LGBTQ+ community is concerned, the stigma surrounding gender identity can barely be said to have shrunk at Indian workplaces. Doshi notes that metropolitan cities in general and the IT sector, in particular, are witnessing a growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ members. “But there will be larger change when we begin creating smaller pockets of change in the industry,” suggests Doshi. He explains that the work culture at Thoughtworks encourages employees to be allies, supporting colleagues from the community. He also stresses the need for Thoughtworks to keep an eye out for what more can be done to help the tech industry become more progressive in this regard.

“For instance, this interview. Perhaps someone will read about the Thoughtworks initiatives and get inspired,” he says, adding there is a long way to go. “I am optimistic of a shift in the industry over the next 10-15 years, though. Today, many companies have consciously begun ensuring gender diversity and balance. The same will be true for LGBTQs in future” he adds, signing off.

The post How Thoughtworks is trying to impact the industry with gender & queer-inclusive policies appeared first on HR Katha.

Two months ago, Mahatransco’s job ad sought applications for various vacancies. The petitioner, Kranti, noticed that while there were many other categories of reservations, there was none for members of the transgender community, despite the Supreme Court having directed the Centre and states to provide such reservation in government jobs. Kranti, therefore, wanted the hiring process to be stayed till the ad was modified.

Mahatransco, however, maintained that transgender applicants could choose to avail vertical or horizontal reservations that are in place, as per the Constitution and relevant statutes, basis their eligibility. Mahatransco, in fact, pointed out that far from violating any fundamental right, its recruitment process was actually in line with the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which provides for the ‘other than male/female’ option/category for applicants.

Meanwhile, in Kolkata, LGBTQ activists took to the streets protesting against the inaction of the Transgender Development Board.

It is alleged that the Board, which was formed to defend and uphold the rights of the LGBTQ community, has failed to fulfil its promise of reserving seats for members of the LGBTQ community in state-run educational institutions and state government jobs. The community has also been demanding a separate identity card for a long time now, but is yet to see any action, even though it has been seven years since the inception of the board.

In yet another case in Maharashtra, the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) has given six months’ time to the Government of Maharashtra to come up with a ‘clear policy’ that will provide jobs for transgender persons. This was in response to the case of a transgender applicant seeking to apply for a job as police sub-inspector (PSI).

The applicant, who was born a male, had opted to take on the female gender later, and had applied for the post of PSI as a transgender candidate, from the options provided. The applicant sought to be considered as a female candidate. The Maharashtra Public Service Commission or MPSC said that it will allow the candidate to appear for the preliminary examination scheduled for 8 October, 2022. The applicant’s plea seeks reservation for transgender persons.

But all is not lost. In West Delhi, an MoU was signed by the district magistrate with the Lalit Group of Hotels. Under this agreement, members of the transgender community will be trained and provided jobs in the hospitality sector. The ‘Trans-Empower’ will provide training free of cost and create jobs for transgenders. The scheme will also help them avail the benefits the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME), as well as the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).

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