The Hindu Business Line : Different strokes

Seeing too many women in your work place? You shouldn't be surprised. For, from having `ladies' rooms on every floor of the office to having a day care centre for children, technology companies are increasingly getting sensitive to diversity.

First on the list is gender diversity. Vijaya Sampath, Corporate Director and General Counsel, Bharti Group, is part of a committee that frames policies to help the Bharti Group become more women-friendly.

One of the goals is to have more women in senior operating roles. "We tell our recruiting team that there must be a few women candidates participating in interviews and tests. An "all-male" list of candidates is not appreciated," she says.

Mentoring young women is another step that the organisation has taken. "Our president has chosen to train a young lady and other senior management level executives will also follow suit. This helps women understand that the organisation respects them for their skills," she says. At IBM India, the premise for addressing diversity is "equal opportunity for all. IBM looks at three areas of diversity - attracting women, differently-abled individuals and cultural diversity.

"Some measures relate to work flexibility such as flexible work timings and options to "work from home". We are working towards establishing a day care centre (crèche)", says Anita Guha, India Diversity Leader, IBM India.

Besides women, IBM finds potential in differently-abled individuals. "A recent interaction with visually-impaired youth helped us understand that they could use some IBM products better than others. These youngsters were also qualified to be hired by us," says Anita. The Bharti Group has identified areas such as their call centres where differently-abled people can work.

Crossover programmes

It is common to find people staring at foreigners. Are we tuned to their sensitivities? In a global work environment, it is becoming common to find people from different ethnicities work on one project. For IT companies, handling cultural diversity is of primary importance.

"The dichotomy faced by most IT companies is that 96-97 per cent of our revenues are from overseas while 96-97 per cent of our work force is Indian," says T. Hari, Director and Senior Vice-President, Global Human Resources, Satyam Computer Services.

Satyam is taking measures to recruit foreigners. Their "crossover programme" involves foreigners doing internships and training in their Indian office. "Last year, we had about 120 interns and over 10 per cent of them decided to stay back and work in India," says Hari.

Infosys Technologies Ltd helps set up a culturally conducive environment for Non-Indian recruits from the US. "We have customised training programmes, an on-campus supermarket stocking country-specific food and if necessary, we also hire a chef to cook specific food," says Bikramjit Maitra, Vice-President and Head, Human Resources, Infosys. These activities are not to be mistaken for social consciousness or charity, say the companies. Addressing diversity adds business value, they stress.

"Understanding multiple cultures helps us gain customer confidence. Employing people from his (the customer's) nationality helps him relate to us better. This makes us more confident of securing business and adapting to international standards," says Hari.

Anita Guha of IBM says people with different core constituencies serve as a test bed prior to launch of products in the market. "We take their help for in-house market research on the product," she says.

archana@thehindu.co.in

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