A number of organisations are taking cognizance of the importance of having gender diversity at the work place, said Ashish Arora, Founder and Managing Director of HR Anexi.
“Even small and mid-sized companies which were traditionally family-run have come to accept the importance of gender diversity and are working towards it. A bit of government support and ensuring safety at the workplace can go a long way in attracting and retaining female talent,” Arora said.
A number of IT companies, for instance, offer flexible working hours and the facility of working from home in case of medical emergency including pregnancy, said Keyuri Singh, Vice-President, HR, Blue Star Infotech. “It is not right that women do not want to work extra hours or shoulder responsibility. However, there is a need to acknowledge that women need to be accommodated to some extent,” she said.
The process has already begun. “I have been working for 30 years and I have certainly seen a change. Men are now getting more supportive towards a woman’s career,” she said.
Companies should also extend tangible support to women to help her support her career and family in equal stead. Vodafone India, for instance, has revamped its employee referral program to differentially reward woman talent referrals. It has also reached out to its hiring partners for help on diversity hiring, said Ashok Ramachandran, Director, human resource. “We have put in place maternity transitioning mechanisms, flexible working post maternity, ensuring that our female staff reaches home safe to ensure gender diversity at work,” he added.
Vodafone currently has over 17 per cent women in its workforce vis-à-vis only about 13 per cent women at the start of this financial year. Women managers at a relatively senior level constitute nearly 15 per cent as compared with just about 12 per cent at the beginning of this fiscal, he said.
This apart, the company has also doubled its hiring rate of female staff on a year-on-year basis from approximately 11 per cent to over 35 per cent of hires being women year to date.
Educational instituteson their part, are taking measures to bring in gender diversity in education. “Now most B-schools are giving some benefit points to women by laying emphasis on psychometric testing and creative problem solving. This will also go a long way in churning out more job-ready women candidates,” Uday Salunkhe of WeSchool said.