Gyanendra Kumar Kashyap
While the representation of women on boards and executive
committees are low, a survey suggests that a key agenda for India Inc., in 2013
would be to invest in women talent...
According to a new study from Booz and Co., “Empowering the
Third Billion: Women and the World of Work in 2012,” nearly one billion women
are poised to enter the global economy in the coming decade. However, the
question remains as to whether theirs will be a story of economic empowerment
or missed potential. Consultancy firm McKinsey & Company, in its report
titled, “Women Matter” states that companies in Asia's leading economies have
"strikingly" few women in senior jobs, missing out on a vital pool of
talent to fuel the region's growth. In a similar vein Centre for Talent
Innovation’s, CTI, research on women
professionals in emerging markets finds that women encounter bias in the
workplace, severe enough that large numbers (55 percent in India, 48 percent in
China and 40 percent in Brazil) disengage or consider dropping out altogether.
While Booz & Co study suggests concrete steps that governments and
employers can take to tilt the scales toward success, CTI argues that the
problem can be addressed by employers by recognizing that there are
high-potential women and must create procedures and programs that will enable
talented women to reach their maximum potential. Given the talent deficit
across industries, the proposition makes all the more sense to retain talented
women workforce.
Statistically India fares poorly when compared to China or
even Indonesia when it comes to representation of women talent on executive
committees and boards. As per the McKinsey Report, in India women’s
representation on boards and executive committees are 5% and 3% respectively
(lower than that of China which has the representation at 8% and 9%). Taking a
cue from these studies and the “double burden” pressure (career and household
duties) that McKinsey cited as dominant reason for women in India to leave
jobs; companies are offering unusual perks and incentives and creating unique
programmes to contain dropouts. Media reports state that companies are putting
an extra effort into increasing the number of women in their workforce,
including paying higher fees to third party recruiters for finding appropriate
women candidates. Apparently it seems that India Inc. is keen to keen to move
beyond policies and frameworks to actually doing things to increase the share
of women representation and train them for leadership roles.
Interestingly, one of the key agenda for India Inc., in 2013
would be to invest in women talent. A survey conducted Avtar Career Creators
and Flexi Careers India, across 130 companies in India that operate in multiple
domains, state that some 79 percent of the companies polled believe that
investing in women would bring them sustainable growth and increased
productivity. According to the survey respondents more than 75 percent of their
diversity & inclusion (D&I) investments for 2013 would go into
inducting, developing, training and retraining women talent. In terms of budgetary allocation IT, BPO, KPO
and FMCG companies have higher budgets for gender diversity compared to other
industries. Besides, an increasing pressure to retain talent and greater
consciousness about the need for diversity at workplaces has also added to the
momentum. Further according to the Avatar study as much as 83 percent of
respondents in the survey said they were keen on hiring second career women -
those who took career breaks for marriage or childbearing. It is in this
context that it would be interesting to know as to how are companies going the
extra mile to retain talent by showering ‘would be mother’ employees with extra
perks.
According to reports available in the media, there are
companies that have adopted unique talent retention strategies. For instance,
Accenture runs a unique programme called 'Hours That Help' where employees can
donate their unused vacation time to their colleagues who are in need of
additional paid leave to attend to critical medical or personal matters. Often,
this option is used by new parents to attend to any critical or urgent
childbirth related matters. Besides, Accenture also offers security escorts and
dedicated medical cabs for expecting mothers. Google India, besides offering an
insurance cover towards delivery related problems and the general insurance
scheme that is extended to the family, also offers a baby bonding benefit to
young mothers soon after the child is delivered. As a unique practice, in case
of adoption, Google bears the entire adoption expenses against bills that
include the legal charges and fee charged by the agency. SAP India, which has
its, ‘Run the Mummier’ programme, believes that there is a clear evidence that
maternity and childcare benefits translate into higher retention, helping firms
also to develop strong women leadership benches. IBM has a programme in place
to train in-home caregivers or nannies on the nitty-gritty of childcare while
Yahoo runs volunteer-driven Women in Tech (WiT) group that supports women
across the talent pipeline and enables them to successfully enter and remain in
the IT workforce.
Given the practices / procedures, intent and investment in
place the logical question in a world obsessed with measurability would be - do
such measures help curtail dropout? Though a sweeping statement would be much
of a generalization, but yes there are companies that state they have had
positive results. SAP India’s experience with their programme over the years is
a testimony to that fact.
My Congrats
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