DISSERTATION REPORT

On

“Diversity and Gender Inclusivity”

Submitted by

MONICA AHLUWALIA

A0102308297

MBA (HR) CLASS 0F 2010

Under the Guidance of

PRACHI AGARWAL

Faculty, Dept of HR

In Partial Fulfilment of Award of Master’s Degree

In Business Administration

To

AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

AMITY UNIVERSITY, UTTAR PRADESH

SECTOR 125, NOIDA - 201303,

UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA

1

AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH

AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

DECLARATION

I, MONICA AHLUWALIA student of Masters of Business Administration from Amity Business School, Amity University Uttar Pradesh hereby declare that I have completed Dissertation on “DIVERSITY AND GENDER INCLUSIVITY” as part of the course requirement.

I further declare that the information presented in this project is true and original to the best of my knowledge.

Date: Name: MONICA AHLUWALIA

Place: Enroll. No: A0102308297

Program: MBA (HR)

2

AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH

AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

CERTIFICATE

This to certify that Monica Ahluwalia (Bearing enrolment no. A0102308297) a student of Master Of

Business Administration (MBA- HR) , class of 2010, Amity Business School, Amity University has

done the Dissertation under my guidance for the project Title “Diversity and Gender inclusivity”

Assessment measure ”. This project report is prepared in partial fulfilment of Master of Business

Administration (MBA-HR) to be awarded by Amity Business School, Amity University, and Uttar

Pradesh.

Date Prachi Agarwal

Place Faculty

Amity Business School

Amity University

3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Project Title “DIVERSITY AND GENDER INCLUSIVITY” has been conducted by me as my dissertation. I have completed this project, based on the primary research, under the guidance of Prachi Agarwal, Faculty, Amity Business School, and Noida.

First and foremost I express my deep sense of gratitude to Prachi Agarwal for his helping nature and

her enthusiasm has been a source of constant inspiration. Her unhitching support during my work is

very admirable. She is the true driving force behind this work throughout constantly encouraging me to

do my best and inspiring me to aim high.

I am also very thankful to all the faculty members, the whole college staff for providing me with

necessary facilities and support, essential for bringing out this work.

Last but not the least, I am thankful to all respondents who gave me their precious time and support to

fulfill this task without their cooperation the study would not have seen the light of the day and

complete.

Date Monica Ahluwalia

EnrolmentNo.A0102308297

4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SNO. CONTENTS PAGE NO.

1. Executive summary 6

2. Introduction 7-15

3. Diversity and women inclusive environment 15-49

4. Research Methodology 50-52

5. Analysis 53-68

6. Conclusion 69

7. Findings 70

8. Suggestions 71

9. Limitations 72

10. Bibliography 73

11. Annexure 74

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of the study was to study the practises and policies followed by organisation to ensure

diversity and gender inclusive environment.

The study examines different aspects of inclusive environment like which were taken were:

Organizations Network, Part time job option, Flexible work schedules, Medical coverage ,Equal

employment opportunity, Work from home ,Training sessions, Tie up with crèches, Flexibility to

transfer/relocation, Fair appraisal, Accommodation facilities, Pick and drop facility and Recreation

activitiesThe research done is descriptive study involving survey and enquiry. The objectives are

specified with sufficient precision to ensure that data collected is relevant.

The tools used for the data collection in the present study are questionnaires interviews. The sampling

design used is random sampling. Randomly selected a probability sample of 50 companies. Interacted

with the employees in different companies to get a feedback on different parameters mentioned in the

questionnaire as to know the inclusive environment level. The analysis was carried on a software SPSS

and stated inclusive environment level of different parameters.

It was found that employees were satisfied with certain parameters like culture, training, opportunities, teamwork, reward and recognition, delegation and commitment.

There were certain parameters which needed improvement like communication, working conditions, leadership and career development

The overall level of inclusive environment in the companies was identified by few common best practises which prevailed in all the organisations which showed that there were policies and practises in the organisations aimed on upliftment of women but still measures should to be taken to improve it further. Certain suggestions and recommendations are given to improve the position of women and also to motivate them.

6

INTRODUCTION

Women in the IT Industry

In the Indian IT industry, women now account for close to 30 per cent of the total workforce and this is

expected to go up to 45 per cent by 2010. According to a survey in select IT companies conducted in

October 2007, women represent 13.4% of total managerial workforce.

More and more educated young women are joining the industry IT industry not only because it does

not require any specific skills that are gender dependent but also due to its progressive and flexible HR

policies. The increase in the overall percentage of women graduates also has contributed significantly

to this trend.

Apart from bringing a spirit of joie de vivre to the workplace, women are interactive, cooperative,

emotionally connected, have a strong sense of intuition, establish relationships and nurture a team spirit.

At TCS, women are a valued part of its lakh plus workforce for precisely these reasons. About 28% of

TCS’ current workforce (and close to 18% of its managerial workforce) comprises women. Says V.

Rajanna, General Manager & Head, AP Region, TCS, “We have observed that women bring some

special attributes to the workplace in addition to competence which they imbibe from their social

conditioning. They are dedicated, stable, patient and innovative.”

Policies for Women

Companies social conditioning. They are dedicated, stable, patient and innovative.” agree unanimously

that they need to provide an atmosphere conducive to the special needs of women associates, if they are

to retain this pool of talent. Says Dr. Sharmila Mande, Head of the Life Sciences R&D Division at

TCS, “The biggest challenge for most women in this field is to strike a balance between home and

career. It is also imperative for women to have a support system to be able to rise to the top levels.”

How has TCS contributed to this support structure? TCS offers its women associates the option of long

leave for medical reasons, as an extension of maternity leave and for other family commitments. The

Human Resource policies at TCS are governed by the Tata Code of Conduct and promote diversity and

equity in the workplace. TCS also has in place an Ethics Management System to handle ethical

violation such as sexual harassment at work and other issues that women associates may face.

Initiatives by Women at TCS

7

The First Lady of TCS, Mrs. Mala Ramadorai has made a huge impact at TCS by forming Maitree, an

initiative that helps associates connect with others and with themselves in a world that is becoming

impersonal.

Mala, who holds a Masters degree in Hindustani Classical Music and also a Bachelors degree in

Education, has spearheaded several initiatives for women. She keeps the women associates at TCS as

well as women spouses of TCS male associates abreast of lifestyle related developments and issues

which they can deal with proactively.

Koshish, which is an extension of Maitree in Hyderabad, brings about a difference in the lives of the

underprivileged in the city. The women associates of Koshish play a pivotal role in reaching out to

sections of society that need emotional and financial support.

This progressive mindset a t TCS has spawned several bright women managers, who have successfully

managed challenging assignments in the organisation.

Diversity in companies is no longer about being melting pots, but being salad bowls," according to

Grady Searcy. And he should know for he is Vice-President, Human Resources, Global Workforce

Engagement at EDS. "We want people to retain their identity yet be integrated into the company," he

said while speaking at the Nasscom HR Summit on `The War for Talent' held recently in Chennai. In a

session on managing cross-cultural teams, speakers emphasized that managing a diverse workforce is

no longer a choice, but an imperative.

The Indian workplace is no different from global MNCs. Infosys announced an intake of 300 graduates

from universities in the US in 2006 and about 25 from universities in the UK in 2007 as part of its

commitment to create a diversified workforce. The new employees will develop their engineering skills

at Infosys Development Centers across India for six months before returning to Infosys offices in the

US. TCS has announced plans to hire about 4,000 people from across the world.

Diverse workforce

"Currently, 7.5 per cent of our workforce consists of non-Indians," said S. Padmanabhan, Executive

Vice-President and Head, Global Human Resources, TCS. Tracing the journey of diversity in India,

Padmanabhan said that the whole exercise started in early 2000 when customers started setting up

operations in China. "They wanted a known company to service their software needs there. And so, we

had to set up operations there. Customers were expanding globally and we had to align our growth with

8

them." For instance, now clients want to set up operations in Hungary because both would be in the

same time zone. "And so now we have operations in Hungary and are recruiting people there," he

added.

Another reason why companies opted to work out of multiple locations and therefore have a diverse

workforce was the 9/11 disaster. "We wondered if we should risk all our assets in one place. There was

a need to de-risk ourselves from such disasters." Obviously, diversity is no longer a simplistic exercise

with companies boasting exciting hiring ratios comprising women, men, ethnics, age groups

differently-able employees and so on. "It is much more complex than this and is four-dimensional,"

explained Searcy.

Diversity and Gender Inclusivity

Diversity refers to any perceived difference among people: age, race, religion, functional specially,

professional, sexual orientation, geographic origin, and lifestyle, tenure with the organization or

position and any other perceived difference. Diversity is more than equal employment and affirmative

action.

Diversity management is ensuring that factors are in place to provide for and encourage the continued

development of a diverse workforce by melding these actual and perceived differences among workers

to achieve maximum productivity. Diversity management involves creating a supportive culture where

all employees can be effective. In creating this culture it is important that top management strongly

support workplace diversity as a company goal and include diversity initiatives in their companies'

business strategies. It has grown out of the need for organization to recognize the changing workforce

and other social pressures that often result. Diversity is more than being politically correct; it is about

fostering a culture that values individuals and their wide array of needs and contributions.

Why Diversity Management?

Employees of organizations are becoming increasingly heterogeneous. With the passing of days,

diversity is going to be an important issue for the HR manager for the following reasons:

* A large number of women are joining the work-force.

9

* Work-force mobility is increasing.

* Young workers in the work-force are increasing.

* Ethnic minorities' proportion constantly in the total work-force is increasing.

* International careers and expatriates are becoming common.

* Necessity of international experience is felt for career progression to many top-level managerial

positions.

Benefits of Diversity Management

More specially, diversity when built into organization at different levels, offers the following benefits:

* Easy entrance to a changing market situation.

* Large scale business transformation.

* High quality customer service.

* To give power to work-force.

* Total quality

* Alliances with suppliers and customers.

* Uninterrupted learning process.

Guidelines for Diversity Management

10

The following are some important guidelines to manage diversity effectively:

* to consider female employee needs, such as child care and job sharing, to prevent their turnover.

* Commitment from top management towards value diversity is a pre-requisite.

* To arrange mentoring programme by senior managers to identify promising women and minority

employees and play an important role in nurturing their career progress.

* To arrange diversity training programme

* Uninterrupted learning process.

* There should be an apprenticeship programme to trained promising prospective employees properly

before they are actually hired on a permanent basis.

* Employer should set up a support group to provide a nurturing climate for employees who would

otherwise feel isolated or alienated.

* To conduct diversity audit to review the effectiveness of an organization's diversity management

programmes.

* There should be a proper communication which includes speeches by senior executives, inclusion of

diversity in corporate vision statements, the publication of diversity brochure and inclusion of diversity

as a topic in new employee orientation.

* Managers need to be sensitive to the needs of working parents.

Diversity encourages creative collaboration.

People from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, and sub-cultures bring a variety of strengths and

perspectives. These varied perspectives can very often open the doors to creativity in ways that more

homogenous groups do not experience.

11

A more diverse staff more closely represents the real world and real markets.

A diverse staff inherently brings a variety of life experiences, values, and worldviews to your

workplace. Face it, the world has changed. Most businesses aren't solely targeting small local markets

where everyone tends to share similar values and/or beliefs. Our economy and our businesses have

gone global. Global markets require global strategies, and a diverse workforce is more capable of

conceptualizing A diverse staff can increase the overall effectiveness of your business.

A diverse staff can very often create an environment where new ideas can be tested for their

effectiveness even before they hit the market. For instance, a diverse team can determine if a product or

message that speaks to the dominant culture will carry the same impact with minority groups or with

women.

This can be done before large amounts of time and money are spent on the concept. More importantly,

a diverse workforce has the potential to help determine whether a particular marketing campaign might

be construed as offensive by any particular group. We don't all see things the same way . . . it pays to

seek input from people with different points of view and perspectives.

The bottom line - diversity in the workplace is good business.

Many people still shy away from the issue of diversity because they perceive it as simply being

"politically correct." But, the fact is that a good businessperson cannot afford to ignore diversity. Given

the plurality of both domestic and global markets, businesses cannot afford to ignore entire segments of

their consumer base. By employing a natural mix of men, women, and so-called minorities, a business

is more likely to develop and market products that will sell in today's pluralistic environment.

Flexi-firm

Dealing with diversity has also brought flexibility to the work environment. The company allows

employees to work part-time or from home under special circumstances. It even offers adoption leave

to parents, irrespective of gender. If a woman chooses to temporarily discontinue work owing to family

commitments and rejoin later, continuity of service is considered. Employees can also go on

sabbaticals. TCS Maitree, a unique community for TCS employees and their families, is another

initiative that helps them achieve a healthy work-life balance by providing a support system for those

working outside their countries, as well as facilitating non-work-related interactions.12

TCS encourages people from different cultures to work together in project teams, and understand each

other better. It also encourages non-Indians to work in India, so that they can better understand Indian

ways of working. It conducts cultural awareness programme, including an annual event called the

Global Village, to facilitate greater sensitivity to other cultures.

A key task for the future is cultural integration, “With an increasingly global presence, it will be crucial

for us to assimilate and integrate a diverse and distributed workforce by enhancing capacity in other

geographies, and through strong and relevant training programme, diversity in projects, improved

communication and interaction, and strong but localized systems.”

TCS’s strength is its unique combination of platform and people, assisted by collaborative tools, which

translate into processes that are consistent and effective anywhere on earth.

Scope of Diversity and Inclusion

When discussing diversity and inclusion several questions tend to naturally arise: To whom does

diversity and inclusion apply? What must this program include? When will the organization know it is

diverse and inclusive?

Diversity and inclusion involves and applies to all members of an organization; permeating its culture,

policies, and programs. While diversity and inclusion encompasses both the Affirmative Action and

Equal Employment Opportunity programs, these represent legal minimums against which

discrimination is judged; not a benchmark for diversity and inclusion excellence.

Diversity and Inclusion: Diversity and inclusion exists when members of an organization act in a

manner that recognizes and respects individual similarities and differences such that employees feel

them and their work are valued and meaningfully contribute to the mission of the organization.

Affirmative Action: Policies that seek to redress past discriminatory practices that denied fair

consideration of members of minority groups seeking access to employment and educational

opportunities.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Employment practices ensuring non-discrimination based on race,

color, age, gender, national origin, religion, or mental or physical disability; thereby ensuring all

individuals have equal opportunity access.

To reach beyond legal minimums and truly maximize the potential of all employees, diverse and

13

inclusive organizations embody a culture of valuing individuals through:

personal behaviours that respect and value individual differences

Training programs that build awareness and skills to effectively respond to the differences

between individuals

mentoring programs that encourage personal growth and development, thereby, ensuring all

qualified employees, regardless of background, are well prepared for positions of increased

responsibility

decision-making that is open to the opinions, insights, and thoughts of organization members

based on the merit of the contribution and not a stereotype based on the individual’s position or

demographic representation

rewards and recognition programs, including performance appraisal, compensation,

advancement, and developmental and leadership position opportunities, that treats individuals

equitably based on their performance and organizational value contributions

Recruiting that focuses on acquiring the best talent rather than a homogeneous workforce (Note

that seeking the best talent from today’s increasingly diverse talent pool will yield a diverse

candidate slate and ultimately a diverse workforce.)

affinity programs that both celebrate and leverage the uniqueness of individuals in a way that

brings value to the organization

Beyond its own walls, a diverse and inclusive organization will promote their values through activities

such as:

seeking suppliers and vendors that embrace diversity and inclusion

participating in external diversity and inclusion conventions and workshops

Thus, while encompassing the Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity programs,

diversity and inclusion is far deeper and richer; representing a broader array of programs and more

importantly a mindset, a way of being and behaving, that is embraced by all members of the

organization, who in turn understand that being diverse and inclusive is an ever evolving journey, one

without an end.

“Diversity is an organizational approach to practicing” Inclusiveness” while recognizing and

valuing differences. It is both an ethical and business Essential”

14

Ritu Anand, Vice President and Deputy Head of Global HR, TCS, say: “The knowledge industry is

characterised by a very young and dynamic workforce. The new breed of IT professionals aspires for a

work environment that is holistic, balanced and complete. A flexible work environment and work-life

balance are key drivers of employee satisfaction.”

Anand goes on to say that at TCS, they strive to make work a joyful experience and encourage work-

life balance through “Maitree”, a unique platform for all employee engagement activities. Different

clubs like Theatre Club, Bibliophile Club, Adventure and Trekking Club, Fitness Club, Sanctuary Club,

Music Club and Community Services Club, among others facilitate fun at work. These clubs organise

various activities like yoga, dance lessons, music competitions, trekking expeditions, sports activities,

regular visits to NGOs, among other activities for TCS employees.

“We also extend employee engagement to families of our employees. For example, on Family Day,

employees can bring their families to TCS and take them around the workplace. Similarly, we organise

fun activities like painting lessons, games, movies, etc for children of TCS employees. This creates a

bond not just between the employee and the organisation but also with the family and drives retention.

“TCS offers a flexible work environment where employees are given the option to work part-time or

work from home under special circumstances. We offer adoption leave to the parent irrespective of the

gender. If some of our female associates choose to discontinue work for a temporary period of time due

to family commitments and rejoin the organisation at a later stage, continuity of service is considered.

Employees also have the option to go for sabbaticals,” she adds.

Biswabijoy Sen, Associate Consultant with TCS, says that the “Maitree” has greatly helped him to

balance work and life. Sen, the lead singer of TCS band “Kollage”, recalls that the six-member band

had been given a place for practise after the office hours, and all the equipment was bought by the

company. “We also released an album, ‘June’, which was greatly appreciated by TCSers. What was

really encouraging is that our CEO took a personal interest in the making of the album,” he says.

Many organisations, especially in the IT industry, have introduced several work-life balance policies.

For instance, the employees can now choose flexible working hours and number of days for work or

opt for a part-time assignment. They can even avail a job-sharing arrangement to divide the workload

or work from home by way of telecommuting.

15

LITERATURE REVIEW

WOMEN INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT

The story of the fairer sex in this country is one of duality. There is still much poverty, unemployment,

illiteracy, and discrimination when it comes to women, but there is a certain segment of them that is

making a mark in the corporate world, in the media, in literature and for many who are unaware they

are making a huge impact in the IT sector. Globalization has provided opportunities for the educated,

middle class woman to build her own dreams and excel in fields, which were earlier perceived as

complete male domains. Though they are not the majority, Indian women professionals are definitely

on the rise and are paving the way for future generations.

Indian women are becoming increasingly visible and successful in the professional and public sphere.

Whether it is Barkha Dutt, who has become a idol for several journalists, Arundhati Roy, a Booker

Prize Winner and a social activist, or Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who became the wealthiest Indian

woman after the initial public offering of her company, Biocon, they have all heralded the arrival of

Indian women professionals.

However, approximately one third of employees at Indian software companies today are women. In

fact, NASSCOM puts the figure at 38%, which is a higher figure than their western counterparts. Some

of the reasons for this attraction to the IT sector include India's education system.

Still the numbers of women at the top are few mainly because of the parallel profession of the home

where several women are often not willing to take on more or compromise on their careers. Indian

multi nationals still have to design women friendly schemes that account for working mothers and

institutional support such as the availability of quality childcare. However, the emergence of India’s

service sector – travel, tourism, hospitality, media, and entertainment as well as business process

outsourcing and IT is witnessing an increased role for female employees at the entry and middle levels.

They will hopefully pave the way for future female professionals.

Surprise? Not really, as experts say that a bare three per cent women occupy senior positions in private

companies across India. And most of the companies only have five to six per cent women employees.

What is more, a national daily quoted Pallavi Jha, former chairperson of the Confederation of Indian

16

Industry (CII) (Maharashtra Region) as saying; "A study on women graduates of the Indian Institute

of Management, Ahmedabad, showed that more than 70 per cent do not pursue a career."

The corporate world has been, and is one, where men can escape away from home and family. Men

made the rules, and when women come into this world, they were not sure how to conduct themselves.

In the Indian context, men learn to see women as mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. The idea of

women as colleagues and as equals is very new and quite intimidating.

Women too, coming into the corporate world, are awed by its norms. Their socialisation has been about

home and family. Study and work outside the home are all short-term activities, in preparation for the

homemaker role. Small surprise, then, that women are not prepared for the workplace, do not last long

and only a few get to the top.

In the last decade, women in other parts of the industrialised world have experienced what is popularly

known as the 'glass ceiling' phenomenon, which means women find that they can only rise to a certain

level in corporations and no further. Is this a conspiracy? Are men keeping women away from the top?

Yes and no. Yes, as men do not seem to realise that women are -- and can be -- as capable as men. Men

have trouble accepting that women do not function like them because they are raised differently --

gender versus sex-- and this can be their strength and an asset to the corporation. And no, because

women too have been socialised to believe that their world is in the home and family. The male values

they encounter in the workplace are often alien to them. But what they see as behaviour unlike theirs

can also be a source of strength for them and a learning opportunity.

Men are not keeping women away from corporate houses because they don't like them. Men are more

comfortable dealing with men, just as women are more comfortable dealing with women. While in the

personal sphere there is nothing wrong with wanting to be around people we are comfortable with, in

the public sphere of corporations and policy making, it is essential that women and men work side by

side.

Indian corporations are no different from others when they say that women taking maternity leave will

mean a setback for their operations. But large corporations have the least room to complain. Large

staffs’ means they can plan for women staff to be away on maternity leave - as pregnancy is not a

short-term project - and move responsibilities around. Moreover, having a childcare centre at the

workplace means that women can come to work and have the baby at close quarters without having to

worry about it at home or about breast-feeding.

17

Truly twenty-first century corporations will be those that recognise and act on the fact that the world, as

we know it, does come in two sexes. Both men and women bring valuable and different experiences,

skills and expertise to the workplace. By creating an environment that is less hospitable to women, men

deprive themselves of a challenge to work with women. Women in turn are cheated out of the

opportunity to use their education and training to make a contribution to society.

Most of the women who are now in senior and middle management levels are married with a child but

few took a break when they had a child, rejoining work after the maternity leave. Although the paid

maternity leave given by the organisations was in accordance with the stipulated 84 days, as per the

Maternity Benefits Act, there don't seem to be formal policies in place in these organisations. Most

women would appreciate not only the inclusion of crèches facilities and flexible timings, but would

also like to see extensions of the maternity leave, arrangements for transportation pre/ post childbirth

and provision of health and medical facilities and allowances. Some demand rest as well as nursing

rooms within the office premises. Only about half the companies claim to have formal policies in place

to deal with sexual harassment within the organisation. But for the majority there are no policies in

place to protect women from harassment from a client or a vendor.

The women workforce in the IT-BPO sector has increased to 60 percent in the last two years, as per a

study conducted on gender inclusivity in India by NASSCOM, in collaboration with HR consulting

firm Mercer. The numbers have doubled, since last year and it is reported that only 20 percent women

constitute the IT workforce. This seems to be a positive sign, since gender inclusivity has always been

an issue in India. The survey covered over 45 technology companies in India. The gender inclusivity

initiatives taken by various IT companies have helped in getting the women workforce.

However, some feel that these privileges don't come easily. Dr Sudha Selvarajan, General Manager at

MindTree says, "I think a lot more is due for us. People expect us to fight it out to get privileges and

not because we deserve it. There is certainly an increase in the women workforce at our organization,

but this isn't a huge increase. While earlier around 20 percent of them were women, now it must have

gone up to 27 percent." She feels that it will take a lot more time for women to get the recognition they

deserve. The individual, the organization, the society and the country wholly needs to make a

coordinated effort in order to ensure greater empowerment of women.

Start-up companies have their own problems when it comes to employing women. Sadhna Sanjeev,

Director- Finance & HR of Medsphere Technologies, a start-up company, says, "Smaller

organizations don't have enough facilities to provide proper inclusivity for women. In our organization

18

only 20 to 30 percent workers are women." However she is positive, that the situation will get better

with time and effort. Although there has been a 60 percent increase in women workforce in the IT and

BPO sector, (the maximum being in BPO's) the question is, how many of these women make it to the

senior management level or break the glass ceiling?

• In India, a total of 59 per cent of business professionals (both men and women) are feeling secure in

the current economic environment; of this, 56 per cent are men and 61 per cent are women.

• Despite the downturn, 89 per cent of respondents in India - vs. 79 per cent of global respondents are

confident in their ability to deal with difficult or challenging situations.

• 74 per cent are comfortable asking for help at work if they need it. The per cent of women asking for

help is invariably higher than men across countries.

• In India, as high as 81 per cent are taking on additional responsibilities and complexity in order to

advance their careers.

• In India, 66 per cent women regularly ask their superiors for new challenges

• 72 per cent are willing to travel globally in order to conduct business and build relationships. And 58

per cent women consider relocating to another country if required to advance their career.

HSBC Bank interventions are targeted at disadvantaged sections of society at different life stages – we

support children to learn, youth to acquire skills for gainful employment and women to become

economically independent. The aim is for these people to become drivers of social change. They devise

financial literacy programme to help rural women from marginalized communities gain entrepreneurial

skills. HSBC Microfinance function offers loans to disadvantaged women through microfinance

institutions .HSBC work with disadvantaged young people to provide vocational training and life skills

so that they are able to help themselves lead an economically productive life.

PepsiCo in India, however, has a long way to go to catch up with Indian companies like ICICI Bank,

Infosys and Cognizant Technologies, who have over 30% of women on their rolls. Many have robust

processes in place. Infosys flaunts an ‘equal opportunity team’ responsible for diversity initiatives. The

ITC-Welcome Group hotel chain has published a disability primer for Indian industry, based on its

experiences. At Bharti Airtel, all things being equal between a male and female candidate, the

company now opts for the latter. Companies that have embarked on vibrant inclusion programme now realize that it

brings about tangible benefits. When PepsiCo stationed women on the inspection stand at its Aurangabad

19

plant in Maharashtra, the rate of defects dropped by 50%.

There are efforts to move beyond stereotypes and find better ways to integrate the disabled into the

socio-economic fabric. Take the case of S. Radha, 25, who was forced to take up English Literature

even though her interest lay in medicine. Her visual impairment was the hurdle. She blames the Tamil

Nadu government for failing to provide enough support to visually impaired students. “Who wants

special seats in buses and other concessions,” she asks adding, “We should be given enough support at

the academic level to pursue our interests in the long run.” At TCS, she is part of the Infrastructural

Development Management team. Her job is to coordinate with different teams for software

requirement, as also scheduling conferences and other meets at the company premises. A JAW (Job

Access with Speech) is the software that facilitates her to do all this.

“We are not challenged. All we want is an alternative source to do jobs that normal people conduct in a

normal way,” says Kumar. He faced several rejections, despite having good qualifications, before he

finally landed up in TCS. If rejections made Kumar under-confident, they made Vikas Munot, 25, more

determined to strive for excellence. Munot, who is also with TCS, used to carry a demo version of the

JAWS software in his pen-drive every time he, attended a job interview. “No one is interested in seeing

the demonstration of the software,” he laments. Corporate, he says; look at the software as an added

cost to the company. Mind Tree consul ting’s “Baby’s Day Out” programme, Antakshri programme,

Departmental Day Outs, Annual Spring party, Sabbatical for social services, Cadbury day, Dhoom

mach ale etc. are some example followed in different organization to control the attrition.

ACCENTURE: Incentives include cash for referring women.

IBM: Breaks to meet family commitments.

INFOSYS: Flexi work hours, satellite office for pregnant women and young mothers.

20

SAPIENT: Spouse referral programme, work form home.

MICROSOFT: Flexi work hours, child centric events.

HP: Self defense classes, mentoring programme and flexible work hours.

PEROT SYSTEM: Work from home, long leave, short work leaves.

LEVI STRAUSS & CO: is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of blue jeans and other apparel.

Established in 1952 and based in San Francisco, California, the Levi Strauss Foundation is a private

Foundation organized by Levi Strauss & Co. that provides grants to community-based organizations in

Countries where Levi Strauss & Co. does business. In 2008, the Levi Strauss Foundation paired with

Business for Social Responsibility to expand the HER project peer health education training to 6

Factories throughout Egypt. The HER project connects businesses with health educators who train

Employees in reproductive health, maternal health nutrition, disease prevention, and in how to access

Health services. In addition to supporting the HER project, Levi Strauss has also sponsored an

intensive Return-on-investment study in the hope of demonstrating that health awareness promotion

can have Substantial economic benefits to an employer. These educational efforts will help women

protect themselves against disease and thus empowers them to promote their basic human rights.

When Kiran Mazumdar Shaw became India's wealthiest woman last week following the initial public

offer of her biotechnology company Biocon, it marked yet another milestone in the growing

emergence of female role models in India's corporate world.

The unshackling of the Indian economy, the increased role of the private service sector and the

increasing number of multinationals springing up over the past few years is breeding a slow, albeit

definite rise in the number of women managers and entrepreneurs who are beginning to take charge.

This is a long way ahead of the results of several surveys taken in the 1990s that did not reveal more

than a handful (less than two digits) of powerful Indian women in the corporate sector.

The first tales of Indian women leading the pack did not come out of India, but took place among

information technology (IT) professionals in Silicon Valley during the technology boom in the mid and

late 1990s. The names are legion - Jayashree Ullal (Cisco), Srinija Srinivasan (Yahoo), Radha Basu

21

(Hewlett Packard), Lata Krishnan (Smart Modular) and Vani Kola (Rightswork). Srinija is one of

the first Indian billionaires; while Krishnan was the highest-paid female executive in Silicon Valley in

1998 Mazumdar Company’s value crosses $1.1 billion, with her stake at 19.6 billion rupees ($449

million). Others, too, have been making a mark in areas hitherto considered fiefs of men.

Vidya Manohar Chhabria, chairperson of the $2 billion Jumbo Group, and Naina Lal Kidwai, vice

chairperson and managing director of HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, are the two women

from India to figure in the list of the top 50 most powerful women in international business by Fortune

magazine. The International Power 50 is composed of women who have an operating role in profit

businesses outside the United States.

Kidwai is the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School (1982). She joined HSBC

in August 2002 and made her name at Morgan Stanley in New Delhi, which she joined in 1994 after a

stint at ANZ Grindlay's Bank. Chhabria heads the Jumbo Group, which is an international industrial

and trading conglomerate comprising 28 companies and 20,000 employees in over 25 countries with

stock options and a salary worth more than US$3.9 million.

Others are also taking on the mantle of running family businesses. At the Delhi-based publishing house

MBD group, proprietor Ashok Malhotra's two daughters - Monica and Sonica - have taken over the

reins and are diversifying their father's business. Meghan Modi, Umesh Modi's daughter, handles the

family's Revlon cosmetics business. Prakash Chauhan's Parle Agro venture that produces the popular

mango drink Frooti is now managed by daughters Schauna, Alisha and Nadia. Chennai-based Apollo

Hospitals, reputed for their specialized health care, is run by promoter Prathap Reddy's daughters

Suneeta, Preetha, Sangeeta and Shobana. Adi Godrej's consumer products are run by daughters Nisa

and Tina.

Still, the number of women at the very top of the corporate ladder - women on the board of directors of

top Indian companies - is a small list: Anu Aga (Thermax), Ranjana Kumar (Indian Bank), Ravina

Raj Kohli (Star News), Lalita Gupte (ICICI Bank), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon), Renu Karnad

(HDFC), Naina Lal Kidwai (HSBC), Shahnaz Husain (Shahnaz Group) and Ekta Kapoor (Balji

Telefilms) are a few.

22

One of the main reasons for the absence of women right at the top is that there aren't enough qualified

women to take on the responsibilities. "Also, women have a parallel profession - their house and

children - and are often not willing to take on more or have to compromise on their careers," says Renu

Karnad, chairperson of HDFC, also on the board of several other companies. Indian multinationals are

yet to evolve friendly schemes that account for the added pressures of working mothers. Institutional

support such as the availability of quality childcare is absent.

Companies are not only pulling all strings to provide a support system for their female employees, they

are also pulling these strings in new directions. Almost all companies in the IT/BPO segment already

have unique and all encompassing programs and sessions for gender sensitization.

More often than not, women employees don’t realize that there is help available and, moreover, that

they need help. Especially where things like harassment and offence are concerned. Of late there has

been a trend of role shifting among women in an organization. More women are holding technical and

strategic positions in organizations, and many are even leading the operations. An area where a policy

is viewed more favorably is the work-from-home mechanism Experts feel that it is a critical area and

shall have a great impact on the way the industry functions.

In a country like India, where cultural and familial support is not available to most women, there

remains an urgent need for companies to provide an atmosphere that is conducive for working women

& mothers.

Few women make it to the board of directors globally with only five to 15 per cent of the

directors on the company boards being women.

India is no exception to the trend with only five per cent of directors on boards of 1500 Indian

companies surveyed being women. Besides, only 26 per cent of these companies have women

director(s).

Pamela Parizek, Partner, Forensic Advisory Services of KPMG speaking at a meeting on 'Women in

Corporate Governance' organised jointly by the Forum for Women in Leadership and KPMG said in the

US in 2008 only 15 per cent of directors on the board of Fortune 500 companies were women.

23

According to a presentation made by her, the percentage of women directors in Norway is very high at

44.2 per cent out of six leading companies surveyed there. In Sweden also, of the 16 companies

surveyed, the women board members accounted for 26.9 per cent.

However, in other developed countries, the picture was dismal with Canada reporting only 13 per cent

women directors, Netherlands (12.3 per cent), UK (11.7 per cent) Australia (8.3 per cent) and Germany

(7.8percent).

The Glass Ceiling

Society might be changing but the corporate environment is more rigid to change. The corporate model

is male-oriented. Well, they were the ones who were assigned to build the model, so they obviously

made it the way that suited them and topped it with a glass ceiling. So we see its not their fault really,

but we have to try and understand how that model operates, so we can go about changing it to bring it

more in line with the way society is changing.

The first thing that needs to change is the expectation that women will be available 24x7. Everyone has

to understand that their women colleagues need more time at home (studies show that a woman needs

at least double the time than her male colleague, at home). Just the fact that she delivers on time, and

delivers well should be enough.

The second is that the current corporate structure does not allow women any provision for a break in

their careers. It is understood that a woman would need maternity leave, might be able to contribute

less (in some types of work say if she’s required to travel long distances or go on the site) while she’s

pregnant. That break has to be built into the system. Some flexibility provided. Of course, on the flip

side, a woman might be excluded from important business trips because she’s pregnant or has a small

child. Hey! Please let that be her call.

Refusing a transfer can be seen as as big a handicap. Of course the loss incurred from losing an

employee should offset the other adjustments that the company might have to make.

Then there is the difference in the level of responsibilities that the women are allowed to handle, and

the size of the paycheck. This is an allegation that a lot of HR heads will refuse to accept but we are not

talking exceptions here, we are talking the norm. And the norm unfortunately is that women are paid

24

lesser, maybe because they are not always entrusted with more responsibilities. Mentoring comes out as

the most important need. Continuous mentoring through pregnancy, pre-post childbirth, job roles and

responsibilities, and leadership ensures that the women stay and grow with the company through the

critical period. Once that’s done they are in all probability going to stay on. Happy employees are a key

yardstick on which a company’s performance is measured.

Sensitizing Workshops for both men and women breaks stereotypes and preconceptions concerning

women’s abilities and suitability for careers and the unique challenges that women face. Women have

to also understand that they don’t have to leave their jobs and tend to family. That there are better ways

to a work-life balance.

Networking Forums offer opportunity for women to network among their peers and senior management

to ensure visibility within the organization. Also, women need to discuss gender specific issues at work

and home, seek guidance to improve their life skills. These forums allow women to interact with and

support one another.

Woman-friendly Work Place is a gender inclusive work place. Women look for support during

maternity and seek alternate roles for work-life balance. There should be counseling for nurturing,

sustaining and leading the female workforce at all levels. Identifying and solving need gaps in the

professional and personal lives of female employees. Addressing issues such as day care, mentoring,

security and wellness. There should be policies on discrimination and harassment, and clear structure of

reporting these issues. There should be continuous employee feedback on key issues and spontaneous

action to address the employee issues.

Flexi-working Options whether its flexible work schedule, part time or work from home options ensure

productivity by letting the women work at their own pace. An option for lateral growth or switching job

roles also offers women to get the same job satisfaction while balancing work-life. Has the same result.

An alternate job role most times will mean higher satisfaction for the women while she gets a chance to

balance work-life better.

Leadership Training should be ongoing and specific for specific bands. There has to be structured

identification and tracking of hi-potential women to rotate them across planned job assignments to

ensure that women are equipped with broad experience that lends the credibility necessary for senior

positions.

25

Measurable Diversity Initiatives is another clear must have. Experts say that no initiative can be

sustainable if the efforts are not measured. And it is not just about accountability, the team (or teams in

case of larger companies) also has to record progress of the initiatives and take those reports and

learning’s to employees to boost motivation.

The Indian IT-BPO industry, a knowledge-based sector, has always attempted to include a larger

number of women in its workforce. Companies in the sector have remained fairly gender neutral,

creating flexibility in their policies to accommodate the special needs of women professionals.

Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM believes that – “Indian companies no longer view gender

inclusivity as a Corporate Social Responsibility activity, but as a business imperative. That’s because in

2007-08, the IT industry had 28 per cent women in its workforce compared to 24 per cent in 2005-06.

At the entry level, in 2005-06, 38 per cent were women compared to 47 per cent in 2007-08. Two years

ago, only four companies had formal defined policies for gender diversity and this year, the number has

risen to 80. Additionally, a survey of 50 companies has revealed that women account for 11 per cent of

the leadership roles in senior management.

The Indian IT-BPO industry, in fact, has become synonymous with some truly pioneering work related

to women employees, and the sector, more than other industries in India, has been launching initiatives

designed to promote the interests of women in their workplace. Commenting on the existing scenario,

Joel Perlman, President & Co-founder, Copal Partners says, “there is a growing acceptance within

companies that gender inclusivity leads to more diverse, open and innovative organisations”.

Tracy Ann Curtis, Chief inclusion and diversity officer, APAC, Cisco Systems agrees, adding that

having an inclusive and diverse culture is imperative for any global company, as it leads to employee

engagement, fosters innovation and brings in a wealth of ideas, innovation and energy into the

organisation.

Yet other organisations such as Aricent believe that gender inclusivity is crucial to attracting and

retaining the right talent, which further contributes to a healthy work environment within the enterprise.

Recognising women power

The focus on women by the IT-BPO industry is in part an acknowledgment of their growing role in

India’s economy. Analysts state that there is a direct correlation between the employment of women

and the economic well being of a nation.

IT-BPO companies have also been quick to realise that women possess qualities that make them

26

particularly suited for jobs within the industry. “Women bring with them their unique and commanding

brand of leadership. They bring distinct personality and motivational strengths to leadership roles. They

seamlessly bring on board qualities like empathy and emotional intelligence in their decision-making

process. Women learn to manage conflict as an intrinsic skill,” states Sucharita Palepu of Satyam.

Gearing up to be gender neutral

No wonder then that Satyam has introduced a range of policies that cater to the specific requirements of

women and enable them to take on leadership roles. Extended maternity leave (including adoption

leave), paternity leave, escorted drop for women after extended hours at work, a transit policy (for

women travelling alone ) and showcasing “Role Models” to encourage younger women to aspire for

leadership positions are some of the steps that the organisation has taken over the past few years to

remain diverse and gender inclusive.

Recognising the growing influence of women power, IT-BPO organisations have been gearing up to

catalyse their growth and provide them with rewarding careers.

An important goal for Aricent, therefore, is to remain flexible and supportive when it comes to meeting

the needs of employees, including both men and women. The company has focussed its energies on

providing an ethical and safe workplace with a non-discriminatory work culture. This ensures that the

company attracts and retains the right talent among women as well. The open work culture and

initiatives such as the “Flexible working hours” allows women employees to balance their work life.

Aricent has a formal ethical code of conduct to prevent and address any kind of harassment related

issues as well. Women in senior positions also serve as positive role models for other employees.

Embracing Best Practices in HR to serve the needs of women employees

The IT-BPO industry has taken a lead in adopting Best Practices in the areas of HR to attract women

employees and emerge as a preferred career destination for these professionals. Companies, especially

the large players, have undertaken the following to encourage gender diversity within their realms

including the following:

Fostered a “culture of inclusion” as a business imperative and recognised gender inclusivity as a

key factor in organisational agility, innovation and success.

Remained open to accepting the different capabilities that women bring into the workplace and

created a nurturing environment for them to take leadership roles.

27

Set up special cells, and introduced policies and processes that spur women participation,

especially at the higher levels of decision-making.

Made the security and dignity of female employees a priority. ITES-BPO companies which

have non-conventional working hours, have been frontrunners in introducing stringent policies

to ensure the security of women workers.

Take the instance of Intelenet Global Services Pvt. Ltd., which believes it is crucial to have an inclusive

workforce and has designed several company policies centred on the specific requirements of women

employees.

Intelenet is an Equal Opportunity Employer and has always believed in and supported equal

opportunity for all professionals at the workplace. We believe that mentoring is the best way to

motivate and encourage women to reach their full potential and help them through the challenges of

balancing a demanding career and a family. I have personally mentored several women in senior.

According to Rekha Menon, Executive Vice President, India Geographic Services & Human Capital &

Diversity, Accenture, the commitment to building, maintaining and expanding an inclusive culture is

central to Accenture ongoing success. For Accenture, gender diversity begins at the recruitment stage

itself. “Accenture has a focussed recruitment campaign designed to attract women employees. The

campaign includes a metrics-based recruitment process, a referral programme, a strong connection with

colleges dedicated to providing women education, a tailored advertising campaign and weekend

recruitment events,” informs Menon.

At the same time, the company has evolved several policies which have enabled it to emerge as a

gender inclusive enterprise, such as the Global flexible work arrangement; the Maternity Returners

Programme, which helps ease the transition for new parents back into the workforce by providing

career guidance and support for finding ideal re-entry roles; Child Care centres; Vaahini, a formal

community of all women employees where they can share experiences and create opportunities to learn

and grow, a women networking portal and Gender Sensitisation training for supervisors and

counsellors to help them understand and appreciate diversity and engage and manage employees

successfully.

For Copal Partners, gender diversity is about being intolerant to sexual harassment or gender

discrimination, having an egalitarian compensation policy, ensuring that the recognition and growth are

based on merit, providing security to female employees and promoting gender-fair language within the

company.

28

At Cisco, women are being provided flexibility at various stages of their careers. While maternity leave

and leave of absence are available, the company also allows employees to make a gradual transition

instead of being in a binary “at work” or “off work” situation. Referred to as “on-ramp” and “off-

ramp,” women employees who are “on-ramp” can focus aggressively on their careers while opting to

“off-ramp” when required by reducing workloads.

At the same time, Cisco has crafted employee-friendly policies like flexi-time, working from home, etc.

for all employees, which are supported by high technologies capabilities such as network connectivity,

laptops, VoIP, among others, available from home. The company has created a level playing field

where all employees, irrespective of gender share the same facilities.

Building women leaders

Nurturing women leaders is yet another area of focus for IT-BPO companies. In order to prepare its

women employees to take on key roles within the company, Accenture has in place a 14-month India

leadership development programme for high potential, senior women managers and a “Developing

high performing women programme” to enable women managers to develop relevant skills as part of

their career journey. Career counselling and mentoring for women executives is another effort targeted

at taking women employees to the top.

“At Copal Partners we encourage women employees, who form 35 per cent of our workforce, to have a

greater sense of the extraordinary challenges of leadership. We invite them to think creatively about

how they can chart out a growth path for themselves within the organisation,” Perlman says.

At Cisco, building women leaders is about offering these employees numerous training and

development opportunities. The vibrant Women’s Action Network (WAN) – a volunteer employee

network within the company – empowers all levels of women to develop influencing and leadership

skills that support their career growth. At the same time, Women’s Leadership Development

programmes are also being run for women across APAC and at a corporate level, and employees are

being regularly exposed to women role models, to understand some of the leadership challenges that

they may have faced. Mentoring, mentoring circles and coaching are the other key pillars of Cisco’s

gender inclusivity drive and have enabled the company to improve the percentage of women on its rolls

year-after-year.

The next steps

29

While already a significant amount of work is being done to by IT-BPO companies to encourage

women employees on their rosters, more can be done. There are still a large number of areas where

women-friendly policies and facilities simply do not exist, a fact that can greatly deter women from

entering or staying on in the IT-BPO industry. At the same time, not enough women employees have

reached the top rungs of the corporate ladder and there are even fewer in the boardroom.

A study by Accenture, launched on International Women’s Day this year, that examines the future, the

challenges and opportunities for working women around the globe, has thrown up interesting insights.

The Report, “One Step Ahead of 2011—A New Horizon for Working Women,” which is based on a

survey of more than 4,000 male and female business professionals in 17 countries across Europe, Asia,

North America and South America, has indicated the following:

Just 43 per cent of women professionals surveyed currently feel well-equipped to compete in

the global business economy of the future.

Women in several key emerging markets – particularly India, China and Brazil – appear to be

better equipped than their female counterparts in many developed markets.

Women cited gender, the need to devote energy to children/family, and an unwillingness to

relocate as the factors that most limited their careers, (cited by just 23 per cent, 22 per cent and

18 per cent of female respondents, respectively).

More than 8 in 10 women (83 per cent) said they were willing to learn and use new

technologies, such as blogs or social networks, as a means of achieving future success.

Outlining organisational policies and processes

Based on the above inputs and the overall market indicators, IT-BPO companies must further refine

their policies and processes to strongly influence the participation of women in key projects.

Looking ahead, companies must identify formal and informal procedures that can be restructured to

encourage participation of women in organisational activities. Companies have to understand the

requirements of women to make the work environment even more friendly and conducive and draw

and retain rightly skilled women talent. Providing women employees with continuous learning,

mentoring, coaching and counselling, offering them opportunities for self development and

encouraging them to take on higher responsibilities and onsite projects are some of the initiatives that

IT-BPO companies need to roll out today to incentives women workers and make the industry, as a

whole, an attractive and preferred career destination.30

India's booming IT and IT-enabled services industry is a favourite destination of job-seeking women,

whose employment in the industry is set to rise dramatically to 45 percent in 2010 from the current 30

percent, says an industry survey.

A survey by National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the representative

organisation of the Indian software firms, says this is due to the inclusive human resource policies of

Indian IT firms, which recruit, train, retain and promote women employees as a strategic business plan.

"Even as the industry braces up to achieve this healthy gender ratio, the job trend indicates more and

more educated young women, including housewives, are joining the industry due to its progressive and

flexible HR policies," he added.

"For empowering the women workforce and creating conducive environment to grow equally at their

workplace, we have commissioned Indian Institute of Management at Ahmadabad (IIM-A) to conduct

a fresh study on the status of women employees in the IT industry and avenues for their growth in the

value chain," Karnik told around 300 women delegates participating in the Nasscom-IT Women

Leadership Summit 2007.

The study, expected to be completed in the next five-six weeks, will focus on additional measures to be

taken by the industry to empower women employees and create opportunities to absorb more of them

increasingly.” It is a survey of what the IT industry does and can do more in terms of attitudes,

perception and best practices for an inclusive growth. Women are a key and vital part of a progressive

industry, which promotes gender diversity and empowerment," Karnik pointed out.

The study will also quiz women employees across the industry to ascertain their assessment of the

existing HR policies, work conditions and workload, how sensitive their male counterparts were

towards them, and scope for professional advancement in their respective organisations.

"The study is being conducted on various parameters to assess the growth prospects of women

workforce in the industry across various segments. For instance, the penetration of women at the

management level is still inadequate. Even at top levels, women representation is disproportionate to

their numbers in service," Karnik noted.

As the nature of their occupation, which includes looking after domestic chores, is different and

burdensome, the study will explore prospects of employing women with flexi-timing so that they could

31

divide their work between office and home.

A CEO panel discussion on "crossing the gender barrier" at the summit was of the view that employing

women and empowering them should not be seen as a mere fulfilment of corporate social responsibility

by the industry, but a duty and obligation towards women for achieving social equity and proportionate

wealth creation.

"Since the IT industry does not require any specific skills that are gender dependent, women are

intrinsically suited to work in various segments of the industry, as they are equally good

communicators. Secondly, women are more adept in acquiring the required skills faster for

multitasking and working in collaboration with men in team spirit," the panel opined.

Besides Britannia Industries Ltd managing director Vinita Bali, the CEO panel included Aviva Global

Services CEO Teresa Copping; Mphasis chairman Jerry Rao and Texas Instruments India managing

director Bobby Mitra.

Percentage of Women Employees at Various Job functions:

Percentage of women in HR functions has dipped from 33% to 27%Increase of women employees in Finance

and Technical from 8% to 12% and 30% to 33% respectively.

32

Percentage of Women Employees by Career Level:

Increase in Director Level from 5% to 8%

Manager level from 12% to 14%

We focus on talent programme specifically designed to attract women, such as “women only”

recruitment drives, and payment of higher referral bonuses for referring diversity candidates – IBM

Daksh

As part of its corporate wellness programme, Ajuba provides a general physician for all employees, as

well as a gynecologist for female employees. A special lounge has been created in each of Ajuba’s

three facilities, providing pregnant or unwell female employees a space to rest and relax– Ajuba

ADP established a diversity forum called Vividha, which means “variety” in Sanskrit. This forum

fosters an organizational culture that caters to a workforce comprising different education levels, skills,

experience, languages and perspectives. As part of Vividha, the company established a 12-member

Women’s Forum (including three men), which focuses on addressing inclusivity issues-ADP

(Source: NASSCOM-Mercer Gender Inclusivity report 2009)

Long Road Ahead: Although a favorable trend has taken off, a lot still remains to be done. In a

country like India, where cultural and familial support is not available to most women, there remains an

33

urgent need for companies to provide an atmosphere that is conducive and supportive for working

women and mothers.

The initiative is certainly there, but a sustained effort and implementation is still lacking. Gender

diversity often takes a backseat because organizations are struggling to survive in a highly competitive

market. Although the traditional needs of women like maternity leaves are covered in all gender

programs, addressing reactive needs and a support infrastructure for women is yet to take off. So both

the industry and government need to extract those policies from paper and translate them into actions.

It will take a collective and intra-industry effort to make every working woman smile and say, “It’s not

a bad thing to be a woman, not at all!”

When Indian women are determined to make a mark, there’s no stopping them. They have their eyes firmly posted on the goal ahead and are sweating it out using every ounce of their mental stamina to boldly go where few women have ventured before. In a bid to get closer to the glass ceiling (before they devise a plot to shatter it), they are gradually fighting their way to the upper echelons of power in the hitherto male-dominated IT industry. Currently the numbers at the top are a miniscule minority. Yet they reek of ambition, reflecting the dreams of their several counterparts who plan to get there

Someday soon. So while it would be too premature to celebrate yet, a NASSCOM Survey points out that women comprise 25 percent of the 2 lakh strong employee strength of Indian IT majors such as Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Satyam.NASSCOM pits the current male versus female ratio at 76:24 and predicts that it will change to 65:33 by next year. (Hi-Tech Women Nayare Ali, the Asian Age)

Technology companies are going out of their way to retain the fair sex even as they devise new ways to address women employees’ concerns about home and hearth. As initiatives like work from home and long sabbaticals become more the rule rather than exception, IT companies are sensitizing themselves to help women employees achieve work-life balance. Infosys has a Women’s Inclusivity Network which is a team formed to address needs specific to women and promote an inclusive workplace. A well-documented and well-publicized anti-sexual harassment policy that includes an independent grievance redresses body and procedure is also in place.

Technology aids are helping female employees better navigate their career-home lives. Many companies encourage tele-commuting and video-conferencing that allows employees to attend meetings without having to travel. Satyam is working towards offering women an additional opportunity by exposing women leaders to decision making issues. (IT co’s help women catch up with life: ECONOMIC TIMES)

In the Indian IT industry, women now account for close to 30 per cent of the total workforce and this is expected to go up to 45 per cent by 2010. What is noteworthy is the steady rise of the figures. The figure, according to the Registrar General of India, as in 1981 was 19.7 per cent, which rose to 22.7 per

34

cent in 1991, further rising to 25.7 per cent in 2001. Recent figures gauged by Nasscom claim that the percentage of women workers in the IT and ITES sectors in India has risen by almost 18 per cent in the last two years. What's more, as per experts, the number of women technicians is likely to rise to 50 per cent by 2010. What's more, an increase in the percentage of women in senior positions improves the performance of women down the hierarchy. According to a study published by the Administrative Science Quarterly, the ability of professional women to form productive relationships with women co-workers depends on the proportion of women in senior positions rather than the total number of women in the organization.

Now, looking at the overall picture of the industry, one sees that the Indian IT sector is still in the growing stage, and as the need for talent grows across all levels, woman-power, if leveraged, can bring significant benefits to all stakeholders. According to Gartner, the emergence of women in varied roles in IT is among the 10 converging factors that will change the workforce by 2010. (Women on Top! HINDU TIME)

A recent study of 353 Fortune 500 companies by Catalyst showed that companies with the most female officers posted a 35.1 percent higher return on equity and a 34 percent higher total return to shareholders than companies who didn’t. The change in profits has also meant a rise in responsibilities. Today women hold 14.7 percent of all board seats in Fortune 500 companies. And it’s not just big corporations that women are making their mark. According to a study by the Centre for Women’s Business Research, 13 percent of women-owned firms are active in the global marketplace. This figure is expected to jump to 29 percent. Closer home, IT companies are putting up policies and practices that enable gender empowerment. A survey by Nasscom on women IT professionals revealed that earlier the ratio of men to women in this sector was 76:24. This figure is now likely to change to 65:35 by end of this year, and by 2010 women will account for almost 50 percent of the total IT workforce in India. According to Kiran Karnik, president, Nasscom, ‘‘It has been seen that women are more loyal to a company and don’t shift jobs as frequently as men. Keeping this in mind, organizations are making conscious efforts by creating women-oriented policies and going all out to retain them.’’ (It’s a Woman’s World SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA APARNA MAHALINGAM)

The glass ceiling appears to be shattering—at least in the information-technology sector. Among companies facing an acute talent crunch, recruiting and retaining women through special programmers, flexible schedules or family-friendly policies has become more than a good human resource practice. For example, IBM India. Ltd, the fourth largest employer in the Indian IT industry, sends recruitment teams to suburban residential complexes for a woman-only hiring programmed that seeks to bring experienced women back into the workforce. Services firm Infosys Technologies Ltd, which set up a Women’s Inclusivity Network in 2003, offers connectivity at home and part- time working options to retain women at work.

35

Vaahini, a networking forum at Accenture India Pvt. Ltd, offers mentoring and counselling options for women employees across all levels of the company. By 2010, women will make up half of the workforce in these sectors, up from a fourth of the total employee base currently, according to a survey by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).( Women are IT)

The security of women in the BPOs is a worrying factor. They are not only a huge percentage in BPOs but are also working in odd hours and often in the middle of the night hours. In February this year, the Supreme Court had said that the head of a company is responsible for the safety of his workers.

From handing out pepper spray to cross checking where the drivers are hired from, BPO companies are going all out to make sure that their employees are safe as they make their way to work and back every day. We would be dealing on four counts: security during commute, transport and service vendor selection, employee communication and security within the premises," said Ganesh Natarajan, vice chairman, Nasscom.

While some companies have decided to hand out pepper spray, others are taking police help to impart self-defence training to its women employees. We have approached the police to help us in imparting self defence training programs to our female workforce. (BPOs gear for safety of women employees)

The mixed responses of the country to the Supreme Court judgement on reservation in educational institutions is just one more example of the deep schisms that exist in the country’s thinking on the whole issue of inclusiveness. While it is inevitable that some doubts should surface about the ability of educational institutions to raise capacity fast enough to accommodate the new flock of students without compromising the availability of education to the rest of the aspiring carer builders, wiser heads have obviously ruled that it is necessary to take steps to “promote and preserve the essence of equality so that disadvantaged groups can be brought to the forefront of civil life.”

The NASSCOM agenda for the current year seeks to address two other segments of society that deserve to get a boost as the industry and indeed the country pulls out all the stops in an attempt to continue the high growth story despite the gloom of an economic slowdown in the West. The first focus is on women, who now constitute more than a fair share in the IT and BPO sector at the entry level but who seem to fall off the career ladder at some point with the resultant single digit percentage representation at the senior management and leadership echelons. Many companies and now the association itself are focusing on a Women in Leadership initiative that identifies and anticipates all the mid career road blocks at home and work that women encounter in our country. The real metric of success would be to have attrition of women comparable to that of men through their career and it will take a lot of initiatives and proactive workplace policies to ensure that.

36

Another area where much has been spoken and written but not enough action seen on the ground is the ability to reach out to and include the underserved sections of the population with training and job opportunities that enable them to participate in the success of the IT and BPO industry. The NASSCOM foundation through its Knowledge Network program has enabled the power of Information and Communications Technology to touch the lives of tens of thousands of people in a dozen states but a full fledged movement is required to provide technical and soft skills and job opportunities at multiple locations around the country and spread the prosperity not just on demographic but only on a geographic dispersion basis. The creaking infrastructure in urban locations and the absence of capacity in the educational institutions around the country can only be addressed by reaching out to “Bharat” as a real alternative to the few urban Indian cities where the knowledge industry today proliferates.

In a year where the slowdown is likely to affect the aggressive growth plans of many firms, a concerted inclusiveness movement will prepare the foundation for the next wave of growth which is not far away as the India story continues to be watched by the world!

(Putting Inclusiveness to work Dr Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of NASSCOM and Global CEO of Zensar Technologies)

Dorothy Parker once said: “Compared to men, women have to work twice as hard to be thought half as good.” Breaking the invisible glass ceiling has always been difficult, especially for women aspiring for leadership roles. Women in the boss’ chair are no longer a rarity. But in almost all fields, women’s representation is thin in leadership roles compared to men.

Some critical impediments, especially socio-cultural and psychological perspectives such as sex-role stereotyping, few female role models and societal attitudes towards women have become hurdles to their career progression. Lack of acceptance and “it’s a man’s world” attitude are some of the other factors. These barriers and the measures to be adopted by corporate India for empowering women were discussed at Cisco’s women action network (WAN) India, which launched ‘Connected Women Leadership Forum’.

Dr Ganesh Natarajan, CEO, Zensar Technologies and chairman, Nasscom, said there was a perceptible glass ceiling which limited the advancement of women to top managerial roles. This constraint is based on some form of discrimination, most commonly gender. “Currently, women constitute about 23 percent of the IT employees in India. Of this, only 3 percent of women are in top management positions.” “Though women have a natural flair for leadership, in professional lives they face the glass ceiling.” This ceiling can be broken by building networks, building one’s reputation in a company and being aware of one’s rights.

Many Indian IT companies have taken steps to have more women employees on their roles but not many make it to managerial roles. Some of the reasons cited for this is lack of experienced women executives to occupy top positions and myths like women find work-life balance difficult, they switch

37

jobs often, etc. Companies are becoming more sensitive to family needs. They have been considerate to women raising children, offering many of them flexible working hours and are even offering childcare facilities. One of the best practices in a few companies is the ‘paternity leave’ being provided to help women employees. (VERY Few Women Reach the Top Rung of ITS Ladder)

Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank India and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Chairman, Biocon India are the only Indians in Forbes annual list of the 100 most powerful women. Nooyi is listed as the third most powerful woman in the world, while Sonia Gandhi Kochhar and Shaw are ranked 13, 20 and 91 respectively. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed is the only other South Asian in the list and is ranked 78. Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who was ranked 59th in last year's list, did not figure in the latest list put up on Forbes.com.

Regarding Gandhi, Forbes said, she is "still the country's dominant force since she reluctantly entered politics in the 1990s." The landslide victory in the recent general election further strengthened her position as the leader of "India's most powerful political party" – Indian National Congress

.

Kochhar was named as the first woman boss of India's second largest lender ICICI Bank and took charge in May this year. "She now oversees a bank with assets of USD 100 billion," Forbes said. She was instrumental in transforming the retail business of ICICI Bank and turning it into a retail banking powerhouse.

Besides, Anglo American Chief Cynthia Carroll, Temasek CEO Ho Ching, Kraft Foods Chief Irene Rosenfeld, DuPont head Ellen Kullman, WellPoint CEO Angela Braly, Areva Chief Anne Lauvergeon and Sunoco head Lynn Elsenhans are among the top 10 powerful women.

First Among Equals: ICICI Bank’s Woman Power

Corporations that practice the policy of equal opportunity where women managers are able to rise up the corporate ladder, even across the world, are not widespread. In some of the global corporations like Pepsi and Hewlett Packard, women managers have been able to reach the top rung. In India, today even though a large number of business family groups and professional organisation have women managers at the top, ICICI Bank stands out as a unique organisation that has created an entire cadre of women at the top through a culture of equal opportunity.

A culture, woven unconsciously into the mindset of the institution over the years which have been that of clearly providing opportunities to its employees on the basis of merit and performance.Consider: Against a mere 4 per cent representation in senior positions in Fortune 500 companies, the women managers of ICICI occupy about 40 per cent of the corner offices in positions above the assistant general managers.

38

Three out of a total of seven executive directors at the ICICI board are women, is also a case in point. How has ICICI created this unique organization? Says MD & CEO K V Kamath, “The significant number of women in our top-end senior management is essentially because we run a meritocracy at ICICI Bank. Women have risen because they have proven themselves.”

At ICICI, the word gender is more often that not sneered at or at best laughed away. “An employee is judged, rewarded, penalised purely on the basis of merit and his/her ability to perform. A job is assigned to the person who can deliver the best and gender is never even a consideration,” says executive director, Chanda Kochhar. This is largely because the pressure on organisation to deliver is so strong, that it cannot ignore performance. “It depends on the individual, depends on how dedicated you are. If one expects to be treated differently because of gender, it is never entertained, says joint managing director Lalitha Gupte.” We firmly believe in the Darwinian theory of the survival of the fittest,” adds executive director, Kalpana Morparia. A person is evaluated on the basis of what he or she is bringing to the table.

What has also perhaps led to an increasing number of women in key positions at ICICI is that it is an entrepreneurial organisation, where individuals are encouraged to think and implement strategies independently. This perhaps allows meritocracy... to prevail....

Here are some more insightful facts on the Indian gender scenario:

The Human development report of the UNDP ranks India 98 in its Gender related Development Index.

Also, according to UNDP, the ratio of average earned income in India (female to male) is 0.38, which is less than any of the BRIC countries.

With adult literacy rates of 47.8 percent and the youth literacy rates of 68 percent, Indian women trail behind their counterparts in Brazil, Mexico, China and Russia.

The World Economic Forum report ranks India at No. 102, in “educational attainment.” Currently, over 85 percent of the total girl children attend primary school, less than 60 percent

enrol in the secondary level and less than 12 percent in the tertiary level. This reducing enrolment percentage definitely has an impact on the number of graduating

women professionals. Less than 40 percent of the total graduates are women. According to a UN study, time-use surveys in six states in India reveal that women typically

spend 35 hours per week on household tasks and caring for children, the sick and elderly, against 4 hours per week for men.

 Encouraging signsAccording to the Registrar General of India, the proportion of women in the workforce in 1981 was 19.7 percent and it rose to 22.7 percent in 1991, further rising to 25.7 percent in 2001. Currently, in the Indian IT industry, women account for close to 30 percent of the total workforce and this is expected to increase to 45 percent by 2010. There is definitely a mind shift among the average middle class Indian parents in educating their daughters.

 The Indian IT industry is still in the growth stage, and in this rapidly growing industry, as talent becomes scarce across all levels in the organization—women power if leveraged, can bring significant

39

benefits to all stakeholders. According to Gartner, the emergence of women in varied roles in IT is among the 10 converging factors that will change the workforce by 2010.

 What organizations should do?Organizations have to enable the women to have their work life balance by providing the appropriate support systems. Organizations should create a gender inclusive working environment by removing barriers.

 An inclusive environment doesn’t mean appraising corporate performance by counting women employees and women in senior roles. It is an environment where management and the employees are aware of and responsive to gender differences. It is a non discriminatory environment in which women have the opportunity to develop, participate, and contribute fairly and equitably.

 Meanwhile, here’s what IT-BPO companies can do:

 

Organizations should formulate comprehensive maternity policies as well as build support systems to stay connected with the organization during the period of maternity. They should allow women to return to work when they are ready, when adequate child-care arrangements are in place and permit women to have flexible schedules that will help them remain productive.

They should create a clear productivity measurement model, amenable for women to work from outside office. The women friendly policies have to be deployed in a fair and transparent way. Organizations must ensure that the systems neither result in misuse nor create discrimination. It is also important that women understand situations that require their presence at office, for example, a team meeting that needs to be a face-to-face one.

Companies must invest in technology infrastructure so that women can work from home or from satellite offices when needed, operate on flexible work schedules especially during the pre- and post-natal periods. To ensure the long term sustainability of these policies, organizations should develop a quantitative model to demonstrate to the senior management the additional value that is brought in by such flexibilities.

It is estimated that companies can generate a return of around eight percent by adopting family friendly policies. For example, AMP, a leading Australian wealth-management corporation, estimated that making its workplace more family-friendly, achieved as much as a 400 percent return on investment. This was mainly through increasing staff return after maternity leave.

 

India needs to invest more time and resources in educating women, as well as socialize the fact that “economically independent women are boon to the society”. In her recent study, Roopa Purushottaman, an economist, notes that the participation of women in the workforce is currently 35 percent less than the potential. Increasing this participation can impact the national GDP positively by US$ 35 billion in the next five years.

 

Business benefits of inclusiveness

40

An increase in the percentage of women in senior positions improves the performance of women down the hierarchy. According to a study published by the Administrative Science Quarterly, ability of the professional women to form productive relationships with women co-workers depends on the proportion of women in senior positions rather than on the total number of women in the organization.

 A survey on Fortune 500 companies, by Catalyst, indicates that those companies that have women in senior roles yield 34 percent higher ROE than their competitors. Research results from SHRM (Society for Human Resources Managers) indicate that diverse and inclusive organizations show characteristics of improved problem solving, creativity and innovation. Attracting quality workforceCompanies that take efforts to develop and retain competent women will neither face talent scarcity at higher levels in the future, nor will they find it difficult to attract fresh talent. Smart graduating women will find the firms that have few women in the senior management, less attractive than the firms that have demonstrated how they value women.

At a national level, India needs to understand that women form one-half of the human resources of the country, but only a fraction of their capacity has been tapped. The solution is not in implementing some “feel good” policies; it calls for a fundamental change in the outlook, supported by powerful thoughts and actions that could result in measurable benefits.( Bridging the gender divide: The Indian IT-BPO industry aims for “Inclusive” people’s policies)

 

The vision for gender inclusivity: Infosys’ vision for gender diversity is centered around its IWIN (Infosys Women’s Inclusivity Network) initiative, which aims to create a gender sensitive and inclusive work environment, help women in their career lifecycles through support groups and policies, thereby enhancing retention and develop women for managerial and leadership roles, thereby maintaining gender ratios at all levels in the organization.

The company is focused on providing an inclusive environment in which women can participate, contribute and develop freely and equitably. All women get the opportunity to undergo training to enable them perform their role well, as well participate in organization-wide initiatives.

 

Initiatives to encourage gender diversity:

Infosys has introduced certain policies (Part time and adoption leaves) and support systems to help women balance work life, and network to gain a better insight into Infosys practices.

As part of its Policy structure, the company offers a host of perks such as paid maternity leave, telecommuting, sabbaticals (for one year to take care of young children or family related priorities), performance-based career progression and satellite office (a facility offering the features of a development center for prospective and new mothers). Infosys has piloted the satellite office model in

41

Bangalore to start with, as approximately 50 percent of the working mothers are based out of this location.

The company’s support systems for women include flexible arrival/departure, alternate career paths, health programs, parenting workshops, counseling, company supported day care centers and nursing stations, networking forums and the IWINTOR, a mentoring network.

Some of the other initiatives include Peer Counseling, where the IWIN circlers (middle-senior level employees) provide counseling on various life skills like work life balance, handling peer pressures, managing conflicts at home, deciding careers within Infosys, traveling abroad and getting help in a new location, understanding harassment at work and helping with remedial procedures and personal effectiveness.

Free professional counseling is provided to women on stress, behavioral and personal problems through a professional counselor. This support is 24/7, and the cost is borne by the company.

IWIN assists women on maternity leave to stay connected with the office and counsels them on the technical and quality certifications that can be completed during the leave. 

Parenting workshops are conducted on a monthly basis across locations to assist parents on managing children. The IWIN portal also assists the counselor to reply to on line queries from parents. Day care centers are available in Indian locations to enable women to bring children to work.

IWIN arranges networking forums for working mothers, women managers and other women, to discuss work place challenges, connect and give feedback on the existing gender related support systems.  Infosys organizes an annual event “Petit Infoscion Day” for all Infoscion children. There are events related to health and stress in which extended families can participate. Infosys Australia and India run specific health, stress and security related programs exclusively for women, and the invitation is extended to spouses of employees too.

Ibm Daksh

Vision for gender inclusivity: IBM Daksh has committed itself to addressing the special needs and requirements of women employees through focused efforts. The company’s workforce diversity rests on three pillars: equal opportunity, affirmative action and work/life integration programmes.

At the same time, the company also believes it is critical to have robust diversity practices to build a successful organisation. These practices are key from the perspective of employees and potential employees (helping in hiring and retention and enabling IBM Daksh to emerge as the company of choice for aspirants and existing staff); customers (helping in increasing market share and gaining dominance in niche constituency markets) and the business itself (enabling the company to enhance its productivity and develop better solutions through the cross fertilisation of ideas).

Diversity meanwhile, is an integral part of the culture and DNA at IBM Daksh. The company believes

42

that women bring in diversity of thought, unique perspectives, strengths, and capabilities, which enable the company to ensure success for all its stakeholders. The focus of IBM Daksh’s Gender Inclusivity efforts is two fold: to deepen and widen the reach of its diversity initiatives and grow and develop the women leadership pipeline.

Initiatives to encourage diversity: IBM Daksh has unveiled a range of gender inclusivity programmes that are aimed at the following:

Focusing on attracting women talent through programmes like “Women only” recruitment drives, payment of higher referral bonuses for referring diversity candidates among others.

Building capability through special training programmes that are designed and organised for women in managerial positions to help them build confidence and “take the stage” in the corporate world.

Organising experience sharing sessions where senior women managers talk to their peers and guide them about how they can face challenges.

Growing women talent by handpicking and grooming potential women leaders for future roles through focused and structured programmes.

Setting up a Diversity Network Group, a “self-help” team comprising women employees who voluntarily come together to enable their members to become more effective in the workplace.

Ensuring the health, safety and security of women employees through a 24/7 help line for all kinds of emergencies, and empowering women staff members through self defense workshops, etc.

Enabling work life integration by allowing women employees to avail of flexible work options (individualized work schedules, part-time work options and work from home options) to meet sudden exigencies without impacting their performance and growth.

The result: The women-oriented initiatives rolled out at IBM Daksh have resulted in the creation of a holistic organisation-wide culture. Today, the senior leadership team at the company formulates its Diversity Strategy by setting up macro plans, fixing organisation-wide diversity ratio targets, setting tollgates and tracking execution through appropriate governance and ensuring adequate diversity representation in leadership, strategic forums, key projects, and regional and global award programmes.

Furthermore, the various initiatives and programmes are helping bring both the management and employees together on a single platform to foster an inclusive culture within the company. Today, diversity is part of the strategic business plan of IBM Daksh. It flows down to the business plans of every BU, function, process, sub-function, and team and forms an integral part of the Personal Business Commitments of each individual manager.

IBM Global Work/Life Fund

IBM Global Work/Life Fund programs share one common denominator: innovation. Wherever possible, it brings in IBM technological and scientific expertise to create educational programs that are both effective and fun. The sampling of the continuously growing scope of projects : Computer literacy programs and centers for children and seniors, Child care centers equipped with IBM computers,

43

Online & Consultative work life resource and referral services, After-school and holiday programs, Science and technology camps, Kindergarten access program, Cultural immersion programs, Elder care seminars

IBM created the Global Work/Life Fund to develop and support dependent care programs benefiting working families. The first of its kind to address this issue worldwide, the IBM Global Work/Life Fund : Serves communities where IBMers live and work, Supports research in dependent care topics such as family-friendly policies, Invests in national initiatives to improve the quality of dependent care, Invests in child care centers throughout the world where IBMers receive priority, $50 Million 2007-2011 worldwide, Targeted in about 30 countries in all regions of the world, Work with local providers/experts to deliver strategic and high-quality solutions.IBM will continue to use its global resources, technological expertise and creative management to set new industry standards in transforming dependent care.

Cisco ltd

The vision for gender inclusivity: Cisco’s vision is to inspire a culture of inclusion and diversity where everyone can contribute to their full potential in the pursuit of organizational objectives.

The company’s goal is to create an “inclusive network” by employing effective inclusion practices and making them an integral part of the business to change the way people live, work, and play and learn.

Initiatives to encourage gender diversity: Cisco India has unveiled several initiatives to create inclusion. As part of its awareness education for instance, it is organizing facilitator-led development workshops and discussions.

The company has in place a Rewards and Recognitions program, where Annual inclusion and diversity Best Practice awards are conferred on leaders, teams and individual contributors around the globe for leading the way. Cisco has offers Employee Resource Groups (ERG), which are considered as critical to the foundation of an inclusive organizational culture. As part of the activities of the ERG, employees participate in social interaction to celebrate and share diverse cultures and commonalities; undergo formal and informal mentoring, to cultivate career and professional growth, gain exposure to new experiences and professional skills for career advancement and volunteer to join projects that benefit the community.

The Women’s Action Network (WANs),is one of twelve ERGs that Cisco offers   globally. Through various programs, development, outreach and mentoring/coaching initiatives, women employees connect with each other to make a business impact across Cisco.

The India WAN is working with Universities in India to encourage interaction with college students for recruitment and enable them to visit Cisco.

At the same time, the Cisco India WAN has also launched Girls in Technology (GIT), a community outreach program between Cisco and engineering colleges with the intention to further educate young

44

women on careers in Information Technology (IT), engineering and computer science.  GIT has reached nearly 5000 students worldwide and over 98 in India.

One of the greatest assets of the Cisco WAN is the fact that it shares success stories across the entire Cisco universe.  The Cisco China WAN has launched a successful Super Women’s Action Network (SWAN) by linking the professional women networks of other like-minded companies such as General Electric, AT&T, Lenovo, Ford Motors and Cathay Pacific and getting them to meet once a quarter for professional workshops and social networking.

With the intention of collaborating, sharing Best Practices and connecting with other women in the industry, the Cisco India WAN hosted a discussion which drew participation from the Diversity Leaders of IBM, Infosys, HP and Dell. The result of the panel forum was Cisco’s partnering with NASSCOM to launch a more full blown diversity program across Bangalore and the Indian IT sector.

The result: Cisco’s India WAN has 162 members with 20 members in the core governance team. The India WAN is unique in that both Cisco men and women participate in its activities and events.  In the past year the Cisco India WAN has driven several community outreach initiatives including a Book collection drive, Fund raiser for underprivileged girl child, Auction to add to corpus fund for underprivileged girl child and Mentoring.

In the area of Career development and Retention it has organized the role model Series, managing finances talks, fitness and diet programs for women, and hosted panel discussions on growing in Cisco

.Awards and Recognition for gender diversity:

Cisco India has been recognized with the following accolades:In the Hewitt Best Employers in India 2007 study, Cisco India was ranked 5th and in the Hewitt Best Employers in India 2009 study, we were ranked 4th. Also, in the list that Hewitt released of ‘Asia’s Top 25 Best Employers’, Cisco India is listed among the Top 25 employers in the APAC region.

Ajuba

Vision for gender inclusivity: A core philosophy of Ajuba has been to provide a work environment that is fair and meritocratic in its approach as well as safe, secure and caring, especially for women employees. Initiatives to encourage gender diversity: Ajuba has deployed best practices to support women employees, including the building of core values centered around Meritocracy, operational Excellence, continuous Learning, Trust and Transparency (MELT). The company’s meritocratic approach ensures that there is no gender bias when it comes to promotions, opportunities to handle exciting and challenging assignments or grooming for leadership roles.

The company has set up a Forum for women called “Shakti,” which consists of a core group of women employees who are available across its three facilities and shifts to handle grievances of women

45

colleagues. Women employees are periodically surveyed in order to understand their requirements and gain feedback on existing initiatives and their impact. Ajuba leaders as well as the HR department are trained through a programme called “Perfect hire” to look for “culture fitment” in potential candidates in order to maintain a gender-sensitive environment.

Ajuba’s recruitment strategy is focused on gender inclusivity and aimed at enhancing the number of women within the workforce. Under the company’s campus placement programme called Ajuba Campus Engagement (ACE), 60 percent of colleges covered every year are either exclusive women’s institutions or co-educational set ups.

In order to ease matter for women joining work after maternity leave, Ajuba has introduced flexi-timings and telecommuting options. For women who work in the night shift, escorts are provided to ensure their safety. The company has in place an anti-sexual harassment policy and ensures serious disciplinary action against offenders. Ajuba’s intranet called Touch also has an HR tracker where grievances can be reported anonymously. As part of its corporate wellness programme called Svasth, Ajuba is providing a general physician for employees to consult as well as a gynecologist for women employees. A special lounge has been created in all of Ajuba’s three facilities for offering pregnant or unwell women employees a space to rest and relax.

Periodic workshops on self-defence, Reach out (a programme that gives women employees the opportunity to with the top managers of the company, Leadership Development Programmes (LDPs) and Management Development Programmes, all form a part of the offerings that the company has for women.

ADP

The vision for gender inclusivity: ADP believes that its diversity is one of its greatest strengths and extremely important for its ongoing success. The company, therefore, is focusing on building unique perspectives and experiences that only a rich and diverse workforce can provide. ADP's Diversity Mission is to foster an inclusive work environment; one that embraces and leverages the diverse dimensions of each associate, to support the long-term growth objectives of the company. Its commitment to inclusiveness enables each associate to have full access to resources and opportunities which capitalize on their potential to add value to its stakeholders.

Initiatives to encourage gender diversity: ADP has in place Vividha—meaning variety in Sanskrit—its diversity forum ,which is fostering an organisational culture that caters to employees of different genders and with different personalities, education levels, skills, experience, languages spoken and perspectives. A part of Vividha is a 12-member Women’s Forum—a team that also includes three male members who are active participants and bring fresh perspectives to discussions.

The company has deployed best practices to nurture an inclusive work-culture. It has taken steps to encourage women employees, introducing flexible policies related to maternity leave, childcare and leave of absence programmes for associates whose spouses work for defense services and need temporary relocation. ADP is also ensuring the safety of women associates through secure

46

transportation at late hours, cabs for differently-abled employees and pregnant women and zero tolerance on sexual harassment.

Effective on-boarding/induction programmes, time with the senior leadership and a formal/informal network, are some of the other measures that ADP has taken to enhance the comfort levels of women staff members, especially new joiners. An exclusive ladies gym, aerobic exercise sessions with a professional trainer exclusively for women and health check ups including specific gender related tests for Women, are some of the other benefits that are being provided to women staff members.

The results: The fact that ADP leaders walk the talk and lead by example in the area of gender diversity has created an organizational culture that is extremely supportive to women associates. The extended family concept and involvement, the learning, growth and development opportunities and the regular communication with women employees have helped achieve and sustain ADP’s diversity and inclusivity objectives consistently.

Awards and recognitions: ADP has bagged the “NASSCOM Corporate Award for Excellence in Gender Inclusivity” under the category of “Best Emerging Companies.” The award is recognition of ADP’s efforts to promote gender diversity as a part of the overall promotion of diversity across the company. The award is indicative of the fact that ADP has implemented policies, procedures and systems to foster inclusivity and deployed innovative programmes, which are targeted at strengthening gender inclusivity at the work place.

Infosys

Keeping the business imperatives and the gender related challenges (Mr. N R Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor-Infosys, set up IWIN (Infosys Women’s Inclusivity Network)  in 2003, to accomplish three major goals:

1. Create a gender sensitive and inclusive work environment.2. Help women in their career lifecycles through support groups and policies, thereby enhancing retention.3. Develop women for managerial and leadership roles, thereby maintaining gender ratios at all levels in the organization

Infosys being an equal opportunity employer does not have special concessions for women, but provides an inclusive environment in which women can participate, contribute and develop freely and equitably. All women get the opportunity to undergo training to enable them perform their role well; as well participate in organization wide initiatives. 

However, there are certain policies and support systems that inclusive practices to help women balance work life, and network to gain a better insight into Infosys practices.

Peer Counselling: The IWIN circlers (middle-senior level employees) provide counselling on various life skills like: work life balance, handling peer pressures, managing conflicts at home, deciding careers

47

within Infosys, travelling abroad and getting help in a new location, understanding harassment at work and helping with remedial procedures and personal effectiveness.

Professional counselling: Infosys supports women with free counselling on stress, behavioural and personal problems through a professional counsellor. This support is 24/7, and the cost is borne by the company.

Tele-working: Working from home is allowed for select roles and for all women on medical grounds. However, most women managers do not opt for this for the program for a protracted length of time since the physical presence of the manager for design, review and client meetings is usually required.

Child care sabbatical: Infosys allows women to take 1 year sabbatical for taking care of young children or any family related priorities.

Stay connected: When women go on their maternity or sabbatical, it is important for them to stay connected with technology as well their own projects, so that when they return it is easy for them to commence their work. IWIN assists these mothers with Secure-Id networks for logging into the work place and IWIN Circlers counsel them on the technical and quality certifications that can be completed during the leave.

Parenting workshops: These workshops are conducted on a monthly basis across locations to assist parents on managing children. The IWIN portal also assists the counsellor to reply to on line queries from parents.

Day care centres in Indian locations: Company aided centres are available in each location. IWIN Circlers audit the premises regularly and advice on gaps they may find.

Satellite office: Infosys has a satellite office in the city, which has all the facilities of a development centre for prospective and new mothers. This arrangement ensures data security as well the productivity measures required by customers. Infosys has piloted this model in Bangalore, India to start with, as approximately 50% of the working mothers are based out of this location.

Networking forums: IWIN arranges for forums for working mothers, women managers and other women, to discuss work place challenges, network and also give feedback to IWIN on the current gender related support systems.

Family focused events: Infosys organizes an annual event “Petit Info scion Day” for all Info scion children. There are events related to health and stress in which extended families can participate. Infosys Australia and India run specific health, stress and security related programs exclusively for women, and the invitation is extended to spouses of employees too.

Nursing Stations: These are available in all Indian locations to assist new mothers returning to work.

IWINTOR: This is a coaching / mentoring network for women. The mentees get one-one coaching to enhance their managerial and leadership skills. The mentors also share their experiences on work life balance.

48

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

To study the practises and policies followed by organisation to ensure diversity and gender

inclusive environment.

To study organizations that is working towards attracting and retaining women in the

workforce.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

A descriptive research design was followed. The target area was the employees in the various

departments in the organization but major population consist of sales executives. The research was

done to find out the demand of work life balancing and the factors that affect it.

Research Approach

For this research, the research approach was survey, by visiting the various departments in the

organization and doing survey. Survey was the best suited to fulfill the purpose of this research work,

because it helped to know whether the employee are employees are able to maintain balance between

work life and personal life.

Sample Size

The sample size for this survey consisted of 50 employees. The employees were selected at “simple

random sampling.” and the area covered was the various organizations like HDFC, ACCENTURE,

BLUE STAR, RELIANCE etc.

Research Tool

The instrument used for research was questionnaire. The respondents were evaluated using a pre-

formatted questionnaire (Questionnaire I – annexure). The project was concerned about collecting

information regarding the various factors affecting the “women inclusive environment”.

The dimensions which were taken were:

Organizations Network

Part time job option

49

Flexible work schedules

Medical coverage

Equal employment opportunity

Work from home

Training sessions

Tie up with crèches

Flexibility to transfer/relocation

Fair appraisal

Accommodation facilities

Pick and drop facility

Recreation activities

The research was conducted using a combination of Primary as well as Secondary data.

Primary Data

Questionnaire

Secondary Data

Circulars

Website

Newsletters

Newspapers

Action Plan and Data Collection: For completing my Study on “Women Inclusive environment” at

Tata Consultancy services. Study is undertaken according to following action plan:

50

Step1.Developing an approach to the problem, it involved formulation of objective, making rough

information needs, what all data was required, analyzing secondary data and discussions with staff that

helped in giving inputs as and when required.

Step2. Review of company manuals, books, and journal helped in the formation of objectives. It helped

in better defining the problem, what factors should be considered, helped in formulating research

design and also formed the basis of collecting Primary Data

Step3.Distributed the Questionnaire to the executives of different organization. I preferred to give the

questionnaire to them and collected later, so that executives can provide thoughtful responses.

Step4. After collection of questionnaire data analysis was done which is discussed in detail later.

Step5. Suggestion & recommendation are given at last.

Data Analysis

Data was analyzed by using SPSS software by finding out the correlation between various

dimensions/parameters of women inclusive environment. After finding out the correlations among

different variables and interpreting them, factor analysis was done to reduce the number of variables to

a small number of variables. Factor analysis groups variables with similar characteristics together.

PROCEDURE

Each of the above sub scale/ parameters is composed of 15 questions which is rated on a Likert scale.

Respondent were asked to rate the scale as Yes or No and in few cases if yes then please specify. Each

response was assigned a weight as mentioned above.

51

ANALYSIS

Company name

Figure 1NAME OF 50 COMPANYS

The above pie chart shows the 50 companies that gave their response to the questionnaire on Inclusive

Environment. The companies were from different sectors of the corporate world like Banking, media,

IT & consultancy, education, manufacturing, FMCG, telecom, textile, real estate, hospitality etc.

52

Q1. Part time job option with benefits for women?

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations 26% of the total population

practices the policy of part time job options with benefits for women, while 74% of organization still

lack behind in following it. The above table indicates that the mean of the variable PART TIME JOB

OPTION is 1.74. From this we can we can infer that majority of the respondent do not follow this

policy.

part time job options with benefit for women

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 13 26.0 26.0 26.0

No 37 74.0 74.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

53

Q2. Network that looks into women issues?

network that looks into issues

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid cant be specified 1 2.0 2.0 2.0

Gender Sensitization

Interventions1 2.0 2.0 4.0

Incident Report Tool 1 2.0 2.0 6.0

Many 1 2.0 2.0 8.0

Maternity act 1 2.0 2.0 10.0

No 38 76.0 76.0 86.0

of Tata Code of Conduct 1 2.0 2.0 88.0

Sexual Harassment

Committee which works on

Tata Codes

1 2.0 2.0 90.0

Smart Privilege Account 1 2.0 2.0 92.0

Special Helpline for

Women1 2.0 2.0 94.0

welfare activities 2 4.0 4.0 98.0

women upliftment,

education, self sufficient1 2.0 2.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

54

Q3. Flexible work schedules for women?

The above pie chart shows that 68% percent of total 50 respondents follow the practice of flexible work

schedules while 32% still do not. The mean of the variable FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULES

1.32. From this we can we can infer that majority of the respondent agree that flexible work schedules

is highly practiced in various companies.

Q4. Medical coverage?

Statistics

flexible work schedules

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.32

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .471

flexible work schedules

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 34 68.0 68.0 68.0

No 16 32.0 32.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

55

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations 92% of the total populations

have the complete medical coverage policy for women employees. While 8% still fail to follow this. .

The above table indicates that the mean of the variable MEDICAL COVERAGE IS 1.08. From this we

can we can infer that majority of the respondents follow this practice.

Q5. Equal employment opportunity?

Statistics

medical coverage for women

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.08

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .274

medical coverage for women

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 46 92.0 92.0 92.0

No 4 8.0 8.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

Statistics

Equal employment opportunity

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.00

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .000

Equal employment opportunity

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 50 100.0 100.0 100.056

The above pie chart shows chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations 100% of the total

population follows the equal employment policy. The mean of the variable EQUAL EMPLOYMENT

IS 1. From this we can infer that this is the most common practice followed in almost all the

organizations.

Q6. Work from home?

Statistics

Work from Home

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.42

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .499

Work from Home

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 29 58.0 58.0 58.0

No 21 42.0 42.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

57

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations 58% of the total

organizations follow work from home policy while 42% organizations do not follow. The above table

indicates that the mean of the variable work from home is 1.42.

Q7. Counselling for women?

Statistics

counseling for women

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.36

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .485

counseling for women

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 32 64.0 64.0 64.0

No 18 36.0 36.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

58

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations 64% of the total

organizations have the counseling for women facilities while 36% organizations do not follow. The

above table indicates that the mean of the variable COUNSELLING FOR WOMEN is 1.36 from this

we can we can infer that majority of the respondents follow this practice.

Q8. Tie ups with crèches?

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations only 8% of the total

organizations have the crèches facility for women while majority of 92% organizations do not follow.

crèches

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 4 8.0 8.0 8.0

No 46 92.0 92.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

Statistics

crèches

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.92

Median 2.00

Std. Deviation .274

59

The above table indicates that the mean of the variable CRÈCHE TIE UPS is 1.92 from this we can

infer that majority of the respondents DO NOT follow this practice.

Q9. Percentage of female employees?

Percentage of female employees

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid 10-15% 5 10.0 10.0 10.0

15-35% 23 46.0 46.0 56.0

35-50% 20 40.0 40.0 96.0

50-75% 1 2.0 2.0 98.0

75-99% 1 2.0 2.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

Statistics

Percentage of female employees

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 2.40

Median 2.00

Std. Deviation .782

60

The above pie chart shows that around 10% organizations have 10-15% women employees;46% have

15-35%; 40% have 35-50% and another 2% each for 50-75% and 75-99%.The majority of 46%

organizations have 15-35% women employee.

Q10.Attrition of female employees?

Statistics

attrition rate of female employees

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.38

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .490

attrition rate of female employees

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid 0-10% 31 62.0 62.0 62.0

10-25% 19 38.0 38.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

61

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations 62% of the total

organizations have the attrition rate of 0-10% while 38% organizations have the attrition rate of 10-

25%.

Q11. Flexibility for transfer/relocation?

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations 80% of the total

organizations have the flexibility for transfer and relocation for women while 20% organizations do not

have it. The above table indicates that the mean of the variable flexibility for transfers 1.20 from this

we can we can infer that majority of the respondents follow this practice.

Q12. Fair appraisal process?

Statistics

fair appraisal process

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.06

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .240

Statistics

flexibility for transfer

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.20

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .404

flexibility for transfer

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 40 80.0 80.0 80.0

No 10 20.0 20.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

fair appraisal process

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 47 94.0 94.0 94.0

No 3 6.0 6.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

62

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations majority of 94%of the total

organizations have fair appraisal process for women while only 6% organizations do not follow. The

above table indicates that the mean of the variable FAIR APPRAISAL PROCESS is 1.06 from this we

can infer that majority of the respondents follow this practice.

Q13. Accommodations facilities?

Statistics

Accommodation Facilities

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.60

Median 2.00

Std. Deviation .495

Accommodation Facilities

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 20 40.0 40.0 40.0

No 30 60.0 60.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

63

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations majority of 60%of the total

organizations do not provide for accommodation facilities for women while 40%organizations have it.

The above table indicates that the mean of the variable ACCOMODATION FACILITY is 1.06 from

this we can infer that majority of the respondents do not follow this practice.

Q14. Pickup and drop facilities?

Statistics

Pickup and Drop facility

N Valid 50

Missing 0

Mean 1.46

Median 1.00

Std. Deviation .503

Pickup and Drop facility

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Yes 27 54.0 54.0 54.0

No 23 46.0 46.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

64

The above pie chart shows that out of the sample size of 50 organizations54%of the total organizations

provide for pickup and drop facilities for women while 46%organizations do no have it. The above

table indicates that the mean of the variable pickup and drop is 1.46 from this we can infer that

respondents have this facility in their organisation.

Q15. Recreational activities?

65

The above pie chart shows that the 50 respondent’s organizations follow different recreational activities

to retain women employee. While majority of 76% organizations still do not provide this facility.

CONCLUSION

66

Companies understand Business Imperative of Gender Inclusivity.

Empower women to prepare for leadership roles.

Create policies and best practices from other countries on correlations between women’s participation

and successful enterprises.

Create powerful inclusive team partnerships that create innovative and agile organizations.

The survey helps us in knowing the most common practices out of the few best practices followed in

the organizations like

Equal employment opportunity

Fair appraisal process

Flexibility in transfer /relocation

Medical coverage

And also few practices which are not yet followed in all organizations like

Women Networks that look into women related issues

Recreation activities

Tie ups with child care or crèches

“There is a growing interest within the enterprises themselves to promote gender support groups to

retain talented women in an industry starved for good, loyal talent. Women tend to be more loyal

than men.

The number of women related practices followed are going up. So the question really is what

would you be doing different which is not already happening?

RECCOMANDATIONS

67

The companies should frame a definite anti sexual harassment policy, which is communicated

to every new recruit.

A women’s only forum which organizes regular talks etc. should be included in the companies’

calendar. Where instant and prompt communication on any new initiatives changes in gender

policy etc can be discussed.

The companies should maintain a readily available database of all gender related policies,

measures etc which any employee can access at any time.

Company should adopt the concept of “Women’s calendar” according to which few days in a

month should be dedicated to women employees where her any kind of success is celebrated,

problem discussed, any policy is discussed etc. Networking sessions providing regular

networking opportunities, will ensure that employees relate on a regular basis. 'Women Darbar'

to acknowledge contribution made by them to the organization.

There should be proper training programs for women after “on ramping” to upgrade

professional skills after the long break. Support systems to identify social /mental blocks that

hold women professionals back.

Every organisation should endorse culture of courtesy towards women. All policies related to

women should be deployed in a fair and transparent manner.

Laptop and paid Internet at home.

The organization should allow women to return to work when they are ready, when adequate

child care arrangements are in place and permits women to have in place and permits women to

have flexible schedules that will help them remain productive.

Open communication between peer and head clearly communicating responsibilities and

expectations irrespective of their gender, caste or religion.

HR helpline for the grievances of the female employees.

Shift swapping; Self rostering concepts should be included by all organizations.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

68

Study is done by using a small sample size which is approximately 10% of the total population

The employee productivity or output reports are confidential were not available for study.

Actual performance aspects could be studied with these reports

The respondents were reluctant to fill the questionnaire and number of them refused

The results in the analysis are approximate percentages and might vary to some extent

BIBLIOGRAPHY

69

International Labour Office. 2008. Global Employment Trends for Women. Accessed on October 29,

2008http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_091225.pdf.

White Paper, Women in a Global Workforce

Great Place to Work® Institute, India pbhattacharya@greatplacetowork.in.

Mercer NASSCOM Gender Inclusivity: Research Insights and Perspective Padma Ravichander

Managing Director, Mercer India

NASSCOM study on ‘Excellence in Gender Inclusivity 2008’

“John Kotter” – What Leaders Do”, Harvard Business Review

‘Centered Leadership: How talented women thrive – Joanna Barsh for McKinsey Quarterly Nov 2008

www.Indian-women.blogspot.com

NHRD Network Journal, April 2008

Data quest (www.dquestindia.com)

Diversity Matters, Association Management, April 2004

chitra.iyengar@in.ibm.com

70

Questionnaire: On women inclusive environment

1 Do you have provision of part time job options with benefit for women?

Yes_______ No_______

2 Does your organization provide for any network that looks into issues related to women?

If yes specify........

3 Does your organization provide flexible work schedules for women?

Yes_______ No________

4 Do you have complete medical coverage for women’s?

Yes_______ No________

5 Does your organization have the Equal employment opportunity policy?

Yes_______ No_________

6 Do you have provision for on call/Work from Home working?

Yes_______ No_________

7 Does your organization provide for different training sessions and counselling for women?

Yes_______ No________

8 Does your organization have tie ups with crèches like kid zee, Euro kids or others?

71

If yes please specify.....

9 What is the percentage of female associates in your organization?

Please specify.....

10 What is the rate of attrition of female employees in your organization? Please specify.....

11 Does your organization provide flexibility for transfer/ relocation?

Yes______ No_______

12 Does your organization have a provision for fair appraisal process for women on leave?

Yes_______ No_______

13 Does your organization have any provision for accommodation facilities for women associates?

Yes_______ No________

14 Does your organization provide for any pickup and drop facility?

Yes_______ No________

15 What recreational activities are available for women employees in your organization?

If yes, please specify____________________________________________________________

72

73

74

75

76

77

.

78

79

80