Authored by Ms. Sumana Iyengar, CEO & Co-Founder, Goavega Software Pvt. Ltd.
One of the many things that the recent pandemic has taught us, is the need to build agile and innovative companies that are not only well prepared to tackle unexpected crisis but also one that can survive and possibly thrive through it all. And this is possible only with a visionary leadership and a robust team of diverse people, at its core.
While diversity and inclusive work places have been a subject of corporate conversations for the past few years, their significance and role in building a successful workplace has yet to be properly understood. Women at workplace, both in leadership and executive roles, have displayed tremendous contribution towards the growth and agility of the workplace, while offering an amicable and pleasant work environment.
As per the Egon Zehnder Global Diversity Report 2020, women in India currently comprise 17% board positions in corporate India, an increase of 8.6% since 2012. However, they lag behind when it comes to leadership posts, and only 11% committee chairs are held by women, compared to the 27.3% globally. While there have been several conversations around better representation of women in leadership roles, and equal pay etc., India Inc. has a long way to go, considering the need to focus on the basics like an inclusive and diversified hiring process, and encouraging safe work environment to voice biases and concerns around workplace harassment etc., before moving forward to effective grooming and mentorship program for their women employees.
Here is a list of 4 key people policies that can help accelerate the attempt at building more inclusive workplaces for women, and increasing their visibility in leadership roles:
In the backdrop of COVID and the rise of digitization, there has been a renewed focus on intangible skills, including interpersonal and innovative problem solving skills, which distinguish the unique value add that companies can provide, over and above the superior tech enabled, operational efficiency. Qualities like emotional intelligence, effective communication, empathy, and self-regulation, are set to see tremendous growth, along with qualities of critical, creative, and collaborative thinking skills, that can go beyond what machines are capable of. And this makes it even more important for companies to focus on not only the functional aspect of employee productivity but also the emotional and creative aspect, which can come only in a truly diverse work environment.