people and management magazine

Linda Brady HawkePublisher

from the publisher’s desk

6 | March-April 2014

Welcome to the March-April Women Special & International Edition of People & Management!

“Presenting leadership as a list of carefully defined qualities (like strategic, analytical, and performance-oriented) no longer holds. Instead, true leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed….Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.”

These words of Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook, best describe the leadership traits of an individual, irrespective of any gender. But the questions linger: When it comes to decision making, does gender matter? Is there a difference between women leaders and men who take crucial decisions in an organisation? If so, what are the unique qualities of female decision making that the most effective women leaders possess, that make them different from men?

Although the majority of the world organisations may just finally be touching the tip of the iceberg of these critical questions in the development of leadership irrespective of gender, for many grassroots organisations, it is passé news. Even some researches found that women leaders are more assertive and persuasive, and have a stronger need to get things done and are more willing to take risks than their male counterparts.

Counting on the numbers, over the past few years, the women in business and leadership roles have increased at the global level. But there is a lot required to be done as leadership is a multi-phase process that goes beyond traditional way of just counting numbers. Many organisations have talented women in leadership pipelines, but to successfully advance them into leadership roles, they need a strategy that should outline how to change organisation’s culture to recognise the business value inherent to diverse leadership.

This March-April edition throws up some light on this incredibly overdue topic of women in business and leadership roles, with in-depth analysis. We bring to you the views of national as well as international HR heads, CEOs, management personnel and academicians to provide you balancing voices and opinions. Besides these, the edition will also keep you abreast with the latest HR events, dynamics and other resources, which can be refreshing and on the cutting edge.

In addition, we present you a special report on Saudi Arabia, where you’ll find a brief on HR challenges in managing multi-cultural workforce and role of women in workforce in the country.

We trust you enjoy this Women Special & International Edition, as much as we enjoyed it putting together!

We wish you a wonderful Women’s Day!

Happy Reading!

What is the vision and objective of MeritTrac Services?MeritTrac was set up with the goal of enhancing employable

talent pool in the country through effective skill assessment. For the last 13 years, we have been accomplishing this and supporting leading organisations assess candidates for their skills, knowledge and personality. We believe in offering complete support - design, development and delivery of assessments that have been guiding them in making sound hiring and progression decisions.

Why do organisations use Tests & Assessments?A test or examination is an assessment intended to measure

a test-taker’s ability, knowledge, skill and personality to perform in a job or be eligible for admission into a course. In a recruitment scenario, a test is a necessary filter that helps organisations to zero down on fewer profiles that can be interviewed before selection. A scientifically designed test will clearly indicate if a person would fit a specific role based on his or her knowledge/abilities and personality. In its absence, organisation will have to interview large number of candidates for each position they hire. Today a good quality assessment brings down that number to one-tenth or less. Moreover, a well-designed assessment will provide very important inputs about the candidate that can be quizzed further by the interviewer. This information would not have been available without these tests.

How is MeritTrac unique in this space that is evolving?MeritTrac has been in the testing and assessment space

for the last 13 years. We offer services for all assessment requirements in the computer base or paper-based format. We have the largest spread of assessments – Abilities, Domain Knowledge, Communication Skills and Personality & Behaviour. In areas where we have not built assessments, we have partnered the best in the world to offer next generation assessments – contextualised to Indian environment. Our business is focussed ONLY on testing and assessments and do not indulge in any conflicting business (database/sourcing, placements or training) which could dilute our tests.

Do you have international partnerships? What kind of assessments do you offer through them?

In our efforts to offer quality, we have built best in class assessments that are being used by corporates. In specific areas, we have enhanced our portfolio by partnering with experts. For example, SpeechTrac – our spoken English assessment solution that is being widely used by BPOs in India and abroad is built in partnership with Carnegie Speech, a company incubated in

Carnegie Mellon University. The tool has been tuned to assess non-native speakers of English in order to make it relevant for Indian audience. Similarly, we have partnered First Advantage and have been using validated assessments that address specific recruitment and development needs. These tests used in conjunction with MeritTrac’s tests provide HRs holistic feedback about candidates.

These partnerships have been helping us be loyal to our cause of offering the best solutions to our customers. We will continue to build new tests and delivery models while keeping our eyes open to global trends and partnerships.

What is the value you offer that your customers have appreciated?

Our ability to Design and Develop tests that assess the necessary attributes required to succeed in job is appreciated by corporates. These assessments have helped them select candidates who stay productive for longer in job. The number of customers retained by us is the testimony to this fact. We have a strong delivery engine that allows corporates to reach the talent pool across country – which is a requirement for most of the organisations today. Since inception, technology and innovation has been in our DNA. This has helped us introduce numerous path-breaking solutions in the industry like CampusNxt, SpeechTrac and Performance-based Tests. Above all, our customers have maintained that one of the biggest comforts we have offered is that we have not entered into conflicting businesses like sourcing candidates. This has given them the confidence that our tests measure what it is supposed to measure – abilities, skills and personality – resulting in better fitment.

Can you share future growth plans of MeritTrac?The last few years have been exciting for us. We have grown

as a company by digging deeper in the existing markets through new solutions. We have introduced a suite of assessments in the campus recruitment and personality & behavioural assessment space. Our dedicated test R&D and innovations team is creating new assessments and delivery mechanisms to enhance quality and convenience of assessments.

We have also been addressing new industries and geographies and some of the most known organisations, including the ones from international education and testing markets, are showing faith in our ability to deliver tests in India and abroad. We have invested in enhancing our capability in test development and delivery and will continue to do so in future.

Vasu K Saksena is Chief Executive Officer, MeritTrac Services, India’s largest testing and assessment services company in the private sector which provides innovative assessment services to leading educational institutions, government organisations and corporate entities. In an interview with People and Management, he shares his views on the importance of test & assessments of candidates for organisations and vision, objective and future plans of MeritTrac. Excerpts:

“A Well-Designed Assessment Provide Important Inputs about Candidate”

11March-April 2014 |

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CONTENTSMARCH - APRIL 2014

COVER STORY 16 Women in Business: Breaking the Glass CeilingHistorically, the cultural inheritance of business is only of male leadership, something that made sense in another time, when the cultural dynamics for women was different and far fewer were engaged in the business of business.

PARADIGM SHIFT 19 Reaching for the Sky…!!The role of women globally is undergoing a striking change. These are high transition times. Today, women are walking shoulder-to-shoulder with men in nearly all fields.

22 Women Leadership and its Relevance in Today’s Corporate WorldIn less than four decades, the Indian workplace has transformed. Male bastions have been breached, glass ceilings have been shattered.

24 Women in Unconventional Roles: Accepting the ChallengesThe economic empowerment of women across the rich world is one of the most incredible uprisings of the past 50 years.

26 Work-life Balance: Not only Women’s PrerogativeSometime back, a survey by LinkedIn across several countries including India, showed that 63 percent of the women surveyed indicated that finding a right balance between personal life and work meant being successful in their careers.

CORPORATE STRUCTURE 28 Women and Work-Life BalanceWork-life balance could be voted as every corporate junkie’s favourite topic – from magazine columns to tabloids and websites the term has been described, delved into and debated.

30 What Companies Can Do to Develop Women Leaders!There was a time, in the not too distant past, when it was unheard of or rare for a woman to hold positions of power and leadership, despite her talent, skills and ambition.

WINNING OUTLOOK 34 Women at Work: Breaking the Myth of Glass CeilingGlass ceiling is a metaphor to describe the apparently invisible barrier that prevents more than a few women from reaching the top levels of management.

37 Mentors and Role Models: Effective Ways to Motivate WomenMany successful organisations have recognised the effect of investing in women’s leadership development; however there are some who have not yet realised the need for such an investment.


Edited, Printed & Published by Linda Brady Hawke Owned by L. B. Associates (Pvt.) Ltd H-108, Sector 63, Noida - 201301 U. P. India Printed @ US Printographics E-53, Sector-7, Noida - 201301, UP, India by Linda Brady Hawke | Published @ L. B. Associates (Pvt.) Ltd H-108, Sector 63,

Noida - 201301 U. P., India Tel: +91-120-4727100 Fax: +91-120-2427108 Email: [email protected] www.lbassociates.com Managing Editor William Hawke | Editor (Coordination) Anusua Diya Chowdhury | Copy Desk Editor Aamir H Kaki [email protected]

Director Business Development Binoy Sahee | Sr. Manager Events & Marketing Sunita Rawat [email protected] Layout & Design Atul Kumar / Suresh Negi | Webmaster Uday N Jha | Circulation & Subscription [email protected]

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in People and Management are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or the publisher. Although all efforts have been made to ensure the complete accuracy of text, neither the editors nor the publisher can accept responsibility for

consequences arising from errors or omissions or any opinions or advice given.

HR SPEAKS 40 Do Women Make Decisions Differently From Men? Most of the studies and researches carried out in western world indicate that women make better decisions than men.

42 Enabling Environment and Equal Opportunities: Critical to Development of Women Leaders When I joined the Indian Navy back in 1993, I did not think of it as being particularly adventurous, path-breaking or even ‘different’.

45 Anti- Sexual Harassment Law: Top Three Challenges for HR professionals I have been asked many times and have indulged in numerous discussions regarding the roles and responsibilities of HR in an organisation.

INTERVIEW 48 “HR Function Can Play an Important Role in Enabling Inclusion”Qualified women professionals who seek challenging careers would find many opportunities across sectors in India today.

HR BEST PRACTICES 50 Key Practices to Help Make Diversity Policies SuccessfulHR holds a very important role in promoting the diverse policies of an organisation.

THOUGHT STIMULI 53 HR: Integral to CSRThe World Business Council for Sustainable Development defines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a business commitment and contribution to the quality of life of employees, their families, local community and society at large to support sustainable economic development. 56 Law against Sexual Harassment: Prohibition Certainly, Redressal? The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, a yet to be notified legislation, seeks to provide protection to women from sexual harassment at workplace.

OFFSHORE PERSPECTIVE 59 To Reach Full Potential, What Working Women Need the Most To mentor or not to mentor! that is the question.

SAUDI ARABIA SPECIAL 62 HRM’s Balancing Act Between Saudi and Expat Employees: The Seething Challenge Saudi Arabia, as we all know, is the largest Arab state in Western Asia.

65 Women Workforce makes up Majority across Globe: KSA has Boundless Opportunities Over the past year, there were two significant achievements in the business world that was heralded as the ‘year of the woman CEO’.

NEWS/EVENTS


Lalit Jain, one of the founding members & Director of annectoś Rewards & Retail, is an entrepreneur and strategist with a special knack for introducing new business ideas and leadership. In an interview with People and Management, he shares his views on the importance of R&R for companies, future plans of annectoś and his professional achievements. Excerpts:

“annectoś brings Structured and Comprehensive end-to-end R&R Solutions”

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Please share the vision and values of annectoś Rewards & Retail.

Common sense backed by extensive research has proved that a happy employee contributes better to the organisation that he/she work for. The happiness brings forward a sense of belonging. And a sense of belonging is triggered through several factors, of which a robust Rewards & Recognition (R&R) system figures in the Top 5. This is es-sentially the vision annectoś is based on.

While all the companies have the intent and interest to deploy a good R&R module, considering how the Indian industry and economy is fast evolving, not many of them have been able to put a structured programme in place. And thus the R&R market in India is fragmented and yet at a nascent stage in growth. annectoś brings to the table complete, structured, and comprehensive end-to-end R&R solutions for the corporate, which very few or almost none of the other players offer.

As a company we want to revolutionise this space and bring a landmark change in the R&R structures of Indian companies.

Being a start-up in ‘rewards and recognition’ space to popularise workforce engagement, what are the challenges annectoś’ faced/are facing to make a mark in the market/industry?

Today most organisations in India realise that it’s critical to focus on developing, engaging and retaining employees. An engaged, happy workforce is a productive workforce. While this fact is actually age old wisdom, it’s only in the fairly recent past that Indian companies have begun to realise the need for a structured approach to implementation. Yet, the entire industry is not receptive to the idea of a different R&R approach. While many have realised its importance and opened their arms to it, many still feel that systematising R&R is not a pressing need.

We have observed that there is a clear distinction between how R&R is handled in new economy vis-a-vis old economy companies. Companies in new emerging sectors like IT/ITeS/Retail have been early adaptors to a more structured approach to R&R. While the companies in more traditional sectors like manufacturing, public sector etc, are yet to adapt themselves to a work flow driven structured process.

So the basic challenge lies in convincing the industry at large to the idea.

Can you explain what “increasing the happiness quotient of organisations” is all about? Why it is necessary?

As discussed above, it is a no brainer that a happy employee contributes better to the organisation that he/she works for as happiness brings forward a sense of belonging. Employees sign up

at companies to work in return for getting a pay, but it is certainly not the only determinant that drives employee productivity. Productivity is a factor of several things. How an employee is treated at a company, whether he/she is respected and acknowledged for his/her work makes a big difference. R&R is a major driver of employee satisfaction and it contributes heavily to increasing the “happiness quotient of organisations”.

What are the focus areas of your strategic alliances with International organisations and how beneficial will it be for your partner organisation’s employees and business associates?

There are several Indian companies with international operations. They would like to adapt and administer a universal R&R programme across all their offices. In order to facilitate this, we offer a global delivery programme through our strategic alliances. We are also the fulfilment partners to several of our international partners for their pan India deliveries.

Can you share future growth plans of your company?Currently, we have presence in major metro cities of India -

Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune - and through affiliates in Mumbai and Delhi. We offer pan India delivery and local delivery across several countries through our strategic alliance partners. Our future growth plans include establishing presence in metros where we are not yet present as well as in Tier II cities. Our growth plans are aligned to the growth of Indian industry towards more structured human resources organisations.

What are the most important decisions you take as a leader of your organisation?

As a leader of the organisation, I make sure to keep a close watch on the developments taking place in the industry and its human resources sector and make sure our company and workforce is always aligned to those developments. How to customise our solutions for different clients, how to keep channel partners happy are other areas that require decision making. It is important for us to be abreast of latest trends in the industry and bring in best practices to benefit our client organisations. We work as extended arms of the companies we sign up with.

What are your biggest professional achievements, and what priorities have you set for the future?

After a brief stint at Deloitte, I have been an entrepreneur for over a decade now. Having founded three successful companies (from organic farming to corporate gifting), annectoś is my fourth venture. We have ambitious growth plans for annectoś and a superb team in place to make this happen. Investing on this team and delivering innovative solutions to our clients are our key priorities.


“I Want Future Fair for All”

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Please share the mission and vision of SAHAJ.Vision: Socio-Economic empowerment of women

through art and craft based activities to secure their position in society where they can think independently, become role models for future generations, and above all does not have to prove themselves because of gender.

SAHAJ envisions a society where every man and woman supports each other and share every aspect of life equitably.

Mission: By 2020 SAHAJ will enable 15000 tribal artisans in western India to earn `60000 PA in home-based handicraft livelihoods.

Value Proposition: SAHAJ provides comprehensive training and support services that enable tribal families to earn home-based livelihoods through their traditional handicraft skills, as an alternative to seasonal urban migration. This increase family incomes, allows children to remain in school and stabilise families in safer, healthier environments.

What are the challenges SAHAJ faced/are facing to make a mark in the society/industry?

At present SAHAJ is operating in 72 villages of Dahod district with 350 groups, and providing regular income sources to 1200 people. Another 500 artisans are getting trainings for the same activities. At present SAHAJ is working with 4000 people for different activities, of health, education, awareness, saving-credit, training, designing, production and marketing.

The main problem we find is of migration. Roughly 70 percent of the households have at least one person migrating from the tribal household. On average half the

household members and nearly 80 percent of working persons are migrating. Nearly 37 percent of the migrants are women.

The migration poses the following challenges:

• Accompanying children do not go to school and don’t have positive role models

• Intergeneration transmission of poverty increases health, hygiene and other problems

How can you measure/describe women empowerment?

SAHAJ helps women to find out their inner skills, provide training for skill development and skill upgradation, provide design support according to the trends and also help them to market their products.

I consider that women empowerment can be measured, when women become self dependent. With the efforts of SAHAJ:

• Families of women are living in pakka houses and are able to take care of their health and hygiene, their children are going to school, and girl child is educated

• Women are taking part in panchayat, becoming sarpanch and member in gram panchayat

• Child marriage custom is fully vanished. Girl child preferred to get marry after their graduation, i.e. after 21 years

• The first priority of the women now is education and health of their families

How does empowering women affect the overall welfare of society?

Empowering the women helps in creating awareness in

Jabeen Jambughodawala, a Social Entrepreneur and Founder of SAHAJ, is working in this field for 24 years. In an interview with People and Management, she shares her views on mission & vision of SAHAJ, women empowerment and its impact on society.


the society and in turn helps in their overall development. We are creating awareness among women with our following activities:

Health and Education Awareness: We work on awareness of the health and education of girl child. Educated mother can change entire family that is the core philosophy of the project.

Artisan, Health and Credit Cards: This helps them to create their identity as an artisan and credit card gives them special credit up to `20000. Health card gives them credit up to `15000 for any type of medical emergency.

Group Savings and Lending along with Bank Linkages: It helps to create their credibility with banks and gives them credit up to four times of their savings.

Awareness about Government Schemes and Toolkits: This helps to make them aware of their rights and about schemes and programmes, especially designed by government for their benefits.

Training to School Children and Girl Child Education Awareness: This provides in-hand experience of the handicrafts as well as new ways with respect to craft and cottage industries. This also creates awareness towards home-based enterprises rather than only service sector after school or college education.

What are some of the long-term impacts you’ve seen on the communities you work in?

The major impact what we have observed is that home-based employment opportunities would provide them best alternative of earnings. It increases level of education, knowledge of other trades, develops village industries and opportunities for self employments and it

will also create opportunities for other villagers to work with.

What advice do you have for people who have their own ideas for socially responsible businesses or non-profits and other projects that they think are going to make the society a better place?

I just want to say, to people in general, that skill development and employment based education can change the life of under-privileged. Entrepreneurship development can impact on better world. If each corporate pick up surrounding areas of factory or production centre and give chance to poor people to earn livelihood with full respect and honesty, we will be able to change the situation very soon. There will be win-win situations for all. What we talk and what we act should not be different. I want future fair for all.

What are the most important decisions you take as a leader of your organisation and what priorities have you set for the future?

As a leader of an NGO, I consider it my responsibility to work for the upliftment of the society, especially women. In order to fulfil my responsibilities, I took the following decisions to pursue in future:

• To work for the underprivileged and tribal community of eastern Gujarat

• To work for the development of women and children

• To stop migrations of women, so that they can educate their children, take care of family health and hygiene; take care of land and animal


Historically, the cultural inheritance of business is only of male leadership, something that made sense in another time, when the cultural dynamics for women

was different and far fewer were engaged in the business of business. But with Janet Yellen’s nomination to lead the Fed’s top job, business leaders and women’s groups alike started an unprecedented series of discussions on the incredibly overdue topic: women in business (unconventional roles). Although the majority of the world organisations may just finally be touching the tip of the iceberg of this crucial question in the development of gender equality, for many grassroots organisations, it is old news.

In the last few decades, women have made significant mark in the business world and are breaking the so called ‘glass ceiling’. This active participation of women, one can say, is because of emerging multi-nationals and increasing contribution of the private sector. Most of the studies depicts that the number of women taking active role into business and leadership are growing impressively.

The Grant Thornton IBR survey, which includes both listed and privately held businesses, shows a three percent increase in the number of women in senior management positions from 2011 to 2012, with 24 percent of businesses with women in senior management roles globally in 2012 (compared to 21% in 2011). The proportion of businesses employing women as CEOs has risen from nine percent to 14 percent.

But still the questions linger: In a society where women are ostensibly given the same professional opportunities as men, why do they still fall behind significantly in both rank and pay? When every statistic points to the fact that today’s young women are equally educated as their male counterparts, why have we not yet seen this advantage translate into the workplace?

Although women comprise significant percentage of the

n Aamir H Kaki

Women in Business Breaking the Glass Ceiling

“Only when women wield power in sufficient numbers will we create a society that genuinely works for all women. That will be a society that works for everyone.” – Quotes from Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”

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www.peopleandmanagement.com

workforce, their presence falls off the ladder rather quickly as roles become more senior. In the year 2012, though women consist of over 1/3rd of the workforce in the US, they held a mere 14.3 percent of executive officer positions at Fortune 500 companies and only 8.1 percent of executive officers at top-earner positions. Of the FTSE 100 companies, women held a mere 15

percent of board seats and 6.6 percent of executive positions in 2012. In the Asia Pacific region, the percentage of women in C-suite positions was about half that in Australia, Europe and North America.

Leadership Challenges for Women

According to a Mercer survey, the biggest challenges women face in their development as leaders related to work-life balance, lack of women role models, not having opportunities for career advancement and a lack of support from top management. According to professional networking site LinkedIn’s recent survey, majority of working women in India prefer greater flexibility at workplace and they define professional success as the right balance between work and personal life. Going to the findings of this survey, for professional women in India, 48 percent respondent thinks lack of investment in professional development is the major challenge that affects their career, followed by the absence of a role model (43%). Additionally, juggling between work and family life (36%) and inequality in pay (25%) were perceived to be major inhibitors of professional success, the survey said.

Women Leadership: Setting the Stage for Growth

Women empowerment would be in the front in 2014 as more companies, communities and countries are investing in women leadership. Organisations around the world are committed to develop future leaders and enhance diversity in order to attain better results for employees, customers and stakeholders. Lloyds, the taxpayer-owned bank, is aiming for 40 percent of top 5,000 roles to be women as chief executive.

According to professional networking site LinkedIn’s recent survey, majority of working women in India prefer greater flexibility at workplace

However, when it comes to offering development programmes to help women advance as leaders, the solutions provided by organisations do not always address the core issue. Leadership development is a multi-phase process that goes beyond flexible work schedules and basic supervision; it must include opportunities to attain leadership experience, and more importantly, it must have support from top management.

Many organisations, all over world, have talented women in leadership pipelines, but there is a need of strategy to successfully advance them into leadership roles. In addition to programmes to develop women leaders, the strategy should also outline how to change the organisation’s corporate culture to identify the business value inherent to diverse leadership. Developing leadership skills for the next phase of business growth is a key productivity challenge, 49 percent of corporate India said in a Randstad workforce survey. As for women in leadership roles, 43 percent of organisations in India feel this will be a critical success factor, the survey revealed.

Additionally, more and more companies are taking note that gender diversity at board and top management positions promotes corporate growth. Going to the findings of a McKinsey review of 100 companies against the Organizational Health Index (OHI), it was revealed that companies with three or more women in senior positions – on the executive committee or board – scored higher than their peers.

Rise of Indian Corporate Women

Women have always worked in India, but the rise of the Indian corporate woman in the last few decades has been phenomenal. India remains a largely conservative society, with traditional attitudes about the role of women in many regions. But in spite of the major social challenges the country faces, the corporate world seems to have set its own progressive standards, particularly in banking and financial sector (that were once the inheritance of male leadership).

In the banking sector, dominated by men for long, India has no fewer than eight female banking bosses. In fact the appointment of Arundhati Bhattacharya as the first chairwoman of the country’s largest bank, the State Bank of India, came days before the announcement

of Janet Yellen as the new Federal Reserve nominee.

According to Grant Thornton IBR study, 19 percent women are in senior management positions in India. In spite of negative press coming from India with respect to gender diversity, the country might prove to be the next leader.

Conclusion

Women breaking barriers was in the conversation in 2013 – from Janet Yellen’s nomination to lead the Fed’s top job to much-discussed piece in The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” by a Princeton professor and former US State Department official, Anne-Marie Slaughter, to Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg’ book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead”, which addresses how women can succeed in the face of gender barriers. But with companies recognising that women leaders see the world through a different lens and, in turn, do things differently, this would again be the front and centre in 2014 and the years to come.

And the ultimate winners would be companies and countries who recognise and leverage all of the women talent, innovation and ideas available to them.

References: Grant Thornton International Business Report 2013

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24867346‎

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/03/lloyds-bank-target-women-senior-roles

http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/the-workplace/more-women-in-senior-roles-if-only-companies-really-wanted-it#.UwHWzfmSzjs

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/indian-women-prefer-more-flexibility-at-workplace-linkedin/article4474732.ece

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Building-leadership-skills-a-key-priority-for-India-Inc-Survey/articleshow/29255720.cms


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According to Grant Thornton IBR study, 19% women are in senior management positions in India

Reaching for the Sky…!!n Manjiri Shinde


pArAdigM Shift

The role of women globally is undergoing a striking change. These are high transition times. Today, women are walking shoulder-to-shoulder with men in nearly all fields. From household to defence services, women have proven their worth. Corporate houses

are no exception to this evolution. Women are an essential part of workforce in almost all the organisations now. Firms in India, too, proudly boast of large number of female employees at present and


this number will continue to grow enormously in near future. Though less in number, compared to their male counterparts, women are reaching top management positions in organisations.

Women are just as capable, talented and hardworking as men, hence gender should not be a barrier for them to reach at leadership positions in corporate houses. Women are adapting to the challenge of working in changing work format to secure top positions. CEOs, company boards and others at the top management are now recognising that women are strong, lively, fostering and come with collaborative working style. Women get fresh business ideas and bring diversity of perspectives. Gender diversity at workplace also helps in maintaining balance in management styles.

With recent economic fluctuations, market scenario is changing every single day. Demand for able leadership is at its peak. At the moment, businesses that aspire to perform well and maintain the highest standards of leadership need a healthy mixture of innovative thinking and multi-dimensional aptitude. It is ever more being acknowledged that women do get considerable diversity to firms in terms of their experience, patience and negotiation skills. The naturally instinctive, mutual understanding ability and all-encompassing styles of leadership of women help in maintaining good balance with more rigid systems and processes driven by male leadership culture.

Though the scenario is changing, still in many corporate houses where women are holding top management position, they are seen to be restricting themselves to supporting roles. They are often limited to fields that do not involve direct decision making or strategy. The esteemed Fortune 500 companies list clearly shows that only 10 percent women are at the senior manager level, less than four percent have been able to secure topmost position like of CEO or president. Not even three percent of them are top corporate earners. Women sometimes face some barriers while taking that journey up to the top management ranks in the pyramidal structures in corporate houses. These barriers are often referred to as ‘Glass Ceiling’.

Key stumbling block for women who aim to succeed in attaining influential positions is social typecasting. These limitations imposed

pArAdigM Shift

upon women are typically based on preconceptions and socially accepted myths. Few of them include:

• Women follow their heart more than head, hence tend to be over emotional

• They are not flexible in terms of work timing

• They are too occupied with family matters

• Women are emotionally weak and cannot withstand crisis situations

• Women are more worried about working conditions than men

• Women are not comfortable to travel at length for work

Nonetheless, in order to conquer these hurdles in the way, women need determination accompanied by strong backing from the company. Organisations now should redefine and reconstruct the age-old systems and processes. Position should be based on merit and performance, irrespective of the gender. Women should be respected and encouraged to unfurl the hidden treasure of their tremendous talent.

Given a chance, women prove to be ‘super women’ as they are masters at juggling around tasks. Multitasking is their unbeatable forte. Also women leaders bring with them diverse approach and different expertise. Many researches so far have emphasised on the fact that women managers are much more creative and spontaneous. They can face challenges, have great tolerance power and can perform much more than men when situation demands.

Despite everything, fact remains that women have carved a niche in the workforce and will continue to amplify their active participation further in corporate houses.

CEOs, company boards and others at the top management are now recognising that women are strong, lively, fostering and come with collaborative working style

Juggling Act: Balance is the Key

Almost every woman has to fight this battle between work and family life. Playing this double role gives way to many complications. Women like it or not, most of them still have to deal with stereotypically their duty of raising children and managing a household. Working women are generally in constant combat when it comes to managing their personal and professional life. They cannot afford to take away time from their busy professional life nor they can ignore their family. It is tight rope walk and it can only be managed by striking a perfect balance. It can be achieved well through following:

• Self-Management

• Time Management

• Stress Management

• Change Management

Friendly HR Policies

A recently conducted LinkedIn survey too underlines that women themselves believe that having a perfect balance between personal and work life is much more important than high salary. Women friendly HR policies will help to achieve this complete harmony between personal and professional life. Around 65 percent women think that accommodating working arrangement and flexible timings would help them to manage career and family.

Many corporate giants, nowadays, have adopted programmes like Second Career Internship to enhance the number of women employees. Such programmes encourage women to restart their career after a long break. It also endows them with opportunities to take on flexi-hour projects, and therefore bridges their career gap.

From time-to-time, all the companies should undertake


Manjiri Shinde is HR Head at Calsoft.

extensive survey in understanding their employees’ needs especially focussing on women. Based on which, they should restructure and generate employee friendly policies. Flexi working hours, work from home, easy transfers, sabbatical or maternity leaves and allowing women to choose alternate career tracks within the organisation can be helpful for smooth career progression of women.

At Calsoft, we truly understand the significance of retaining good employees. It is always a safe bet than recruiting fresher. We encourage women employees to rejoin post long break. HR policies are willingly moulded in terms of flexible working hours, suitable work shifts, work from home facility and easy transfers (inter-department) to help women achieve perfect work and life balance.

With all said and done, at the end everybody has their own inner battle to fight. Women themselves should proactively work in order to build up the confidence and develop suitable industry skills. They should have right attitude to survive and be successful in business. Women aspirant of reaching the top must have well defined career goals and undying spirit of

overcoming whatever comes in the way.



Women Leadership and its Relevance in Today’s

Corporate Worldn Kavita Nath

pArAdigM Shift

In less than four decades, the Indian workplace has transformed. Male bastions have been breached, glass ceilings have been shattered. There is hardly a professional preserve left that women have not entered. Each passing year more women are

getting to the top than ever before. We are very familiar with names like Preetha Reddy, Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Ekta Kapoor, Indra Nooyi, Nita Ambani and Chanda Kochhar. And by now, one must have guessed what we are referring to here. These are some of the most influential women leaders we have in India.

Women have been spearheading various businesses today and are successful in doing so. For instance, Chanda Kochchar, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank is an inspirational Indian women leader. She rose to the top when she was at the helm of banking operations of ICICI, during its global financial crisis in 2008. It is, time and again, stated in the media how her leadership helped save ICICI Bank from being engulfed by Lehman bankruptcy. Chanda has also been vocal about how she is a firm believer that women can only grow in today’s corporate world through their own merit. Since, she has risen to being what she is today by her own capabilities and hard work she disapproves of any special privileges that are given to women.

Another encouraging example would be Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, who has combated various odds on her way to ascend to the top. She has tackled hurdles like being an immigrant and belonging to a different race in the highly competitive corporate world. Indra believed in the mantra of working twice as hard as her male counterparts. She has been credited for the successful transformation of PepsiCo from a ‘Cola’ company to a company that makes healthy products. She might be one of the most powerful women in the world, however, that does not prevent her from inspecting the most minute details pertaining to product marketing and packaging. She has confessed that she sends letters to the parents of her team praising them for how smart their child is! Indra Nooyi is a true symbolic leader of culture.



Kavita Nath is Country Manager at TomTom India.

In the corporate world today, we are witnessing a growth in the number of women leading organisations and teams. But we cannot ignore the fact that the top management is still highly dominated by men more than women. A mere three percent of senior management roles in India are with women according to a study commissioned by Times of India to global recruitment firm, Randstad. The study revealed that the share of women globally in senior management roles increased to 14 percent in 2012 from nine percent in 2011, an over 50 percent growth. This data is quite interesting as this shows how much scope and opportunity women has today to grow up the ladder to senior management.

Centered Leadership Model that Explains How Leaders Lead

Centered Leadership Model by McKinsey & Co is quite interesting as this helps one understand how leaders lead today. I would be biased if I say that women at work are more assertive and disciplined, however, it would be true to say that they bring diversity at work, which is extremely important according to a recent study done by McKinsey & Co. The study shows that companies with gender-balanced executive committees have a 56 percent higher operating profit compared to companies with male-only companies. This explains why organisations must embrace the diversity that women bring to a company.

According to this report, a leader knows the meaning, manage energy, have positive outlook, connect and engage well with people. ‘Meaning’ translates into greater job satisfaction, higher productivity, lower turnover and increased loyalty. At the end of the day, this meaning helps one feel having achieved something. Today’s leaders work hard and for very long hours. They must know how to ‘manage their energy’ for all the tasks in the pipeline. When it comes to women leaders, managing energy does not stop at work. They need to carry this forward for their household chores as well.

It is a known fact that optimists see life more realistically than pessimists do, and this explains why having a ‘positive outlook’ towards life and work is a leader’s trait. Similarly, being able to ‘connect and engage’ well with people is very important. People with good networking skills will always find a sense of belonging wherever they go. Additionally, leaders are capable of engaging themselves at work.

Mentoring Young Women at Work

Companies need to discover ways women can actively build their skills to become more self-confident and effective leaders. Women leaders in companies

can help by mentoring younger women navigate the paths to leadership. Organisations today are moving from capitalism to ‘talentism’, and therefore regardless of one’s gender, the path to leadership is defined. To understand this path, women employees can engage themselves with women leaders in their company and seek mentorship. Mentorship will help them realise the available opportunities in the company based on their area of interest.

As companies strive to retain valuable women talent, they are attempting to implement programmes to create more women-friendly workplaces. A recent study of IT companies examined available work-life/woman-friendly programmes. Some of which include – flexible work schedules/hours, sexual harassment policies, flexible leave policy, transportation policy, health and wellness programmes, day care for children/parenting workshops, women’s lounge/recreation, and women’s forum/networks.

There have been debates on different working styles of men and women leaders. Women leaders have many of the same qualities as their male colleagues, especially an ability to set high goals and inspire others to fulfill them. Generally, women leaders are assumed to be the ones who ‘takes care’ and men leaders who ‘takes charge’. This, however, involves people’s perceptions of leaders, coloured by stereotypes and expectations. In this fast changing and competitive environment, aspiring women leaders should just be themselves and view their distinct leadership qualities as strengths. They must stay focussed and not exhibit their vulnerability.

Companies need to discover ways women can actively build their skills to become more self-confident and effective leaders. Women leaders in companies can help by mentoring younger women navigate the paths to leadership


Women in Unconventional Roles Accepting the Challengesn Ritu Mehrotra

The economic empowerment of women across the rich world is one of the most incredible uprisings of the past 50 years. It is incredible because of the level of change it

generated by revolutionising the time where millions of women were once dependent over men for the tiniest need of the family. They have now taken control of their own fates when it comes to the financial desires. The role of a woman is enhanced with a positive outbreak

on the economy as a whole. It is incredible also because of the slightest friction it has caused which hardly affected the most intimate aspects of people’s identities has now been widely welcomed by men as well as women.

Women are taking new jobs, new roles with better opportunities like never before. Some fields like politics and finance surely hold an edge for boys and are generally referred to as ‘men’s sector’ but then too women today are not held back by a sense of male dominance. The false consciousness rulings for decades now have fallen by the wayside. And there is a little reason to believe that women’s decisions to leave the workplace are driven by exogenous factors.

In fact, some of the world’s most powerful women don’t exactly have traditional jobs. The US Department of Labor defines the non-traditional job as positions where women make up less than 25 percent of the workforce.

As societal stereotypes continue to break down, the term ‘non-traditional’ job may someday become extinct. More and more women are becoming part of what was once considered unconventional fields for several reasons. Talking about a lawyer, athlete or a doctor, generally portrayed the man’s image. Economic expansion has created a high demand for occupations that once were completely dominated by men.

pArAdigM Shift

The US Department of Labor defines the non-traditional job as positions where women make up less than 25% of the workforce



With rising home, healthcare, and general living expenses, it has also become a necessity in the past 20 years for families to have two incomes, more than half of working mothers say they work to support the family, and would stay home to raise the children if it was financially possible.

Furthermore, attitude toward what is appropriate for a woman have steadily changed over time. Some may still hold onto the outdated concept of “a woman’s place is in the home,” but the fact is that two-thirds of all women age 16 and over—are part of the labour force.

One motivation behind pursuing a non-traditional career is financial support. High entry-level wages paying for an hour have been more than an inspiration for women seeking solid careers. But the biggest gap in non-traditional jobs has been in the professional, white-collar sectors like politics and the law. There’s still a long way to go for women, who continue to dominate the supporting jobs in the service industry like retail sales, and hospitality industry.

It is important to remember is that all women have a right to choose whatever field they want. The common myths – blue collar work is too messy, security work is too dangerous, the job is not feminine enough, or women do not have the aptitude for certain skills – should not impede them from a particular career path.

Also, today women are outpacing men educationally – they earn 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 59 percent of master’s degrees, and more than half of PhDs. They already compose nearly half of the workforce, and they’re not simply participating in higher numbers – women are increasingly filling jobs that require more education

and greater skills. In fact, the largest group of working women – 33 percent — is those with college degrees. More than half of all managers are female.

On the other side, different goals and desires of men and women are certainly affecting the workplace in some way. It is believed that for a woman, the family is the first priority and they want to spend time with them. And many jobs – especially top-level CEO positions – simply cannot adequately accommodate that balance.

So the question remains: Is gender parity really a reasonable goal? Is there anything to be done? Working fathers place more importance on having a high-paying job, while working mothers are more concerned with having a flexible schedule.

Of course, there are women who see professional success as their primary goal. That’s a wonderful option for women to have, and young women ought to see these role models and know that there is no limit to what they can achieve if they have the talent and dedication to achieve their goals. We should recognise that there are women whose equation for success looks very different. That means we should stop trying to achieve parity and instead recognise that the disparity between men and women may, in fact, be a good thing.

Most women and men are already benefitting from tremendous shifts in social norms, growing numbers of women in the workplace, changing technology and communication tools, and a relatively free economy – all of which provides workers with greater flexibility and choices in their lives. Some industries will naturally be more inclined to create a flexible work arrangement, while others will not.

Today’s young women are starting their careers with better education than their male counterparts. Many companies these days are trying to retain talented women and they are making more money. Each new group of young women entering the workforce over the past 30 years has started at a higher average hourly wage relative to men.

Ritu Mehrotra is VP Global HR and Talent Management at Bristlecone, a Mahindra Group Company.

Today women are outpacing men educationally – they earn 57% of bachelor’s degrees, 59% of master’s degrees, and more than half of PhDs


Work-life Balance Not only Women’s Prerogativen Vidya Vasu

Sometime back, a survey by LinkedIn across several countries including India, showed that 63 percent of the women surveyed indicated that finding a right balance between personal life

and work meant being successful in their careers. So what exactly does work-life balance mean and is it a women prerogative? Here is a thought I have so come to love, “Who would ever choose work over life?”, from Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In. She says that talking of the two ideas as diametrically opposed ensures that ‘work’ loses to ‘life’. She is bang on because the majority of those caught in this trap are women.

A lot has changed for good for the women in India in the last decade and that includes the possibility of wearing the identity of a ‘career woman’. According to a study last year on rural vs urban woman employment in India, there has been a 20 percent increase in the percentage of employment in the organised sector. Still, it is way behind the developed countries in terms of equal opportunities and growth. For instance, close to 50 percent of workforce in the US are women with nearly 41 percent of women being the breadwinners in the family!

Work-life balance is a phrase that is automatically associated with women more than men. It does not need a lot of intelligence to see that this idea stems from the constant fear in women to attain that perfect balance of being a good mother, wife or daughter and being successful

in a career without disturbing the equilibrium. Aspiring for more in the career would necessarily mean settling for less in personal life and succumbing to what Ms Sandberg calls the holy trinity of fear - fear of being a bad mother/wife/daughter. There is this constant fear of being judged.

Work-life balance could well mean (and imply) the paranoia women grow up with because of a misplaced notion of compromising on family time. There are enough reminders all around telling women that home, child-care, elder-care, and the business of keeping the home intact, are very much the women’s business. And that it is impossible to be both, a competent professional and a mother. This thought is further fortified by making this a ‘non-rule’ for men for whom a successful career and a happy, fulfilling life outside work, is the norm!

Women end up spending more time assuaging the guilt feelings that are falsely attributed to their neglecting ‘life’ and putting ‘work’ ahead of home as if the two are mutually exclusive. Many working women are conditioned into thinking

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Work-life balance is a phrase that is automatically associated with women more than men



that anything going wrong on the home-front is mostly their doing. Bad performance of a child in academics, suffering from poor health and such are attributed to improper work-life balance and this is by default applies to women! It is time to retire this myth and acknowledge that balancing personal and work life is as much a man’s job as it is of a woman’s. So juggling work and home is a reality both men and women face in India today. It is too tempting to go all the way and demand that the nation wants to know if work life balance indeed is a women’s prerogative. It obviously is a choice that both men and women exercise today.

More and more women are educated, and more and more women are adding to the workforce. Co-parenting, finding ways to ensure child care or elderly care, taking turns to work out of home or attend to other pressing personal work during work days, are some healthy additions to the scene. However, it would be a huge disservice to women if we were to paint a rosy picture of how things stand today. The onus of a happy home still rests on a woman’s shoulders whether or not she wants it. The idea of a perfect balancing act is so deeply etched in women’s psyche that it is going to take a while more to get rid of the thought. Unlike the West, it is still very tough to find good child/elder care facilities in India. A lot of these support systems need to be in place.

A work environment that is congenial and flexible for both men and women is an important part of the support system. Fortunately, in the organised sector, there are many jobs that employees can carry home and continue. Many companies today, specially the IT and ITeS companies provide a lot of flexibility. The reach and affordability of technology has also enabled people to stay

connected to their work from anywhere. Ability to access work over smart phones and tablets, the provision to hold web meetings or calls with the team or clients etc, has greatly cut down the proximity issues. On the personal life front, it is really encouraging to see a lot of men sharing the responsibilities that were erstwhile only women’s forte. The line dividing the work – personal and professional – based on gender has begun to fade, thanks to the men who step forward, and thanks to the women who stand up for themselves.

We need assurances from all and sundry that women are not artists on a trapeze. That both, work life and personal life are essential components of our lives and both will co-exist. That we need to give both what it takes. What will really be defining is what each of us men and women, as individuals, want out of our lives. Surely no one wants a bad life. By choosing not-to-work, life is not going to treat you kindly or bestow happiness either! What men and women need today is the ability to be able to cope with both these important aspects of life. There is no such thing as work-life balance and if indeed there is, it is as much a man’s responsibility as it is a woman’s.

Change, we know, is for good. We need a change in the way we perceive things around us. We must show resistance to the things that make us believe we cannot have one without the other. We need all our epic television soaps, movies and literature to showcase happy examples of men and women being competent at work and home, without choosing one over the other. We will need a conscious effort to flag down stories that portray working woman as those struggling to achieve a compromise. Success in career is possible for women without having to compromise on personal life. We will need to flag down stories that portray co-parenting men as sad unsuccessful souls. There are men with successful careers who are also committed to personal lives and shoulder the responsibilities with equal elan. In all this, the children will accept and grow up to appreciate and emulate parents who respect their work and personal lives equally and give their best. Miles to go really! But get there, we must!

Vidya Vasu is Head – ManageEngine Community.

It is time to retire this myth and acknowledge that balancing personal and work life is as much a man’s job as it is of a woman’s


Women and Work-Life Balancen Meenakshi Roy

cOrpOrAte StrUctUre

Work-life balance could be voted as every corporate junkie’s favourite topic – from magazine columns to tabloids and websites the term has been described, delved into and debated.

With all due respect to various suggestions and opinions, I feel that ‘work’ and ‘life’ would need balancing for either gender if considered as two separate things.

Workplace demands are such nowadays that they truly encroach upon life. Nevertheless, isn’t ‘work’ essentially a part of ‘life’? Should we be talking about work-life balance or work life in balance with the rest of life? I would choose the latter – my work is a big part of my life which being a woman means I cannot have an exclusive relationship with my work.

Across the world, working women face a number of obstacles at the workplace in traditionally male-dominated roles. Apart from work life balance, equal pay, the risk of abuse and harassment and organisational advancement are just a few issues faced. While much progress has been made in placing both sexes on

common ground at the workplace, women continue to be under-represented in many senior positions in corporate and public life despite the fact that they have the capacity to play equally important roles.

Early explanations about low proportion of women in senior management roles focussed on the notion that women did not possess the required skills and attributes. They were considered unsuitable for senior roles due to the assumption that there were innate biological differences that affected their leadership abilities. Even though they are not risk-averse and ever-willing to take up a challenging assignment, countless women pursue careers without pay equity. Women were not necessarily perceived as leaders in their own organisations and rarely encouraged or given an opportunity to handle senior level roles. Their leadership skills were questioned and challenged at every level. Even though women were equally qualified and experienced as their male counterparts, they were overlooked for jobs that go to less-qualified and experienced males. Often, they are also compensated less for a similar role. But researches



reveal that these are the things of past. Women are now crossing every mark in corporate world.

Balancing work and family life is a tricky issue and one that is not always easy to deal with. Many people compare life balance to a tightrope walker who is always in motion yet continuously shuddering, adjusting, moving and counter-moving to remain balanced. Most often, his movement is not smooth and fluidic. Life is similar. When personal commitments are given priority, work can take a backseat and vice versa. The truth is, in life it is difficult to achieve perfect balance. Our lives are dynamic and we continuously try to adjust, correct, change and adapt.

Giving the right amount of attention to one’s children, while handling a senior position, can be demanding. A false perception is that one could be more effective in managing work in the absence of children. The process of balancing would be different for a young, unmarried working-woman, a working parent and a senior executive. What’s common is the fact that everyone needs to change, bend and adjust. It is an ongoing process and different stages of life call for different adaptations and adjustments. It is a challenge for the urban nuclear family’s working woman to effectively prioritise between self and family. Traditionally, she has been the primary caretaker/homemaker so her being away can be successfully done if she has a good alternative e.g., a stay-at-home dad.

The organisation can help in a great way to help the woman adapt to her changing responsibilities as she goes through the natural progression of her life. Roles designed to suit young mothers/mothers with young children – like more of an individual contributor/facilitator can be initiated. Work from home options, telecommuting, increasing gender-sensitivity in the organisation can help in a big way.


Women themselves can make an effort to overcome hurdles. A few of the most important ways to find balance include focussing on the priorities that are in the moment and letting go of the guilt associated with not being able to give your best to the home and workplace.

It is disappointing that despite a growing number of qualified women in the workforce, many organisations today are failing to tap into the talent of half of the labour pool. It is imperative that businesses retain talented women workers. They should look at enhancing their productivity and facilitating their advancement into managerial roles by implementing ‘work-life’ or ‘family-friendly’ programmes aimed at countering the negative behavioural and attitudinal influences. Work-life benefits and programmes are often credited to bring positive results in terms of the retention of women employees. I believe organisations big and small need to exploit every opportunity for competitive advantage. At a time when businesses are struggling to find the right talent pool, it is not advisable to waste available resources on the basis of gender discrimination. Organisations should be more flexible towards hiring talented women in their aim to remain competitive and harness market share.

I believe women possess enormous amounts of confidence, determination, a never-say-die attitude, and the ability to work extremely hard. While the issues that women face are countless, I believe what is required and most important is perseverance, in continuing to push oneself, and in leading in the midst of taxing circumstances.

Today, women are not only enjoying highly successful and satisfying careers, many of them are earning more than men do. In a world that is moving towards equality and equity, India’s citizens need the resolve and a change in mindset to address issues at their source.

Balancing work as a part of life cannot be just the woman’s challenge – it is our collective challenge as a society. The home needs a woman’s touch and presence just as much as the workplace needs to benefit from the approach a female employee (especially a leader) can bring. We need to create a safe, sensitive home and work environment to reap the benefits of adding women to the workforce.

Meenakshi Roy is Senior Vice President - Human Resources at Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd.

At a time when businesses are struggling to find the right talent pool, it is not advisable to waste available resources on the basis of gender discrimination. Organisations should be more flexible towards hiring talented women in their aim to remain competitive and harness market share

n Shachi Irde

There was a time, in the not too distant past, when it was unheard of or rare for a woman to hold positions of power and leadership, despite her talent, skills and ambition. The roles

that women were given, or chose for themselves, tended towards support functions or traditional, almost maternal roles.

This was not because these women were not ambitious. In the past, these ambitions were stifled by a host of biases and lack of access to right opportunities. Thanks to the efforts of numerous women who fought for their rights

in the workforce, today it is not uncommon for women to be CEOs of large corporations or run their own businesses. There are now laws and legislation to ensure that women are not discriminated against in the workplace. Companies have also realised that there is a consistent link between gender diversity in the workplace and their bottom line. However, though the road has been created, it is far from smooth journey for a woman on the trajectory to leadership.

What Companies Can Do to DevelopWomen Leaders!


cOrpOrAte StrUctUre



Leadership Development Programmes

The adage that leaders are born and not created does not hold true in today’s dynamic and diverse economy. The value of training and development cannot be discounted, any more than the value of good educational qualifications. Leadership development programmes are essential to getting ahead in today’s often hard to navigate environment, and they should be accessible to both men and women equally.

The aim of leadership development programmes should be the creation of a pipeline of highly qualified and motivated women leaders. As these kinds of programmes are designed to inculcate leadership qualities and teach management techniques, they can lead to high profile job assignments which would speed up career advancement. A Catalyst research report, “Good Intentions, Imperfect Execution? Women Get Fewer of the Hot Jobs Needed to Advance”, found that formal leadership development programmes can provide access to ‘hot jobs’ when managed strategically, but formal programmes don’t always result in advancement, particularly for women. The study also found that more men than women got ‘hot jobs’ after being in formal leadership development programmes, and more men were promoted within a year of programme completion (51% of men vs 37% of women).

These findings make it clear that not all leadership development happen due to formal programmes. In fact, many leadership development experts suggest that formal programmes contribute only 10 percent to an employee’s development and that 20 percent of leadership development happens as a result of networking,

mentoring, coaching and other influential relationships. In fact, as much as 70 percent of leadership development can come from on-the-job experiences since ‘hot jobs’ can provide challenging opportunities to develop and practice leadership skills.

Mentorship and Sponsorship: Critical For Career Development

Apart from skill development aspect, leadership development should also have two critical components: mentorship and sponsorship. These might seem like the same, but there are key differences in the two. Mentors provide feedback, advice, and act as a guide to help them learn to navigate the corporate waters. Sponsors are advocates in positions of authority who use their influence intentionally to help others advance. Both are essential in leadership development, and while there is a lot written about mentorship, sponsorship is often overlooked. However, it can be a key component in propelling someone’s career forward.

Over the years, Catalyst’s research has found that mentors benefitted men more than women, even when women are mentored earlier and more often in their careers. This is also because men get mentors in senior and influential positions. The right sponsor can accelerate a woman’s career as it is more credible to have a person in the authority vouch for her skills and talent, based on his or her firsthand experience.

Work-life Balance: Not only for Women

With the advent of dual careers and nuclear families, the pressure of managing family and career is very high. Organisations now offer a variety of flexible work options to ensure they retain the best talent. However, Catalyst’s report “The Great Debate: Flexibility vs Face Time” found that men and women in leadership positions make equal use of flexible work arrangements, but women are more likely to telecommute, use flexi-time and reduce their work hours or go part-time. The fact is that 90 percent of employees in organisations with flexible work options aspire to high level executive positions; but when such programmes are absent, women downsize their aspirations more than men.

In India, 75 percent of companies reported having flexible work programmes; however, a lot of them do not track whether these programmes

Leadership development programmes are essential to getting ahead in today’s often hard to navigate environment, and they should be accessible to both men and women equally


are being utilised. It is also important for such companies to raise awareness about flexible work and work from home programmes. It would not be unusual for women employees to be unaware that their company has a flexible work option.

Conversations with men from different organisations have brought to light the dilemma men face while opting for flexible options. Some fear falling out of the “old boys network” while few others feel stigmatised. While the policies are gender neutral, implementation/access needs renewed focus. The pressure on women to opt for flexible options can be eased by providing equal access to both men and women.

Access to Opportunities

A recent Catalyst report, “High Potentials Under High Pressure in India’s Technology Sector”, noted that at the start of their careers almost four-fifths (79%) of young high-potential men and

women aspire to senior executive positions, including that of CEO. These individuals start their careers on equal footing, with similar salaries and job responsibilities. However, over time, a gender gap begins to emerge. For example, one of the key experiences for career advancement is crucial on-the-job experiences and overseas projects. On an average, women get fewer of important, long-duration international relocations/assignments and the international relocations for men were longer. If companies expect a diverse workforce with more women in leadership positions, this is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed.

One of the organisations with which we work has made it mandatory to declare their availability to travel and or take up opportunities abroad in their appraisal process. This minimises biases and assumptions and provides equal opportunity and access to both men and women.

Conclusion

It has never been a better time to be a working woman. As there are many policies that have been put into place, both by companies and by law, which empower women in the workforce. In any career path, there will be stumbling blocks and there will be challenges, and these are to be overcome. Women need to find out what kind of company they work for, understand the unspoken rules of their organisation, and hitch their wagons to the right star. It just might take them straight to the top of their field.

Shachi Irde is Executive Director of Catalyst India WRC.

cOrpOrAte StrUctUre

While the policies are gender neutral, implemen-tation/access needs renewed focus. The pressure on women to opt for flexible options can be eased by providing equal access to both men and women



Women empowerment is a debatable subject. But a matter of national and international importance is that it is also listed as one

among the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to promote gender equality and empower women. BVIMR is organising a national seminar on “Women Entrepreneurship, Empowerment & Development” as it is committed to inspire, incubate and encourage the contribution of women empowerment in economic development of the nation. Women constitute almost 50 percent of the world’s population but India has shown disproportionate sex ratio, whereby female’s population has been comparatively lower than males. As far as their social status is concerned, they are not treated as equal to men in all the places. In Western societies, women have got equal right and status with men in all walks of life. But gender disabilities and discriminations are found in India even today. The paradoxical situation is such that woman sometimes considered as Goddess and at other times, merely as slave.

As an institution, Bharati Vidyapeeth has always stood for providing equal opportunities to women, encouraged the education of girl child, and empowered women to balance their work and life with the aim to create better prospects for women.

According to the World Bank’s 2012 “World Development Report: Gender Equality and Development”, closing these gender gaps matters for development and policymaking. Greater gender equality can enhance economic productivity, improve development

outcomes for the next generation, and make institutions and policies more representative. Empowering women is smart economics. The States where women have a voice in decision making and have access to education are higher on the growth agenda than the ones where these things lack. And this exactly makes women empowerment a subject of national importance. Women entrepreneurship is one of the routes to providing empowerment, financial freedom and sustainable economic development for women and the nation as a whole. Various self help groups which have utilised women have shown tremendous benefits not only to the family units they sustained but to societies they constituted.

Women entrepreneurship is gaining importance in India in the wake of economic liberalisation and globalisation. The policy and institutional framework for developing entrepreneurial skills, providing vocational education and training has widened the horizon for economic empowerment of women. However, women constitute only one-third of the economic enterprises. There exist a plethora of successful business women entrepreneurs both in social and economic fields in India. They are performing well. Government of India has also introduced National Skill Development Policy and National Skill Development Mission in 2009 in order to provide skill training, vocational education and entrepreneurship development to the emerging workforce. This seminar shall provide a platform for women in academia, industry and research to network, collaborate and work together towards achieving women empowerment for creating Incredible India.

National Seminar on Women Entrepreneurship, Empowerment & Development

March 4-5, 2014, organised by BVIMR, New Delhi

Dr Nayak

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Winning OUtlOOk

Women at WorkBreaking the Myth of Glass Ceilingn Dr Kavita Singh

Glass ceiling is a metaphor to describe the apparently invisible barrier that prevents more than a few women from reaching the top levels of management (Linehan

& Walsh 1999). The lion’s share of leadership positions throughout the world remain a male preserve as an invisible barrier which prevents women from reaching the highest corporate levels. Compared to formal barriers to career advancement such as education or experience requirements, the glass ceiling barriers are anchored in culture, society and psychological factors – that impede women advancement to upper management or other senior positions.

Profits, market share, status and influence are the indicators of male dominated culture in a traditional society whereas human relationships and communication are the indicators of female-oriented culture. A corporate culture supportive towards women and sensitive to their needs would first and foremost allow them to be ‘themselves’ at work. Although organisations make efforts to remain sensitive towards the impediments women facing in their career progression, the percentage of women in top jobs still remains skewed in favour of men. The rate at which the hike in salary and promotional opportunities are available for women is not in the same order as for men (Elmuti et al 2003). It has been observed that in such kind of environment women have to work double, earn their promotions with great difficulty

and are generally not a part of the well established networks in organisations.

Glass Ceiling in India

In Indian context, Nath (2000) has used the term ‘glass moulding’ which suggests Indian women managers do not have to emulate their male counterparts, but rather act in a unique and different way to add value to organisational functioning as women have to carve a unique niche for themselves using their strengths rather than competing on the same turf.

A survey conducted among 150,000 Indian IT professionals




found that women constitute over 19 percent of the total workforce at lower levels (up to 3 years of experience). The number drops to six percent at the senior level (more than 10 years of experience). The situation remains more or less the same even in the fields of academic research. Academic research cannot remain contained within nine-to-five routine, if success is to be achieved. With family responsibilities being culturally their burden, it becomes difficult for women to spend long hours at work. Bal (2005) found that women in late 20s are under family pressure to get married. When they take time off for child care, making a comeback is always a problem

as employment rules frequently tend to have upper age limits for positions. Even at senior level positions, female managers continue to be perceived as ‘women first’ (Gupta et al, 1998).

The belief that women managers are uncertain of themselves, look for constant assurances and tend to be passive are stereotyped responses which feed and multiply on themselves. The reality is that women in general and women in corporate have different value system which they can bring to the organisations. Management studies on the gender initiatives taken by the corporate worlds have shown that companies follow three approaches:

• Some companies expect their women employees to adopt masculine styles of functioning

• Some other companies recognise that women have different needs that require be addressed and accommodated at workplace and offer facilities accordingly

• The third set of companies recognises that women bring with them a difference in approach and attitude to workplace and are an asset to the organisation

However, management studies on gender inequity also recognise that all three approaches have their limitations. That being part of the boy’s golf game or making use of flexi-hours or even being praised for bringing in the feminine approach to running an organisation do not change the essential gender inequity inherent in the system that would require a larger social change and more so, a drastic shift in the perspective.

Therefore, women in corporate India are aware of constraints they work under and obviously try to make best of the bargain. They typically bear a disproportionate amount of responsibility for home and family and thus have more demands on their names outside the office. And when they do reach the managerial level by breaking the glass ceiling, they bring with them both silver lining and dark clouds. But they flower, if they are allowed to flower, despite all the obstacles, which are mainly societal and perceptual.

Breaking the Myth

As a matter of the fact, the Indian corporate world is reflecting the perseverance and

The belief that women managers are uncertain of themselves, look for constant assurances and tend to be passive are stereotyped responses which feed and multiply on themselves


determination of women managers to overcome the myth of glass ceiling. There are women who have taken on the entire world: Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo; Naina Lal Kidwai, MD, HSBC, India; Lalita Gupte, JMD, ICICI, Pragya Raman, Group Executive President, Aditya Birla Group; Renu Kannad, Executive Director, HDFC to name a few. Some of the India’s leading corporates are looking for female employees to fill in the middle and senior management positions.

A report by Catalyst says that companies with the highest representation of women on their top management teams experienced, on average, better financial performance than companies with the lowest women’s representation. According to this study, return on equity is 35 percent higher and total return to shareholders is 34 percent higher. In India, more women in workforce have been enabled by both societal norms and even technology. Culturally, however, organisations need to have a stronger male and female mindset and not a male-vs-female one. Typically companies would require from women a proven track record of about 25 years to serve on their boards. There is both a pull and a push side issue, but women can do their bit by being more aspirational and managing their careers accordingly (Mint, 2011).

Though there is a greater level of competitiveness than at the middle level, it has been found that women are not very comfortable about maneuvering at the top and step away. They may not be able to rise at the top because they are unable to maneuver organisational agility.

Glass ceiling still exists to some extent in Indian organisations, though not necessarily through inequitable compensation, but by prevalence of stereotypes. However with increasing participation of women in more important roles in the corporate, the glass ceiling is rapidly disintegrating. Some women feel its presence while most do not. But the women in corporate for definitely see an improvement in the scenario.

India has a large pool of aspiring talented and competent women workforce that has yet not been tapped and utilised. From a broader sense, it can be argued that pro women attitude and policies would go a long way to benefit organisations, society and nation as well. With globalisation there has been a marked improvement in corporate management of employment. It has

brought in the realisation that performance cannot be gender based. In both the developed and developing countries the legal system is being adopted feasibly to achieve realistic workplace equality in all respects. Global corporations are embarking on amendments in their workforce management policies to ensure equality and uniformity among all employees. Companies are patronising persistent measures to improve skills as well as employment awareness among women. The future of women managers in India indeed looks promising and in due course we can hope to see more names of women as heads of large business organisations.

References:

• Bal, V (2005), “Women Scientists in India: Nowhere Near the Glass Ceiling”, Current Science, Vol 88, No 6, pp 872-878

• Elmuti, D, Lehman, J, Harmon, B et al (2003), “Inequality Between Genders in the Executive Suite in Corporate America: Moral and Ethical Issues”, Equal Opportunities International, Vol 22, No 8, pp 1-19

• Gupta, A, Koshal, M & Koshal, RJ (1998). Women Managers in India: Challenges and Opportunities. Equal Opportunities International, 17: 14-18

• Linehan M and Walsh J S (1999), “Senior Female International Managers: Breaking the Glass Border”, Women in Management Review, Vol 14, No 7, pp 264-272

• Nath, G (2000). Gently shattering the glass ceiling: Experiences of Indian Women Managers, Women in Management Review, 15: 44-42

• Ramani (2011). Behind every successful woman is sheer hard work, Education Times, March 7, The Times of India

• Women in Business (2011). Mint, March 8

Dr Kavita Singh is Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi and is the author of Pearson textbook on Organisational Behaviour.

Winning OUtlOOk

India has a large pool of aspiring talented and competent women workforce that has yet not been tapped and utilised



Mentors and Role Models Effective Ways to Motivate Womenn Sonal Kwatra

“Over the past six years, companies with at least some female board representation out-performed those with no women on the board in terms of share price performance.”- Study by the Credit Suisse Research Institute in July, 2012

Many successful organisations have recognised the effect of investing in

women’s leadership development; however there are some who have not yet realised the need for such an investment. Some recent findings by Mercer will definitely get them to wonder why they did not. As per Mercer, over 140 studies have shown linkages between women in leadership positions and increased financial performance of these companies. Catalyst studied the financial performance of 353 Fortune 500 companies and the results showed that there is a connection between gender diversity and financial performance. Return on Equity (ROE) was 35 percent higher and Total Shareholder Return (TSR) was 34 percent higher for companies with higher representation of women on their top management teams. Another study tracked the performance of Fortune 500 companies with a strong record of promoting women to the executive suite versus other firms in the


same industries. Twenty five firms rated as the “best firms for women” outperformed industry medians. Overall profits were 34 percent higher, 18 percent higher in terms of assets, and 69 percent higher in terms of equity.

The above statistics only talk about the success stories of organisations that embrace women’s leadership development, however let’s take a moment to look at bigger picture to understand situation at a macro level. Since almost a decade, women have been entering various corporate positions all over the world at roughly the same pace as men, yet they constitute a very small segment at a higher stratum. In India, just about 11 percent of large company chief executives are women (EMA Partners International, 2010). Advancement of women in management positions has not kept pace with respect to the increase in number of working women. Their existence in senior management ranks is insignificant. Women are graduating and entering management positions, yet there is a bottleneck at middle management levels. While entry is easier, succession slows down post middle level and in most circumstances, despite their technical and professional credentials or accomplishments; women are seldom able to climb up in the management ladder to reach the top.

In confronting the challenges of managing their occupational pursuits of harnessing professional and individual goals, women occasionally struggle with developing their own leadership styles and successfully enhancing their influence and distinction within an organisation. To attain the top management ranks, it is necessary for women to identify, comprehend, and transform frequent corporate obstacles into career-enhancing prospects.

Keeping all these challenges in mind, STEP Consulting, an NCR based Learning and Development organisation that specialises in experiential learning has specifically designed a programme called Women’s Integrated Leadership Development (WILD). “WILD is a women’s mentoring programme that provides focussed development and broad exposure for high-potential talent”, says Michael Mitra, Managing Director of STEP Consulting. “The programme has been constituted to enhance the innate leadership qualities in women and aims at further enhancing the influencing abilities

of women by managing their own and others’ perceptions. This programme is designed so as to enable the participants to connect with themselves, to be able to successfully perform their multiple roles with a high focus on their internal locus of control rather than the ‘system’ or the ‘glass ceiling’ being perceived as limitations and hence creating a level playing field. The programme encourages the participants to explore their work life balance while being exposed to some real life role models.” Through a combination of interactive exercises, this unique programme allows women executives to discover frameworks and practices to achieve their goals in dynamic work environments.

The impact of such programmes has been studied by ORC Worldwide

Winning OUtlOOk

To attain the top management ranks, it is necessary for women to identify, comprehend, and transform frequent corporate obstacles into career-enhancing prospects



and has been expressed in “Talent Management Processes for a Diverse Leadership Team” published in 2009. According to the study, organisations offering focussed leadership development/experiences have the highest female representation among senior leaders – 28 percent, versus the organisations that do not find mentors/sponsors for women have the lowest female representation - 12 percent, among senior leaders. This tells us that mentors and role models are an amazingly effective way to motivate women to strive to achieve finer heights. Role models can be found everywhere – be it at home or at work, as well the ones that are visible only through the media.

One such role model, Marissa Mayer, current President and CEO

Sonal Kwatra is a consultant with STEP Consulting and contributes in the areas of outbound training, experiential learning, leadership development, team building, etc, with a strong focus on behavioural skills. She holds more than seven years of experience handling different aspects of the HR and L&D functions

with organisations such as American Express, Cvent, etc.

of Yahoo!, was Google’s employee number 20 and was the company’s first female engineer. During her interview, Larry Page and Sergey Brin said, “You know, we have seven engineers, and they’re all guys. But we’ve thought a lot about how we want to start our company, and we’ve read a lot of books, and we know that organisations work better when there is gender balance. So it’s important to us that we have a strong group of women, especially technical women, in the company.” Amongst other things, her openness to learning new things was perhaps her biggest growth catalyst. She thought Google had a two percent chance of succeeding, but decided to take a job there anyway because she realised that she would learn more at Google than any other company that she had offers from, regardless of whether they failed or succeeded. Post joining Yahoo! as a CEO, she took many calculated risks. Among other things, in May 2013, she led Yahoo to acquire Tumblr in a $1.1 billion acquisition. In July 2013, Yahoo reported a fall in revenues, but a rise in profits compared with the same period in the previous year. In September 2013, it was reported that the stock price of Yahoo! had doubled over the 14 months since Mayer’s appointment. Her success teaches many aspiring women leaders that there are no short cuts to success, since according to sources, she pulled 250 all-nighters in her first five years at Google.

Invest in developing your women workforce, who knows, you may have a Marissa Mayer hidden somewhere, with your support and encouragement, she may take your organisation to many new heights. Develop her, she will ensure she develops many new who join. Helping them reach their full potential is the most fruitful investment you can make as an organisation.

Never stop exploring!

Do Women Make Decisions Differently From Men?n Rajiv Naithani

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Most of the studies and researches carried out in western world indicate that women make better decisions than men. Chris Bart1 published a survey result in which he mentioned that

more than 600 Board Directors showed that women are more likely to consider the rights of others and to take a cooperative approach to decision making. This approach translates into better performance for their company.

There has been very little written on this topic in the Indian context. To understand the perspective of leaders in various corporates including both men and women in Indian scenario, I conducted a dipstick. This article will cover my key observations and findings from the dipstick study I had carried out.

Positioning of Women: Gender equality, with respect to men and women in India, is still seen be an issue. In most parts of India, women are still considered homemakers irrespective of their contribution to the family income. Male dominance exists in most parts of the country. It becomes a societal and ego issue if a husband earns less than his wife. The Indian Parliament’s debate on reservation for women been met with stiff opposition from the male dominated elected members.

Women in the Corporate World: However, despite their low ratio in the corporate workforce, women have emerged strongly in corporate world. In the dipstick, I carried out to understand different opinions from both men and women working in different corporates at senior positions, it consistently came up that ‘business Priority’ plays a vital role in decision making for both the genders. Both men and women appreciate and understand that their decisions must have business alignment.

In a question, “Do you feel women make decisions different from men”, it was observed that women surely think differently than men. While there were some neutral to conflicting views observed too primarily because of situations and circumstances under which

In almost all areas or verticals, women have to outperform

men to get the same rewards. Women have to struggle to make their opinion heard.

They also have to work twice as hard to prove themselves




a decision has to be taken. The overall environment around women influences their decision as well. For example, a people-friendly women leader may be averse in taking strong decisions. The views in support can be reviewed in line with below:

1 In the area of their specialisation, women are more focussed at decision making than their

male counterparts

2 Women tend to be concerned about building relationships and actively look from the other

person’s perspective

3 Women tend to be more interactive and cooperative, thereby inspiring a higher degree of

commitment towards business goals

4 Fairness is observed to be high in women’s decisions as they take the interests of multiple

stakeholders into account in order to arrive at a fair and moral decision. Men generally end up taking decisions purely based on financial implications

5 In difficult situation like laying off, men may end up favouring their friends while women will look

at the good of the company

6 A thoroughbred woman professional is no different than her male counterpart. She will go

with her understanding of what is best for the health of the organization, given the circumstances

While most of the people believe that women take decisions differently but when it comes to choosing the decision between men and women, people from both the genders expressed their views that they won’t look at decision from a gender perspective but rather they would look for rationale and logic in the decision.

This was found to be an interesting observation as at the thought level both men and women felt that women’s decisions are better than men and are expected to be fair but when it comes to picking, they want to evaluate it in line with circumstances, situations or context.

Women as Talented Leaders: Women, like in the rest of the world, have had to struggle harder to make their voices heard, acknowledged and appreciated. In general, the Indian male still struggles with ego issues when accepting decisions made by women that are contrary to his own beliefs.

One important observation found in the study was that in industry like IT, women are considered as talented leaders whereas the picture is completely different in the manufacturing segment. Besides, it has been a consistent observation that corporate world in India has not matured enough to accept the importance

of women as decision makers. In almost all areas or verticals, women have to outperform men to get the same rewards. Women have to struggle to make their opinion heard. They also have to work twice as hard to prove themselves. Their importance is understood but the struggle is too long.

Despite of these odds, there has been a sea change in the perspective of corporate world in recent times and women have started drawing a lot of respect as talented leaders and decision makers in all fields in India. We have examples of Dr Kiran Mazumdar, Chanda Kochhar, Ekta Kapoor, Neelam Dawan, Naina Lal Kidwai, Indu Jain, etc, who have proved their metal to entire world. In my own case, I have worked under multiple women leaders and I have always been inspired with their decision making.

Challenges before Women Leaders: I believe that that the main challenge, a woman leader faces, is dealing with the ego of her subordinates, peers and colleagues. Other than that, the challenges of women in managerial positions aren’t any different than the challenges of women in other positions in the company (work-life balance, sexual advances, late night shifts, partying and so on).

When compared to men, men are given leadership roles based simply on their performance and potential while with women many other factors are looked at – whether she has children, can she travel, can she work late hours, how will the team react to her, will she be authoritative enough to handle a team, is she emotional, amongst many others.

Men in leadership roles are taken seriously based on the position they occupy while a woman has to constantly prove that she is capable of occupying the position.

From the Indian context, the most challenging aspect for a working woman is balancing her professional and home life. Life after maternity, support from extended family to succeed in professional life etc, do have impact on the professional growth of the women employees.

Women certainly require a conducive and enabling environment to work and prosper in any organisation. This includes right set of people around who accept woman as a leader, and the other important aspect is security where woman can think and work with no fear.

Rajiv Naithani is Head HR & L&D at GlobalLogic India Limited. He may be reached at [email protected].

1(http://www.boarddiversity.ca/sites/default/files/IJBGE8-Paper5-Why-Women-Make-Better-Directors.pdf)


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Enabling Environment and Equal Opportunities Critical to Development of Women Leadersn Sushma Rana

“If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.” – Plato, The Republic

When I joined the Indian Navy back in 1993, I did not think of it as being particularly adventurous, path-breaking or even ‘different’. Joining

the navy was only the realisation of a childhood dream. And while getting there was indeed special, it wasn’t as if I was doing it to prove anything to anybody as it was made out to be by the outside world, that was all excited with the news that women have broken the ‘glass ceiling’, entering a bastion perceived to be predominantly ‘male’. I only knew I had made a career in which I was expecting to be given a fair deal.

A few years after I had joined the navy, a debate began among the navy’s policy-makers on the long term prospects for women in the service. The crucial issue was the grant of permanent commission. The lack of consensus on the matter meant some women officers – including myself – had to hang up their naval uniforms

after completing mandatory service. Finally, last year, the defence ministry made a decision to accept women in a permanent position in the navy, officially acknowledging their equal competence with their male counterparts.

My experience in the corporate sector so far has been that things here are not very different from what I observed in the navy. The field of work is different, but issues remain the same – especially for women in middle management roles. Almost universally, “women in higher hierarchical positions” makes for an uncomfortable proposition. Admittedly, there are some industries (like ours) which are more gender inclusive by virtue of the business.



The good news is that things are beginning to change, albeit slowly. The recent Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) reveals that globally, more women are making it into senior management roles than at any time since 2010. In India, the number of women in senior management has gone up marginally to 19 percent in 2013 from 14 percent in 2012. Some of the common barriers prompting women to opt out of workforce after reaching the middle management are:

• ‘Double burden’ syndrome (balancing work and family responsibilities)

• ‘Anytime, anywhere’ performance model (work model requiring availability and geographical mobility at all times)

• Women’s reluctance to promote themselves and lack of networks that can be crucial to their advancement

• Lack of women role models who can inspire and encourage other women

• Lack of pro-family policies/support services (e.g., child care)

In a long list of often unspoken or unrecognised biases, one that stands out is the fact that people are more comfortable with those who resemble themselves. To be successful at higher positions, however, women have to be prepared, just like men. The fact that women can be reluctant to promote themselves only intensifies such biases.

To promote gender diversity, many organisations look at instituting women quota system or providing flexi-work arrangements but these measures alone are not sufficient. Also, quota system sometimes causes more friction than resolving the issue.

At MSL Group, to enable the talented pool of women employees at middle management to further their careers, we have instituted the following measures:

1. Management commitment, which means the CEO and the leadership team champion gender diversity ensuring complete transparency and no gender bias. We have one woman executive for every two men executives in the leadership team.

The leadership team is actively involved in identifying, developing, mentoring and sponsoring potential leaders at the middle levels, encouraging equal women’s participation. Equal opportunities are provided to women in career advancement roles.

2. Skill building and development programmes, which equally equip women with skills and networks they need to be affiliated with and raise their ambitions and profiles. Some of these programmes include Junior Executives Development Programme, Managers Development Programme, Directors Development Programme and Executive Development Programmes which have a very fair representation of women employees.

3. Setting enablers by instituting company policy framework, giving women equal opportunities for progress through the talent


pipeline. These include creating an inclusive work culture, providing gender-sensitive work environment and fair HR processes and policies framework such as:

• We have defined our organisational values and company culture that focusses on mutual respect, continual learning, diversity and opportunity and growth for all employees, irrespective of gender

• Established clear, transparent and objective job assessment standards and performance-based reviews and appointments. This includes non-discriminatory promotion criteria and rewards by instituting performance evaluation systems that neutralise the impact of personal lifestyle such as parental leave and/or flexible work arrangements etc

• No compensation gaps. The compensation slabs at every level or title is gender-neutral

• Effective employee engagement with transparency and fairness in providing equal opportunities

• Well-defined employee career path with not only ladder but lattice advancement opportunities too. This also opens up the possibilities and opportunities based on the choices women make

• Work-out-of-home option and no late-sitting policy: The equality in availing these discourages a corporate culture in which a manager’s commitment is gauged by whether he or she is available anytime, anywhere, which usually makes it more difficult for women who want to balance work with family responsibilities to succeed

• ‘GROW’, the global mentoring programme wherein senior executives are officially assigned as mentors to more junior employees to help them develop their careers and make decisions related to their professional growth

• Support facilities such as healthy leave policy which helps employees to lead a well-balanced work life. In addition, medical benefits are extended not only to the employee but family as well

• A few programmes have been also instituted exclusively for women to help reconcile work and family life through certain phase, a woman goes through. For example, options for flexible working conditions and/or locations

Sushma Rana is Talent Director at MSL Group.

• Young working mom’s policy: This includes ‘phase-back’ and ‘flexi-time’ options to the young mothers post availing maternity leave till such time that they are ready to work full-time. Young mother is also given an option to take sabbatical leave

In addition, we have VivaWomen, an internal global network of women within Publicis Groupe forum, to help women further their careers establishing links with other women’s networks and to participate in joint projects within the Groupe. The overarching goals of the forum are accelerating the advancement of women by initiating career progression opportunities, empowering each other, building mentorships and sponsorship relationships, promoting networking by growing personal and professional contacts, sharing best practices, information, education, experience, helping one another build leadership skills and working on women driven initiatives that benefit all employees.

Today, all a woman needs for success in her chosen field of profession, is not really big ‘concessions’, but an ‘enabling’ work environment and ‘equal’ work opportunities. This is central and critical to nurturing a new generation of leaders — men and women — who willingly embrace their opposites and celebrate each other’s success.

Oprah Winfrey summed it best when she said, “I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that’s how I operate my life.’’

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Today, all a woman needs for success in her chosen field of profession, is not really big ‘concessions’, but an ‘enabling’ work environment and ‘equal’ work opportunities


Anti- Sexual Harassment Law Top Three Challenges for HR Professionalsn Pallavi Pareek

I have been asked many times and have indulged in numerous discussions regarding the roles and responsibilities of HR in an

organisation. Sadly, while rest of the organisation still thinks of HR role as nothing more than hiring and firing and meanwhile regaining control over the salary of employees, whether internal/external or part-time engagements, the role and responsibilities of HR expands to a much deeper and wider level. Not many outside HR fraternity would be able to relate with the compliance responsibilities that HR professionals face in their day-to-day activities. However, more than compliance, HR professionals have to ensure that laws are implemented in letter and spirit and that the work environment

remains positive, fair, open and to attract good talent.

The latest in the season is implementation of Anti-Sexual Harassment Law enacted in 2013. While like any other regulatory requirement of the law, this will follow the same process of deciphering, comprehending, tweaking, and finally struggling with implementation of the Act. Unlike a lot of labour laws, there is no getting away without it as non-compliance with this Act can attract a fine of `50,000, cancellation of business license in cases of multiple non-compliances. In fact, the labour department is seeking a punishment of imprisonment of three years for directors of such errant companies, as per recent newspapers reports.

Let me state the extensive duties that are enforced on employers under the Act:

1. Any organisation which has more than 10 people working at any office or branch must



mandatorily constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) to deal with sexual harassment cases

2. Employers must have anti-sexual harassment policies and treat sexual harassment as misconduct under the employment contract or service rules

3. All employers must display a notice at workplace explaining the penal consequences of sexual harassment and composition of the ICC

4. All employers must organise training and workshops to sensitise employees about the meaning and impact of sexual harassment

5. Employers have a number of filing and reporting obligations – they must include information on the status of sexual harassment cases in the organisation in their annual report or in a separate disclosure that must be submitted to designated district officer

6. Employers must facilitate initiation of criminal action against the perpetrator with respect to sexual harassment complaints against those who are not employees with the same organisation

Having understood the duties of employer under this Act, let us now look at the top three issues that HR professionals will face:

1. Maintain Gender Equality at Workplace

HR professionals have worked long and hard to make the workplace and its policies gender neutral. They have to create consensus about workplace policies to make them effective and acceptable to the workforce. Unlike the writ of law, they cannot afford to be high handed. Having to implement a law which is not gender neutral poses difficult questions as men at workplace may not feel invested in a system which refuses to protect men from sexual harassment while putting them at risk of potential frivolous and vengeful accusations.

Sexual harassment at workplace is not limited to only one gender. There have been many cases where a man has been sexually harassed by another man or a woman. However, these incidents are not reported as often and do not draw public outrage as is the case with harassment of women.

While corporate cosmos is struggling with bringing both genders in a workplace on the same level, and has been working towards this for a long time, this Act may take away those efforts and create a division between them again.

The HR, while implementing this Act, will need to ensure keeping the balance and inclusion intact. This can be done by making a neutral sexual harassment policy which will cover and protect every gender and offences. However, what is applicable for women is legally binding and will be treated accordingly. For instance, women can appeal the decision of the ICC to an external authority while men who complain of harassment would not have same opportunity.

2. Formulation of the ICC

The law requires at least two members of the ICC to be women. Also one of these women is required to be in a senior position who would be chairing the ICC. The law also requires one external member from an NGO or someone who is an expert on women issues to be part of the ICC. An organisation has to create ICC at every branch or establishment which has more than 10 employees, otherwise it may be fined and the repeated violation can lead to loss of business license.

This poses problems for organisation where there are no female employees, either in the whole organisation, in all the branches or in senior positions. In any case, a female employee of the organisation needs to be trained to be able to handle responsibilities of the chairperson of ICC. If there is a woman in senior position in any other city or branch, she may take over the role of chairperson for multiple ICCs within the organisation.

However, even if an organisation does not have any female employee but more than 10 employees, it is

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HR professionals have worked long and hard to make the workplace and its policies gender neutral. They have to create consensus about workplace policies to make them effective and acceptable to the workforce



supposed to form an ICC under the law. It is not clear how this can be achieved. This appears to be an anomaly in the law which would be hopefully clarified in the time to come. If there is an organisation or a branch with less than 10 employees, there is no need to create an ICC, and sexual harassment complaints at such places are to be directly taken up with the district level authority formed under the anti-sexual harassment law.

In matters of appointing an external member, HR professionals are facing alignment dilemma due to concerns that their ideology and views may not be aligned with the objectives of organisation. There is a general perception prevailing amongst businesses that it is necessary to appoint an NGO worker or activist as the external member – which is not correct. Any person having expertise on legal or women-related issues can be appointed – and lawyers or those having qualifications in women’s rights related issues or sexual harassment related issues can be appointed as well. Many organisations are appointing the ICC members of other organisation, especially the Chairperson as their external member.

3. Initiatives of Sensitisation

As per the Act, employers have the duty to conduct workshops and sensitise employees on sexual harassment law. However, like any other workshop and sensitisation initiative, there is a risk that these programmes may not attract serious participation from employees and turn ceremonial, which can defeat the objective of sensitisation. The standard format of disseminating information is to administer a form signed by employees, agreeing that they have understood the implications of law. However, this does not really ensure that employees understand the gravity of the issue

or understand what behaviour is acceptable at workplace. Considering the sensitivity of knowledge and the way it can be used and manipulated by people in the organisation, HR professionals cannot afford to take this lightly.

For effective sensitisation, organisations can design alternate mechanisms, such as periodic testing and certification procedures to ensure that employees have actually absorbed the message of sensitisation programmes. They may also consider providing additional support may be in the form of digital toolkits, handouts and other assistance and keep them updated with case studies and interactive sessions around gender neutrality and workplace ethics.

Other than these three issues, there are many more issues that HR professionals will face in the implementation of this Act. One major concern is of resources available to them to implement the law properly. Not every business is in a position to spend many employee hours or significant money on hiring consultants and trainers. It is important to identify effective tools that will make the job easier. One of the tools that you can use is http://endsexualharassment.ipleaders.in. This includes free material for sensitisation, workshop ideas and compliance details. There is also a paid version that can be very useful for HR professionals who do not have lawyers or specialised consultants at their disposal.

Despite implementing the Act in its complete essence, identifying and formulating the ICC, conducting timely and effective sensitisation activities – gender neutrality and moral/ethical conduct at the workplace is a responsibility shared by each and every member who is part of the organisation and connected to the organisation. To be able to reach out to all involved and invested people and create a holistic culture of prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment is an everyday challenge. No organisation will reach there right away, but significant progress can be made based on the stimulus provided by the new enactment.

Pallavi Pareek is Computer Science graduate and Masters in Management from University of Asia and the Pacific. She has been an organisational development consultant in India and Philippines for 8 years. She is a co-founder of mass legal education startup iPleaders, which launched a

web based tool to assist Indian employers to implement anti-sexual harassment laws. She is also the Startup Leadership Director with Euphoria Ventures, a virtual incubator for startups/early stage growth companies.

As per the Act, employers have the duty to conduct workshops and sensitise employees on sexual harassment law


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“HR Function Can Play an Important Role in Enabling Inclusion”Sunita Rebecca Cherian, Vice President – Human Resources & Global Head – Diversity & Inclusion with Wipro Limited, has over 18 years of industry experience spanning Sales, Human Capital Strategy, Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion. A Human Resource leader since 2000, she has helped shape the HR organisation of Wipro Technologies and has led some impactful change management initiatives. In an Interview with Aamir H Kaki, Copy Editor, People and Management, she shares insightful thoughts on role of women leadership in organisations, challenges faced by working women and diversity policies at Wipro. Excerpts:

How would you characterise the opportunities for professional women in India today?

Qualified women professionals who seek challenging careers would find many opportunities across sectors in India today. This is especially true of the technology sector, where young women and men professionals do in fact, join in equal numbers. Career growth thereon would be determined not just by qualification or competence, but by performance and ambition levels.

According to statistics, it is the fact that today’s young women are equally educated as their male counterparts, why have we not yet seen this advantage translate into the workplace?

Education is an important qualifier. It opens gates into industry, and is a stepping stone. At the workplace, however, more factors come into play. While women and men may have similar capabilities and qualifications at the start, their life circumstances and family responsibilities usually follow different trajectories. Society expects women to fulfil their family responsibilities well, and the resultant time pressure is

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often experienced by women a few years after she begins her career. Studies indicate this as a predominant reason why career trajectories for women and men tend to differ not at the start of career, but a few years hence.

What can HR people do to help the diversity policies that organisations have on paper come alive in practice?

The HR function, and indeed, all leaders and people managers could play important roles in enabling inclusion. The HR function should design inclusive policies, help create widespread awareness and train employees. Leaders are best placed to influence inclusive behaviour by establishing it as an organisational priority. People managers should lead by personal example and through recognising inclusive behaviour in their teams.

Apart from the juggling act, what are the leadership challenges that women face at work?

The real challenge for a woman leader would be balancing the expectations of the organisation with the expectations that society and family place on her – a belief that she has not really achieved if she has not achieved simultaneously across these three axes. The challenges of navigating organisational dynamics, managing conflict, networking and scaling the career ladder are challenges women would share with any other leader. Maybe they have less history and experience of these. So organisations like Wipro support women face these challenges through mentorship by experienced senior colleagues.

Why is it important to you as an HR Leader of a global company to have women in leadership positions?

For Wipro, and for me personally, it is very important that we are inclusive. Gender is one area where we believe it is important to be inclusive. People across nationalities and persons with disabilities are other such areas. Inclusion is important because it recognises merit over all else, and facilitates through a platform of equal opportunity. Such a platform would be designed and built on a foundation of fairness, and that is very important. We see in our women executives increasing levels of ambition, and firm belief that Wipro provides an equal opportunity platform. As that propels more and more women into leadership, we would have established a sustainable model, one that resonates well with the natural gender balance within society and one that responsible global organisations are increasingly embracing.

How would you describe the differences between women’s leadership style and men’s leadership style?

In my experience, leadership styles are shaped by

individual personalities, perspectives, life experiences and the people around us. I would not generalise styles based on gender and strait-jacket women and men into typical categories or leadership behaviour and would avoid stereotyping them. I have seen diverse leadership styles exhibited by different women and men leaders, and that I think is good for the organisation.

What are your goals for employee diversity as you look ahead 5, 10, 20 years in Wipro’s future?

Over the last few years, our initiatives to improve inclusion have helped establish awareness across the organisation that this is an important priority. It has served to create equal opportunity frameworks, training programmes, a system of measurement, and I must add, a deep sense of responsibility in leaders across levels. Indeed, in recent employee perception surveys, our employees have rated us a very inclusive place.

When I look to the future, what I would like to see is diversity at every level and in all key roles, and us to be able to count a number of role models across roles. This I think may be achieved only as a result of a sustainable framework, and our efforts in the coming years would be to enable that.

How would you describe your leadership style and what works for you in empowering your employees, both male and female?

I would describe myself as a catalyst, I make it my responsibility to blend in with the changing environment to shape direction, while being aligned to long-term priorities.

What would you like to achieve, as a leader, in the coming five years?

One would like to be remembered for doing things that have sustained well and for achieving that in areas that build responsible organisations. I would like our journey in inclusion to reach heights that matter to Wipro and to society. My having contributed to that journey would be reward enough.

Can you offer some practical tips for women seeking leadership positions/unconventional roles?

I would encourage women who seek the challenge of the unconventional, the uncharted. Often radical change is the result of someone treading such paths. It is quite likely that one could face unforeseen setbacks along the way. If one is steadfast, one could make a habit of overcoming them, and that would be a powerful trait. I also do recognise that nature made women unique, and it’s as important to smell the flowers along the way as it is to be successful. So do take the time to build that in. It completes you.



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Key Practices to Help Make Diversity Policies Successfuln Suman Rudra

HR holds a very important role in promoting the diverse policies of an organisation. Pursuing the diversity agenda has been a favourite subject for most

organisations now, but this is also something new to many and hence it calls for the adoption of change management process to have a lasting effect. Any major corporate change to be successful depends on key factors such as strong support from company leaders, an employee base that is fully engaged with this initiative, strong management practices that is integrated and aligned backed by a well-articulated business case for action. Let’s understand them in details.

1. Demonstrate Leadership Support

It is become a cliché to say that leadership matters, but the issue merits discussion here because diversity is one of the areas in which executive leadership is often in-effectual. Executives’ espoused beliefs are frequently inconsistent with their behaviour and they typically underestimate how much the organisation really needs to change to achieve its diversity goals. That is because diversity strategies tend to lay out lofty goals without providing the structures to educate senior executives in the specific challenges faced by various constituencies. In addition, these strategies often do not provide models that teach or encourage new behaviours.

Companies can take several approaches to help executives deepen their awareness and understanding. To begin with, there is a need to create diversity task forces—how they operate and who is on them—immerses executive sponsors in the specific challenges faced by the employee constituency groups. The groups are

a formal mechanism for learning, endorsed at the highest levels of the company.

Second, someone can assume the role of the chief diversity officer and acts as a partner with the CEO as well as coach and advisor to other executives.

2. Engage Employees as Partners

Employees need to be engaged in groups like task forces effort to address issues of diversity which shall represent a significant culture shift but the organisation needs to demonstrate its willingness to be influenced, committing significant resources to efforts suggested by the groups. Trust is also built as the task force structure allows employees more face time with leaders—leaders they would likely not have had a chance to meet—and provided new opportunities for mentoring.

The task force structure can be copied on a smaller scale within specific business units. Even

Executives’ espoused beliefs are frequently inconsistent with their behaviour and they typically underestimate how much the organisation really needs to change to achieve its diversity goals



without a mandate from corporate brass, most units can create their own diversity councils, offering local support for achieving each unit’s specific diversity goals. Here, too, the employee partnership model prevails.

3. Integrate Diversity with Management Practices

HR practices needs to incorporate the diversity focus and this goes a long way in signalling the true intent of diversity focus and convert into real benefits, like the Succession Planning discussions of managing talent at the corporate and business unit levels. During these meetings of the senior team, leaders are expected at any moment to be able to discuss any high-potential manager, but an explicit effort is made to ensure that minorities and females are discussed together with the male colleagues. This is to make the leadership more accountable for spotting and grooming high-potential minority managers both in their own areas and across the business.

4. Link Diversity Goals to Business and HR Goals

Sustaining Diversity agenda requires that diversity goals to become an integrated part of the company’s business goals, that this would be good business, not good philanthropy. It has been proven that talent pool of educated women is the most underutilised source which companies has not been leveraging. Hence to achieve business objectives, organisations need to have policies that attract and retain this particular talent pool. Some of the ways and means to do this are:

i) Business activities such as hiring, training, compensation, promotions, transfers, terminations, social and recreational activities are conducted without discrimination based on, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status

ii) Effective management of workforce diversity policy is an important strategic objective. Every manager is expected to abide by this policy and uphold the company’s commitment to workforce diversity

iii) Safe working environment: Organisations needs to provide safe and secure working environment, free from any mental and physical harassment and discrimination for females and complying with all state and federal laws. In India, it is imperative by law that there are Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) which is well communicated, it is functioning as desired and people have trust and faith in such process, else they have a choice to directly go to police/labour authorities which shall bring more disrepute to the organisation and then it shall not be the ideal workplace for women

iv) Workplace culture and shared values: These are stated and unstated values and beliefs the organisation follows. All polices are good to the extent that they are implemented. There are testing time when organisations needs to take decisions regarding performance ratings, rewards, compensation, career growth and development of female employees, which is natural but what happens when the case is about someone who’s been on maternity leave or leave of absence due to personal reasons. Similarly, potential evaluation of a married female person vis-a-vis married male sometimes depends on the “ability to stretch” beyond working hours, travel


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readiness etc, than any scientific methods of evaluating potential. The way these decisions are taken is closely scrutinised by employees as a real test of diversity supporting culture

5. Working Flexibility/Alternate Work Options

This has become synonymous with any organisation wanting to provide diversity supporting workplaces. This is not just about creating an environment that offer employees flexibility but also financial security, autonomy, meaningful work, and opportunity for development and advancement. These have become the cornerstone of employee value proposition for women employees and the actual practices are more important than polices guidelines. This is again closely linked to management support for such practices, work culture and keeping this as a lean process without too many approvals. This works more on the trust reposed to employees than on rules and regulations.

6. Women’s Councils/Network Groups/Business Resource Groups

These are resources which organisations can utilise to further the diversity agenda. They can play multi-fold roles. The councils attracts, retains and develops the best talent from diversity talent pool and creates an inclusive environment enabling people to be authentically themselves and one in which candid cross-constituency dialogue and relationships are the norm. Diversity Network Groups are defined as volunteer employee groups that come together with the goal of enhancing’ organisation success through meeting, teaming, networking, mentoring, and coaching. They have also been instrumental in enhancing recruitment and welcoming female employees. Business Resources groups work to implement, maintain programmes that help companies to embrace the similarities and difference of people, culture and ideas. They also make recommendations for senior management on how to advance the company’s efforts towards achieving diversity goals.

7. Women Leadership Development

There are specific leadership development programmes focussed on diversity that can be leveraged for diversity top talent. These programmes confront critical areas of

negotiations, team effectiveness, power and relationships, social networks and influence, communication, thus, empowering participants with the latest techniques to navigate these complex management issues. In facing the challenges of managing their careers to maximise professional and personal goals, women often struggle with how to develop their own leadership styles and effectively enhance their power and status within an organisation. To reach the highest levels of management, it is essential for women to recognise, understand, and transform common business challenges into career-building opportunities. Besides learning, these groups provide an opportunity to network and learn from experience of peers which is of immense value.

8. Recognition

With the growing awareness around this subject, there are many industry level recognitions both locally and globally to showcase the organisations who have done pioneering work in pursuing the diversity agenda. Organisations can nominate not just to win recognition as a diversity aligned organisation but also benchmark practices and enhance them further. Top 10 companies for Global Diversity, Working Mothers - Top 100 companies to work and NASSCOM, Diversity and Inclusion awards, SHRM award for Diversity and Inclusion are some such awards.

Suman Rudra is India HR Leader at NCR Corporation.

Diversity Network Groups are defined as volunteer employee groups that come together with the goal of enhancing’ organisation success through meeting, teaming, networking, mentoring, and coaching


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HR Integral to CSRn Sucheta Shetty

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development defines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

as a business commitment and contribution to the quality of life of employees, their families, local community and society at large to support sustainable economic development. In present scenario, the influence of CSR is far-reaching and is appreciated in communities throughout the world.

It is widely witnessed that in a dynamically changing global economy, organisations have greater responsibility to facilitate, demonstrate and promote CSR. Delivery, not rhetoric, is the key to stakeholders developing trust in an organisation. CSR needs to be entrenched in an organisation’s culture to view the change in actions and attitudes and the support of senior management is pivotal to its success. Thus, a well implemented CSR framework is a building block for a positive company reputation, yielding a competitive edge while at the same time contributing to the environment, community and thereby being socially responsible.

It is a well-known fact that human resource management function deals with staffing,


engaging, developing intellectual capital and fostering compliance with employment laws and human right standards. The involvement of an organisation’s human capital is critical to the success of CSR performance. Human resource managers have the necessary tools and the opportunity to influence and leverage employee commitment and engagement in, the firm’s CSR strategy. High performing organisations foster a culture of CSR and fully integrate it throughout their operations, and by rewarding and incentivising such initiatives. It is a proven fact that employees prefer to work for organisations aligned with their values; thus integrating CSR into the employee brand can enhance recruitment and retention. There are established facts that organisation such as Novo Nordisk, a high-value CSR pharmaceutical company in Denmark, for example, after launching their ‘Values in Action’ programme, which aligns their business objectives with sustainable development principles, saw a five percent drop in staff turnover, while Sears found a 20 percent reduction in staff turnover since implementing their CSR programme (Skinner, 2002, p1). It is thus important to position the “C of CSR” as “Collective rather than being mere Corporate”.

The role of HR leadership in creating ‘Employee Value Proposition for CSR’ is enumerated as below:

Strategic Visioning and Stakeholder Alignment: People advisors need to develop strategic roadmap, which is clearly articulated and is actionable. Examine the current organisational culture and elements that support CSR and block CSR through series of discussions and review core business process.

It is crucial to facilitate stakeholder and leadership buy-in

towards the institutionalisation of the process.

Crafting and Executing CSR Stratagem: To maximise employee engagement in CSR strategies, a co-creation model needs to be developed using a mechanism or forum for employee consultation and feedback. HR stewards should further enable employee-driven CSR goals to enhance employee engagement in this space. In implementing such CSR programmes, the human capital function needs to keep balance between standardisation and customisation.

To some degree, both are vital to appropriately address the needs of stakeholder communities. A more conscious effort to move away from uniform execution to customised initiatives for workforce segments and local communities may be necessary and more feasible. This shift to a more tailored approach, wherever appropriate, would also help assuage concerns of false employee perceptions of CSR.

Communicating and Evaluating: HR champions are required to strengthen communication channels and promote awareness of the companies CSR Tenets and Programmes. It is essential that HR aligns recruitment, performance management and rewards with the organisation’s CSR values. A CSR coaching structure needs to be established, wherein managers, reinforce a culture of responsible leadership and CSR-related expectations among team-members. Incorporate CSR messages and stories of community and environmental activities periodically in internal communications. The generation we are largely targeting today is the Gen Y, thus leveraging the social media as medium of communication is inevitable. Hence, it is critical to ensure that a robust interactive internal communication channel is in place, in which all employees are engaged and feel integral in building and contributing to the society. Thus the ‘3E’ of communication for the success of such programme lies in ‘Engage’, ‘Encompass’ and ‘Endow’.

As an underpinning, organisation needs to develop and strengthen CSR reporting and auditing systems that reinforce transparency and consistency. It is important to define a comprehensive evaluation mechanism for effectiveness and efficiency. These mechanisms will enable HR to design effective metrics around the impact of CSR strategy on employee

High performing organisations foster a culture of CSR and fully integrate it throughout their operations, and by rewarding and incentivising such initiatives

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outcomes. The standards of evaluation should further include internally focussed measurements of employee satisfaction levels, commitment, responsiveness and a culture that demonstrates sustainability initiatives.

CSR-Learning Architecture: The Learning Officer has a mantle of designing programmes that educate workforce on the concept that aids them in seeking an understanding, of how their individual actions, can make a positive impact on organisation and community building. Therefore, it necessitates the following:

• Train managers in theories and practices of CSR, in alignment with organisational objective

• CSR training to be mandated as part of on-boarding process

• Experiential opportunities for talent work-groups to be involved in social or environmental contribution to the community

• Diversity and inclusion programmes that ensure all individuals have a fair opportunity

Recognition: Instituting recognition and reward programmes that foster employee commitment towards such initiatives will encourage further participation. Embrace, appreciate and acknowledge everyone’s effort and contributions. It is essential that human resource managers should consider a way to develop

Sucheta Shetty is Vice President – HR at TAKE Solutions. She has over 12 years of comprehensive experience in Human Resource, covering areas such as Talent Acquisition, Talent Management,

OD Interventions and Benefits Administration.

reward and recognition programmes

because linking these to the CSR

goals of the business could improve

the performance of CSR.

The close integration of CSR

principles into HR functions

will help build and encourage a

workforce culture strongly aligned

with the organisation’s CSR strategy.

Thus, human capital function plays

a significant role in strategising

and implementing sound HR

management practices that support

the company’s business and CSR

goals.

CSR should be part of the

DNA of every individual in the

organisation, where-in it seen as a

collective responsibility and this

would be the primary role and

accountability of a CSHR manager.

CSR should be part of the DNA of every individual in the organisation


Law against Sexual Harassment Prohibition Certainly, Redressal?n Sunil Kumar and Kriti Kaushik

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, a yet to be

notified legislation, seeks to provide protection to women from sexual harassment at workplace. While defining the acts constituting sexual harassment and making provision for the aggrieved woman to approach the employer as the first recourse, the Act also intends to give teeth to the employer for taking action against an act of sexual harassment. However, pending the framing of the rules (which are yet to be notified) prescribing the procedure for holding inquiries and the quantum of punishment to be given where the offence is proved, a lot is left to speculation and to the test of time. This article proposes to highlight and examine some of these issues in the law which will need greater clarity as they are tested by real time cases.

The Act definitely recognises the need to provide a law for setting up an internal forum for redressing instances involving sexual harassment at the workplace of female employees. In a conservative and patriarchal society like India, it was never easy or even possible for a woman to report to the police their harassment at the hands of male colleagues. Even employers would be reluctant to take cognizance

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of such cases and prefer to hush up matters. The Act thus provides for constitution of an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at every workplace. The ICC is required to consist of four members, which being an even number, it is difficult to comment on how fruitful it will prove in taking decisions and implementation of the recommendations.

Further, the Act provides for the ICC to initiate action only on a written complaint made by the aggrieved woman. Where such complaint cannot be made in writing, the ICC is required to render all reasonable assistance to the victim for making such complaint in writing. We wonder how the ICC is expected to treat a situation where it comes to know of an offence on its own. It is not clear if the ICC is entitled to initiate a suo moto action against the male employee in a prima facie case of sexual harassment.

The other feature of the law is that, as such situations arise, the aggrieved female employee will feel confident and encouraged that a legal recourse is available which does not get converted immediately into a criminal investigation and also provides an option to both the parties involved to perhaps settle for a mutually acceptable solution and learn not to cross the line in future. For the employer too, the law provides a legal framework for handling such cases and resolving them in the strictest possible confidentiality. Thus, the Act recognises the need of a woman to confide in a known and familiar internal institution within the organisation. Further, the internal institution has the advantage of being accessible. In one stroke, the law has given a feeling of psychological security at the workplace.

The provision for so-called ‘conciliation’ between the aggrieved woman and the male employee requires the ICC to draw up the feasibility of a settlement before initiating an inquiry in the matter. However, such a settlement can only be sought on an express request made by the aggrieved woman. While the said provision prohibits any possibility of a monetary compensation as the basis of a settlement, it does not suggest what sort of terms may form the basis of the settlement. Besides that, Section 11(2) of the Act provides that where a person is convicted of an offence under the Act, the court can, over and above the punishment prescribed under Section 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code

(IPC), order the convicted person to pay such amount to the victim as it may consider appropriate. The question is whether any quantum of monetary compensation would be enough to make good the damage done to the victim. Further, such a provision more or less contradicts the rationale behind prohibition of monetary settlement under Section 10.

Be that as it may, the other notable feature is the settlement provided for under Section 10 which must be done before the initiation of an inquiry into the matter by the ICC. So in case the offender confesses to the act of sexual harassment and the aggrieved woman consents to a settlement, does it mean that the matter would be final and there would be no scope for a criminal investigation in the matter even in cases where sexual harassment may also be an offence under the IPC in the facts of a given case?

There is another issue in the Act. It provides that in case an inquiry is initiated in the matter, and the ICC concludes that the respondent is guilty of an offence under the Act, the ICC is required to treat the matter as one of misconduct for removal and proceed accordingly. In such a scenario, the maximum an employer can do is to terminate the services of the accused. But would that absolve the accused from the charges that can be brought against him under the IPC if the act of the male colleague is a criminal offence.

This matter becomes even more controversial where the parties involved are high profile personalities. With the media goading the employers and the image of law enforcement agencies at stake, the police may step in even when the woman aggrieved may not want to initiate a criminal proceeding. The Act leaves room for a most unsatisfactory situation where first

The provision for so-called ‘conciliation’ between the aggrieved woman and the male employee requires the ICC to draw up the feasibility of a settlement before initiating an inquiry in the matter


Sunil Kumar is Partner - Rajani, Singhania & Partners.

Footnote:

It may be noted that at the time of writing the article, the rules had not been published. However, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 were published on December 09, 2013. A copy of the said rules can be accessed at http://wcd.nic.in/wcdact/womenworkact.pdf. Further, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 was also notified on December 09, 2013 and is made enforceable from the same date.

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it provides for a mutual settlement and then also leaves enough scope for a criminal action to be taken against the accused. Also, when the ICC has given its recommendations after holding an inquiry and the employer has also already acted on them, would that be taken as the final resolution of the matter? Or worse, the aggrieved woman could thereafter also opt to file a complaint with the police.

Further, from the perspective of the employer, one could arguably try to have the matter settled mutually than go in for a formal inquiry and blow it out of proportion. Would such an attempt on the employer’s part even with the female employee’s consent be treated as a cover up of the case?

It is difficult to comment on how effective the law will prove when it comes to redressal. It should be expected that the Act keeps a check on frequent acts of sexual harassment at the workplace, thus proving more of a prevention

mechanism than that of redressal. The law is silent on various such counts and thus leaves scope for procedural divergence. The law seems to be lacking in procedural uniformity and the provisions of the Act appear currently weak on grounds of procedural infirmity. However, we believe that the rules will bring out more clarity in the provisions and will answer a lot of the questions and issues raised above. The interpretation and implementation of the law can for now only be left to the test of time.

Kriti Kaushik is Associate - Rajani, Singhania & Partners.

To Reach Full Potential,

n Nikki Arora

What Working Women Need the Most

To mentor or not to mentor! that is the question. Economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett, led a study and discovered

that both men and women who benefitted from a mentor were more likely to ask their boss for a ‘stretch’ assignment and more likely to take their place at the decision-making tables.

The simple act of encouraging an individual and believing in that individual can instill a confidence for them to reach beyond! I am a big advocate of mentoring in corporations, and have been, at different times, on both the contributing and receiving end of the process. We all need someone to believe in us, coach us, be a devil’s advocate, listen to us and offer constructive feedback. I know this first-hand from my personal experience as a first generation immigrant and the first in my family to work in corporate America. I have

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had my share of mentors who have challenged me to go beyond my potential to craft my career.

Mentoring is powerful, both formal and informal. Informal mentoring relationships are more casual, spontaneous and infrequent in structure. These mentoring relationships take on many forms and can apply to all ages and all walks of life. While they can be very helpful, there are limitations in terms of access to mentors and that produces the uneven measuring of success.

On the other hand, companies with formal mentoring programmes, in the advancement of women, can take it to the next level as scalable programmes with stated goals and role expectations. Undoubtedly, we need the benefits of mentoring to create a multicultural workforce and to foster gender diversity.

Though there are various successful mentoring models, I find training-based and executive mentoring models quite effective. UST Global, an information technology solutions and services firm, headquartered in Southern California, believes in “transforming lives” through four tenets:

• Jobs • Training • Technology • Peace

We launched a national initiative, “Step IT Up America,” in Atlanta in November 2013, a programme geared to employ and train inner city minority women.

How “Step IT Up America” is a Solution for our Skills Gap

As the US economy recovers, it will face a shortage of five million workers with the necessary education and training by 2020, according to a study by researchers at Georgetown University. The total number of STEM jobs will grow 26 percent from 2010 to 2020, predicts Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

The demand for STEM workers has intensified and 80 percent of the jobs in information technology will require training. By 2018, the bulk of STEM jobs will be in Computing (71%) followed by Traditional Engineering (16%), Physical Sciences (7%), Life Sciences (4%) and Mathematics (2%).

Given the great demand for STEM workers, we felt it was vital to impart IT training to women as there are persistently lopsided male-to-female ratios in the large IT workforce. As the war for talent heats up, there is an enormous ROI in dedicating resources to cultivate, recruit, mentor and promote women in technical roles.

The “Step IT Up America” programme deftly leverages UST Global’s expertise in IT training; we have trained thousands of people in Mexico, India, USA and the United Kingdom. The programme further leverages our ability to not only impart IT training but make women ‘job ready.’

The programme equips minority women who have not had the chance to go to university, but have shown the determination to go to a community college. Our objective is to go to 10 US cities in 10 months — choosing 100 inner city women from each city — effectively training 1,000 women in 10 months.

UST Global is investing in the programme and guaranteeing women high-paying jobs upon successful completion of the 90 day training programme. Our aim is to create 5,000 new jobs for minority women in tech by 2020.

Million Women Mentors Programme and STEM

I’ve had the benefit of great mentors, both male and female, who have been committed to me, my advancement, and my career, which has now spanned over two decades. In turn, their investment in me has influenced my passionate commitment to others’ careers and professional development and advancement.

I was honoured to join the leadership committee of one of the more active groups,

Mentoring is powerful, both formal and informal. Informal mentoring relationships are more casual, spontaneous and infrequent in structure



Nikki Arora is Corporate Marketing Officer and Director Global Talent Acquisition at UST Global. The California-based firm provides IT and full service solutions for Fortune 500 and Global 1000 firms. Nikki was named “Exceptional Leader” and “Women of the Year” by the International

Women Leadership Association and National Association of Professional Women.

the Million Women Mentors Programme (MWM), an initiative by STEMconnector which promotes STEM talent. The MWM Programme is a call to action that mobilises companies and higher education groups, around the imperative of mentoring young women in STEM education and careers. We provide women with specialised outreach through workforce mentoring, paid internships and sponsorship programmes.

Encouraging Entrepreneurship

With more than eight million women-led businesses, the United States tops the list of best countries for female entrepreneurship, according to Dell’s first-ever global index to measure female entrepreneurship around the world. The research clearly supports the assertion that increased access to networks, capital and technology are critical if countries are to empower female entrepreneurship.

There are several programmes like Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Women initiative, Britain’s Aspire Fund and the International Alliance of Women’s micro lending activities which unlock economic growth by investing in women around the world.

Corporations have a Role in Goal-setting

Corporations should play a responsible role in goal setting and train their managers and leaders to inspire women during their performance appraisal sessions and encourage them to break the glass ceiling. Corporations can empower women through SMART goal-setting with goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.

Training

While constant training and professional development are

important to climbing the corporate ladder, women who have benefitted from mentor-protégé relationships also need formal leadership training. At UST Global, we encourage and promote clear leadership mentoring, investments in executive MBAs and one-on-one leadership training from industry veterans.

UST Global is committed to developing, advancing and retaining women leaders in the company through initiatives like “Step IT Up America” and NowU (Network of Women Ussociates) that are focussed on advancing women internally and externally by giving them the structure, environment and leadership opportunity to achieve their aspirations.

I strongly believe women need to concentrate on possibilities, have passion for the job, conviction in their own dream and believe they are winners to achieve their full potential. You have to free yourself of social and corporate limitations by embracing these four salient characteristics. In tandem corporations can play a positive role in advancing women by embracing five key initiatives: formal mentorship programmes, training, providing opportunities, responsible goal-setting and promoting entrepreneurship.

What’s noticeably heartening now is that we have some very visible, high profile women leaders in technology entrepreneurship, such as Marissa Mayer, Sheryl Sandberg, Meg Whitman, Virginia Marie “Ginni” Rometty, Carol Realini and Padmasree Warrior. They are strong role models and craft the way forward for women today and for the next generations to come.

With more than eight million women-led businesses, the United States tops the list of best countries for female entrepreneur-ship, according to Dell’s first-ever global index to measure female entrepreneur-ship around the world


Saudi Arabia, as we all know, is the largest Arab state in Western Asia. The country has been governed by complete

monarchy since inception. The Kingdom is categorised as a high income economy with world’s second largest oil reserves and sixth largest natural gas reserves.

For the Human Resource Management (HRM) in Saudi Arabia, the opportunities are lucrative, namely, government development and investment programmes which have triggered the HRM activities manifold; the presence of the young Saudi population who can be trained to achieve the pinnacle of excellence.

In this article, I would like to discuss the manpower challenge of HRM that is far more serious and deeper today in the country. One has to take into account that the HRM policy framework and existing practices depend on the economical, political, socio-cultural forces and the unique nature of labour market.

In this context, I would like to give a detailed exposition on Saudization, the grave impact on the private sector and other cascading issues like unemployment and the prevailing skill gap of the Saudi nationals.

HRM’s balancing Act Between Saudi and Expat Employees

The Seething Challengen Dr (Prof) Deepanjana Varshney

SAUdi ArAbiA SpeciAl



A major challenge of HRM in the private sector is to lure them which seem difficult due to lesser pay, longer working hours and less job security

Saudization is the gradual replacement of the expatriate or foreign workers with competent Saudi workforce. It is indeed fair enough that a country should always focus on its ‘self-sufficiency’ and ‘security’ (Ministry of Labour, 2008). However, Saudization is mainly based upon quota system in which there is a desperate attempt to reduce foreign nationals in private sector. This has serious consequences when the manpower who will replace, lacks the requisite competencies and professional acumen to work in the organisations.

In doing so some of the growing HRM challenges in recruiting and retaining Saudi nationals are cited below:

• The expectations of Saudi employees are high, therefore, they are costly to hire

• Saudis prefer only high designation jobs that reflect status, so to satisfy such ego needs is not always possible

• The corporate sector had time again given feedback (research findings) related to the fact that expatriates are more professional, disciplined and adjustable as compared to Saudis

• There is also the government pressure and local influence on the organisation if it decides to fire the Saudi employee

Despite the Saudi government’s persistent efforts to remove expats from the private sector with Saudi natives, the irony lies in the fact that Saudis still have a fascination for public sector jobs. A major challenge of HRM in the private sector is to lure them which seem difficult due to lesser pay, longer working hours and less job security. In a recent daily (Arab News, January 8, 2014), the Government

had openly blamed the recruitment agencies which were given licenses to hire Saudi natives but have failed to do so.

More so, the onus seems to lie on the HR of the private sector to solve the chronic unemployment bottleneck. Even unemployment of Saudis is mainly voluntary in nature as there are large numbers of Saudis who are university graduates looking for government employment, job holders looking for better jobs and even people who for social reasons cannot move elsewhere.

Another grave problem is that there is a huge disconnect between the competency required in the corporate sector and what is available. Here, the shortcomings of the academic system need to be highlighted. The professional work principles and values are sadly missing in their educational system and the restrictive religious tenets are incorporated in different areas of the academics. As a result the Saudi youths are not equipped to develop work-related competencies, or cultural competencies for that matter. In a latest survey (Qudurat research) of Aon Hewitt, the initial findings reveal that “Saudi nationals are reporting a growing disconnect between their job requirements and the preparation they have received for those requirements through their education, compared to foreign workers.”

In addition, Saudi nationals continue to report lower levels of work engagement than expatriates, which could impact their long-term motivation, performance and productivity at the workplace. The report shows similar results for nationals across all seven countries involved in the study.” (“Saudis keen to fill gap between education and job requirements”, The Saudi Gazette, August 8, 2012). Hence there seems to be a subtle realisation which is positive in a sense because Saudi nationals have shown a willingness to solve the problems with renewed understanding. The HR can take the initiative to groom and develop their skills in a constructive manner which I have discussed in the later section.

Emergence of New Era

Inspite of existing challenges, recent initiatives in the field of competency development and talent management by large organisations are indeed commendable. Organisations like Okaz are undergoing rapid


Dr (Prof) Deepanjana Varshney is Senior Faculty-HRM at Faculty of Economics & Business Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Ministry of Higher Education, Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia. She may be reached at [email protected].


restructuring exercises to gain efficiency and productivity. There is a thrust on training and development initiatives in current times by external organisations like American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) and companies like Zamil providing on-the-job training for Saudi youths, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce in the areas of training in management, human resources, industry leadership, etc. Even the HR in private sector can connect with organisations like Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) in a proactive manner to hone the skills of Saudis.

There is also a growing receptiveness towards employee diversity now as stated by the Minister of Labour: “The Kingdom is committed to supporting diversity in the local workforce and has been investing in its talents through education, legislation and job opportunities.” (Fakieh supports diversity in workplace “The Saudi Gazette”, December 19, 2013).

The role of HRM is tremendous in this domain and I would recommend that they formulate separate long-term, continuous training and development activities, career counselling sessions, hardcore mentoring programmes (even reverse mentoring) for the Saudi employees where they are given the opportunity to learn what they may have missed out in their educational system to a great extent. The government may have to financially fund these corporate programmes.

The function of the HR Department is fast changing today because companies are transforming for better efficiency and effectiveness. Saudi Arabia has given strategic focus on HR development evident by the country’s national budget which allocated SR 150 billion for education and training.

Finally, from my work experience and an insightful analysis, I would like to comment that making Saudis self-reliant and competent is indeed a visionary thought by the decision makers of the country but instead of treating expatriates like enemies, their cooperation can be sought - to develop and groom the Saudis for productive employment in firms. Here lies the ultimate responsibility of the HR of private sector, to foster and stimulate a sense of collaboration and partnership between Saudi nationals and foreign workers and act as a bridge to Saudi government’s plan implementation.

Who knows gradually foreign workers can be phased out in a decent and dignified manner without jeopardising the manpower base, economic and industrial development. Inshallah!



Women Workforce makes up Majority across GlobeKSA has Boundless Opportunitiesn Ron Thomas

In the past year, there were two significant achievements in the business world that was heralded as the ‘year of the woman CEO’.

General Motors the bastion

of a male dominated industry

named Mary Barros as CEO. Yes, a

woman is now leading the largest

automaker. It was always said that

the ‘Big Three’ automakers needed

leaders with cars in their vien. That

was a pseudonym for male workers.

Basically women need not apply.

Matter of fact, it was only later

years that women were allowed to work in the automobile factories.

Yahoo! in trying to right their ship named Marissa Meyer as their CEO. In the internet/new media industry, it is all but dominated by men for the most part at the C-Level. Again women need not apply.

I grew up in an era where people that looked like me did not get a job no matter how qualified. Regardless of GPA, University pedigree or connections etc, it was not going to happen. There were no written rules, just kind of a wink and nod that only ‘certain type people apply’. It took years for people that had my hue to be interviewed and to be able to compete. My case was years ago.



Thankfully, those days have changed and are now part of history for all of the above.

But Is It Really a Thing Of The Past?

However, these situations concerning the C-Suite happened in 2013 and it made the headlines for gender based news. But if it was an accepted practice, it would have made nary a ripple in the media. This tells me that there is still a long way to go for these senior level roles.

We all know that cultural mores and ways were a long time in the making and it will not stop overnight. There are a lot of countries where the employment of women has not come full circle. However, talent is talent. The more people you have of different persuasions on your team, the better the outcome of your strategic approach. This divergence of views and approach is sorely needed in organisations today.

We do not come to work and leave our experiences at home. Our experiences and background have a direct impact on how we do our job every day. With a diverse team on hand, you have the ability to view problems, issues and challenges through multiple prisms.

That alone is reason enough for organisations to make it their mission to bring in talent wherever they find it.

Strategic Goals Intertwined with Gender?

When a business creates a strategic goal, that goal is designed to enable the organisation to accomplish its mission. Those goals and actions usually flow from strategy. To accomplish or reach this destination, it is all hands on deck. It never would mention gender as being part of that all hands framework. When a new and innovative product or process is needed, it does not specify gender. Matter of fact throughout the realms of business, there is no mention that gender specific is valued. However to reach whatever summit the organisations deems the destination, it is imperative that we have a mix of ideas. Remember our experiences and background affects our views and our approach.

History in the Making

The level of empowerment of women in the workforce today will go down as one of the most remarkable revolutions over the past 50 years. Although in a lot of industries that barrier is

still there, however, it is a lot more invisible. This movement has empowered women who were once dependent on others to now control their own economic fate. For the most part that has been welcomed because of the expanded economic opportunity it has given families.

The US workforce is made up of 51 percent women. On top of that some of the world’s biggest companies are now run by women such as PepsiCo, Archer Daniels Midland and WL Gore. On top of that, women earn almost 60 percent of university degrees in America and Europe.

In Saudi Arabia, women comprise 60 percent of college students but only 21 percent of its workforce, much lower than in neighboring countries. 85 percent of employed Saudi women work in education, six percent in public health, and 95 percent in the public sector. If this were a business case with these numbers, the opportunities are boundless if this segment of the workforce is brought into the corporate sector.

Across the globe women make up the majority of professional workers in many countries. Even holdouts such as the Mediterranean countries are changing rapidly. In Spain, the proportion of young women in the labour force has now reached American levels. The glass is much nearer to being half full than half empty.

The world has seen a growing demand for women’s workforce. During the industrial age brute strength mattered more than brains. But in the new age of talent, brainpower has triumphed the two sexes are more evenly matched. The feminisation of the workforce has been driven by the relentless rise of the service sector and the equally relentless decline of manufacturing. This profound change has opened up

85% of em-ployed Saudi women work in education, 6% in public health, and 95% in the public sector


tremendous opportunity for women in the workplace.

The expansion of higher education has also been a driving factor in this transformation and has tremendously increased the job prospects for women, improving their value on the job market and shifting their role models to successful professional women. The best-educated women have always been more likely than other women to work. Today 80 percent of American women with a college education are in the labour force compared with 67 percent of those with a high school diploma and 47 percent of those without one.

Women will also be the prime beneficiaries of the growing ‘war for talent’. The combination of an ageing workforce and a more skill-dependent economy means that countries will have to make better use of their female populations in order to be competitive and to attract investment.

Ms Entrepreneur

On the other hand, many talented women are already hopping off the corporate treadmill to form companies that better meet their needs. In the past decade, the number of privately owned companies started by women in America has increased twice as fast as the number owned by men. This is a trend that will continue as more women flex their newly realised muscle to strike out on their own. The added value of being independent makes it worth a try. So they may not all be looking to go the corporate route as much as that is prescribed in advanced education.

Be a Participant or be a Bystander

Either way you look at the feminisation of the workforce, they are now firmly in the drivers seat and can pick and choose from opportunities all over the globe. Countries as well as organisations will have to begin thinking how to capitalise on this seismic shift in workforce dynamics. Prepare and be ready, otherwise you can have a front row seat in the VIP section as the world passes you by.

Ron Thomas is a Chief Human Resource & Administrative Officer at The RGTS Group Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was formerly Director - Talent & HR Solutions at Buck Consultants. He is certified by the Human Capital Institute as a Master Human Capital Strategist (MHCS) and

Strategic Workforce Planner (SWP).

5th HR Leadership Conference CNBC TV18

CNBC TV18 organised the 5th HR Leadership Conclave 2013, on February 6, 2014, at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. An exclusive and mega initiative in the HR leaders’ space, the HR Conference invited participants not only from HR space but also people from cross-functional fields. In the current scenario, where HR professionals and businesses are coping with talent crunch, the theme “Evolution of the HR Organisation: Preparing for the Future” served as an insightful guide for the delegates and provided them in-depth analysis on this core subject.

The Inaugural Session was the CEO Session on the theme “HR Expectations for a Talent Driven Future” that set the tone for the day, with the focus on the HR functions of CEOs as they are strategic business advisors who are responsible for the most crucial organisational asset – the people. The session was moderated by AB Ravi, Editor – Special Projects, CNBC TV18, who kept the speakers and delegates, engaged with his thought

provoking views on talent and leadership. He quoted a Deloitte study that 84 percent organisations are looking for creative ways to find new talent and stressed on the need to develop talent at grassroots level like: is it necessary to develop talent at college/institution level; and how do we develop vocational courses, to ensure talent coming in?

Sharing his views in the session, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom 18 said, “When we look for leader’s qualities, we look for commitment, integrity, passion, desire and ability to lead. But we have to look for creative ways to find talent.” Leo Puri, MD, UTI Mutual Fund said “Leadership is not about domain knowledge. Domain knowledge is important but the main thing is that how do manage the domain.” James Thomas, Country Manager, Kronos Inc said, “According to me talent is identifying what a particular person can do. But in the current scenario, the biggest challenge for leaders is how to nurture, manage and retail talent.”

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The first CHRO Session on the theme “That Critical and Differentiating Asset – Talent” was focussed on finding out the real meaning of talent and how the changing expectations of today’s employees impact the fundamental assumptions that form the basis of talent programmes in the organisations. The session was moderated by Mira Gajraj Mohan, Director – Talent Management & Organisational Alignment - APAC, Towers Watson. To give an insight on the subject, she asked questions: what is talent to you; talent is a commodity or an asset; and is talent culture specific?

Speaking on the subject, Adil Malia, Group President – HR, Essar Group said, “Talent is duple i.e. a resource and investment for an organisation.” He stressed on the need to build a talent eco-system in organisations to create talent from inside and also to attract talent from outside. Yogi Sriram, Senior Vice President – Corporate HR, Larsen & Toubro said, “Any human being that adds value to business is talent”. He suggested that it is important for organisations to segment the talent as fit-for-all-policy does not work for all. Prabir Jha, President & CHRO, Reliance Industries Ltd added, “Talent is not just CEO, CXO, COO etc, but talent should be moving definition at each level.” Ashok Ramchandran, Director- HR, Vodafone India, shared that building talent is not only velocity of career but also adding value to business. He stressed on the succession planning and the role

of HR and line managers in creating talent for future. Sunita Rebecca Cherian, Vice President – HR, Wipro Ltd said, “Talent is an asset for organisation and spirit of ownership among individuals help retain talent for long.”

The second CHRO Session on “Sustaining Employee Engagement by Designing Right” was moderated by Ajith Nair, India Practice Leader – Organisational Surveys and Insights, Tower Watson. He asked the panellists how they engaged their employees, the role of HR in sustaining employee engagement and what role can leadership plays in driving employee engagement?

Expressing views on the subject, Srinivas Chundru, President – Strategy & HR, Piramal Enterprises presented some examples of employee engagement policies of his company and added that engagement is to make employees understand that we value your views. Madhavi Lall, Global Head – Employee Relations, Group HR, Standard Chartered Bank said, “Engagement is when employees give that extra thing”. She also stressed that HR has to play an active role in overcoming disengagement as they are the mediator between management and line managers/employees. KA Narayan, President HR, Raymond Ltd, replying to the question on the role of leadership in engagement said, “CEO must be critical in organisational working and every level manager should understand their


responsibility.” Pushp Joshi, Functional Director HR, HPCL, said that on the part of employer, engagement is when the job security we give to employees. Sanjeev Sahi, Group President – HR, GMR Group said, “Engagement is how we bring more clarity into the roles of employees.” Harish Pillai, COO, Indus Health said that it is important for corporate HR to always look for tools to enhance employee engagement. Anuj Raizada, Director, Unison Insurance Broking Services Pvt Ltd stressed on the importance of health insurance in employee engagement.

Recognising the importance of technology in almost every sphere, the theme of the third CHRO Session was “Man and Machine: Technology and Analytics Driving Change”, which is in sync with the current scenario. The session was moderated by Robert Zampetti, Director HR Service Delivery – Asia Pacific, Towers Watson, who presented an overview on the use of technology in several functional spheres in organisations in India and said India is ahead of Asia in equipping workforce with technology.

Speaking in the session, Hari Thallapali, CMO & Global Head – Business Consulting, Tech Mahindra said that hi-tech and hi-touch balance the technology.

He stressed on the importance of effective adoption of technology. Sharad Gangal, Executive Vice President HR, Admin, IR & Member of Exec Council, Thermax India Ltd said, “Technology is to be looked from employees’ perspective to see if it is giving value to the employees.” Raja Radhakrishnan, Head HR, ABB Ltd said, “Technology is a must but there has to a proper infrastructure to use it.” Sakaar Anand, Head HR, CA Technologies said, “Technology is a new normal with the entrance of Next-Gen people in the workforce. Technology is to be there till it benefits business as well as employees.” Deepak Shetty, Head HR, Philips Innovation Campus agreed with the fact that technology is important for HR and said that there has to be some automation in every company. Samit Deb, Head HR – Asia, Kronos Inc said, “In today’s scenario, HR should look at multi-channel delivery but they have to choose the right tools and take best out of technology.”

The final CHRO Session was on the subject of “Building a Compelling Employer Brand”, where speakers shared their views on how differentiation in employer branding look like, what drives choice among talent: trust, compensation, work atmosphere or convenience of work location; how to build and

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sustain employer brand; and what are the challenges and advantages of an employer brand.

The session was moderated by Subeer Bakshi, Director – Talent & Rewards, Towers Watson. He asked the panellists how to build and sustain employer brand and challenges and advantages of employer brand and monetary value to employer brand?

Expressing views on the theme of the session, Nandita Gurjar, SVP & Group Head, Infosys, while describing the employer brand, gave the example of campus recruitment where brands work to hire talent. She added that the benefit of employer brand is that people have opinion about your company. Rajesh Dahiya, President & Head – HR, Axis Bank said, “Employer brand is like any other brand but it is a psychological thing that has to be there for all the life for both the partners i.e., employer as well as employee.” Sripada Chandrasekhar, President & Global Head – HR, Dr Reddys Labs said, “Most brands work when companies look for the future. Getting work on the employer brand works on the employee satisfaction so that employees come themselves to the employer.” Samik Basu, Chief Human Resources Officer, Pepsico said, “Employer brand is no different from product brand. It requires month-to-month publicity.” Ritu Anand, VP & Deputy Head – Global HR, TCS said

that segmenting of branding is required and HR has to do it. She added, “The policies like rewards & recognition can greatly help in developing employer brand.”

In addition, there were two insightful technical presentations by Jayesh Pandey, Managing Director – Talent & Organisation Practice, Accenture India and Prof Pratima Sheorey, Director, Symbiosis Centre for Management and HRD.

People and Management was the media partner at the Conference. The other eminent partners at the event were: Presenting Partner – Kronos; Knowledge Partner – Towers Watson; Talent Partner – Accenture; Insurance Partner – Unison; Healthcare Partner – Indus Health; Academic Partner – SCMHRD; and Meal Partner – Sodexo.

The conference was a huge success with participation by over 300 delegates and representatives from different industries. Each session was panelled with highly experienced and renowned speakers from business and HR fraternity, who shared their thoughts and experiences with the participants in different and unique ways. All in all, the conference ended on a very positive note, with several insightful facts emerging as the outcome of discussions. It proved to be a great learning and networking experience for all the delegates.

Reported by Aamir H Kaki

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‘Workforce Strategy for Changing Business Dynamics’

In today’s scenario where dynamic workforce is increasingly globally dispersed, multigenerational and multicultural, organisations are facing many challenges and opportunities in growingly complex business

environments. To effectively compete, organisations need to understand the scale of these challenges and explore the implications of these trends impacting all aspects of the Human Resource from hiring, training, talent management and everything in between. In order to discuss these crucial issues, People and Management organised an HR Conference on “Workforce Strategy for Changing Business Dynamics” at Vikram Hotel, New Delhi, on January 28, 2014. A first of its kind initiative, the HR Conference invited participants, not only from HR fraternity, but also people working in cross-functional departments.

The Conference was divided into four interactive sessions that provided and enhanced the learning experience for delegates.

The first session on “All-women Workforce: Economic Prudence or Cultural Demand”, discussed


the importance of women in workforce and how the participation of women in workplace be increased. The eminent panellists who shared their views on topic were Rana Nayak, Head – HRD, ANMOL Biscuits (ANMOL Bakers Pvt Ltd); Rajita Singh, Head – HR, Broadridge Financial Solutions (India) Pvt Ltd; Pallavi Pareek, Director – Startup Leadership, Euphoria Ventures, iPleaders; and, Megha Bhatnagar, Deputy HR Manager, Tux Hospitality. The speakers shared their professional experiences and explored ways to increase the participation of women in workforce.

The second session “Balance Sheet Aspect of Human Resources” was focussed on value proposition of the most valuable assets for an organisation – its people. The distinguished panellists who shared their valuable insights were Vaishali Vaid, Vice President, Head – Global HR and Learning, KPIT Technologies; Richa Pande, Chief Transformation Officer, Ramco; and, Mayuk Dasgupta, Director – Business, Mobility - VAS, Tech Mahindra Ltd. The speakers stressed on the importance of people as the valuable asset for an organisation but said there must to be some ROI attached to them.


The third session “Gender Inclusivity: Reality or Myth”, was highly thought provoking and intended to exploring the key indicators of Gender Inclusivity from the perspective of business and HR leaders. The distinguished panellists were Debashish Das, Founder & CEO, Elenchushr Solutions; Hema Menon, Center Head for UST Global, Trivandrum; and, Sheenam Ohrie, Head, Diversity & Inclusion, SAP Labs India. The speakers discussed the current scenario of gender diversity prevailing in organisations. The speakers stressed that on part of HR and organisations, there is a need to bring in policies to support gender inclusivity.

The last session “Right Talent; No Bar” was highly insightful and based on a subject which is a major area of concern for HR and organisation as a whole, i.e., acquiring and managing the best talent. The eminent panellists who shared their views were SK Dutt, President and Head – Group HR, ABG Group; Prof Pravat Niladri Mahapatra, CEO, Future Leaders Project; and, Nirmal Singh, Founder and CEO, Wheebox. The speakers said that in this current scenario, where organisations are facing talent crunch, there is a need to manage and nurture talent to meet the demand of right talent.

The Conference was moderated by Githanjali

Pannikar, Head of Talent Management and L&OD,

JSPL, who with her insightful thoughts kept the

speakers and participants engaged and also kept the pace

of the conference going. She also shared some personal

stories and experiences that made the discussions lively.

The welcome address was delivered by Hema

Menon, and SK Dutt, delivered the keynote address. The

inaugural address was given by Githanjali Pannikar.

Diya Chowdhury, Senior Editor, People and

Management gave the vote of thanks and closing

remarks. Rahul and Shachi, the management students

from Jaipuria Institute of Management, Vasundhara

Ghaziabad, hosted the Conference.

Giftxoxo.com was the corporate gift partner and

Wisecor Services Pvt Ltd, Relyon Softech, Trogon Soft

and Jaipuria Institute of Management were the event

partners. In addition, several high profile delegates and

representatives from different industries graced the

event with their presence.


Vaishali Vaid Vice President, Head – Global HR and Learning, KPIT Technologies

Richa Pande Chief Transformation Officer,

Ramco

Mayuk Dasgupta Director – Business, Mobility - VAS,

Tech Mahindra Ltd

Githanjali PannikarHead - Talent Managment, L&OD

Jindal Steel & Power Ltd

Megha Bhatnagar Deputy HR Manager,

Tux Hospitality

Nirmal Singh Founder and CEO, Wheebox

Debashish Das Founder & CEO, Elenchushr

Solutions

Rajita Singh Head - HR, Broadridge Financial

Solutions (India) Pvt Ltd

Pallavi Pareek Director – Startup Leadership, Euphoria Ventures; iPleaders

Sheenam Ohrie Head, Diversity & Inclusion,

SAP Labs India

Hema Menon Center Head for UST Global,

Trivandrum

SK Dutt President and Head – Group HR,

ABG Group

Prof Pravat Niladri Mahapatra CEO, Future Leaders Project

Rana Nayak Head – HRD, ANMOL Biscuits

(ANMOL Bakers Pvt Ltd)

Our Eminent Speakers


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International Conference on “Changing Global Economic Perspectives: Managing Sustained and Inclusive Growth”

On February 9, 2014, Jaipuria Institute of Management (JIM) successfully concluded a two-day International Conference on “Changing Global Economic Perspectives: Managing Sustained and Inclusive Growth”.

The conference was attended by more than 150 people over the two days. They came from various sectors including Academia, Corporate, Government Institutions, Policy Makers and

International Agencies. A total of 62 papers from a range of disciplines were presented during the different technical sessions. Each technical session includes the Panel Chairs, Keynote Speakers and the Paper Presenters. The conference started on February 8, 2014, at Jaipuria Institute of Management, with the welcome speech of Mr Shishir Jaipuria, Vice Chairman, Jaipuria Group of Management Institutions. This was followed by the inaugural address by Dr Daviender Narang, Director, JIM, who highlighted the concern about slow pace of global economic growth, which is affecting the confidence in long-term sustainability of business spanning from developed to developing economies and the need for economic and financial reconstruction. The Guest of Honour was Prof Arun Kumar, Center for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU. The Keynote Address was given Mr BK Chaturvedi, Member - Planning Commission, Government of India. He specified that in order to workout strategies to deal with the challenges of present and future, such kind of conferences - that to at international level - will be really helpful.

The first day of the Conference have the technical session on “Impact of Changing Global Marketing Strategies on Inclusive Growth”, highlighted the Key Drivers of Rural Marketing, Environment for Women Entrepreneurs, Importance of Value Added Services. In the technical session on “Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth”, eminent speakers presented their papers on various critical issues regarding Climate Changes and Food Security, Going green-New Mantra for Sustainable Business, Globalisation and its

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Impact on Indian Insurance Industry, Economic Employer, Role of RBI on Overcoming Recession, Causal Relationship of FDI and Economic Development.

The second day of the Conference started with technical session on “Emerging Trends in Finance: Mapping the Way Ahead”. This session highlighted the issues on Reverse Mortgage, Financial Distress Analysis, Impact of Globalisation on Indian Youth and Regulatory Framework with respect to FDI. The technical session on “Human Resource Planning and Development” emphasised issues relating to Work Life Balancing, Green HR Practices for Sustainable Development, Talent Management, and Enhancing Employee Productivity. In the last technical session on “Challenges and Opportunities for Global and Local Competitiveness”, participants presented their papers on burgeoning areas like Online Shopping in India, Green Climate, Evolution of Social Entrepreneurship and Economic growth.

In the valedictory session, Dr Daviender Narang welcomed the Chief Guest Dr Raj Singh, VC, GD Goenka University, Gurgaon and the Guest of Honour, Dr Rizvi, Director, JIMS Ghaziabad. Finally he epitomised the proceedings of the two-day conference and highlighted the significant recommendations given by participants and eminent personalities from academia and industry.

The valedictory speech was given by the Chief Guest Dr Raj Singh. He specified that this international conference has bought together the pool of talent and the technical sessions have stimulated the thought process in relation to Changing Global Economic Perspectives. He also said that these brainstorming sessions will definitely give way to the future research and development in the related issues and to come out with distinctive and concrete measures for a sustained and inclusive growth.

The conference proceedings were released in book form on day one of the event, titled “Changing Global Economic Perspectives” which was released by the chief guest of the event Mr BK Chaturvedi, alongwith Prof Arun Kumar, Shri Shishir Jaipuria, Dr Daviender Narang and Mr Vinod Malhotra.

The two-day International Conference was successfully concluded by felicitation of participants with the certificates. The Conference was sponsored by People and Management and Orange Books International. India News and NewsX ware the Tele Media partners of the event.

The Conference Convenors were Prof (Dr) Daviender Narang, Dr Ashwani Varshney, Dr Mamta Kumari and Dr Ajay Tripathi.


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