Companies can benefit immensely by ensuring gender diversity at workplace, says author, leadership coach and facilitator Anjali Hazarika in her new book Walk The Talk: Women, Work, Equity, Effectiveness. Having co-founded Forum for Women in Public Sector and served as director of National Petroleum Management Programme — a learning network of oil and gas companies India, she tells T K Vineeth in an email interview that gender diversity is a complex issue that needs to be addressed by all those who are impacted by it - employers, government, NGOs and civil society. Excerpts:
Is there gender bias in the Indian corporate world? How do PSUs fare vis-a-vis private companies in this?
There is gender bias in the corporate sector not only in India but across the world. The nature and expression of it changes in different contexts and cultures. For instance, PSUs offer lifelong employment and there is job security for men and women alike. But, that does not mean stereotypes about women do not exist. Ideas about what women can do or cannot do come in the way of selection or placement even if they are qualified women. In the private sector, retention of women can be a major consideration. This is more so in the service industry. Therefore, facilities to work from home, transport to ensure safe commute etc are provided. But even there, stereotypes about women’s lack of managerial abilities exist that can delay promotions.
How can companies benefit from promoting gender diversity at workplace?
Evidence over the past few years has confirmed that there are greater advantages to having gender diversity. Women can enrich corporate life by bringing different perspectives to any decision or issue. Organisations that serve women as clients, customers and employees can have better relationships with these groups.
If women can make the bulk of the decisions in the market place, then it makes perfect business sense to increase the voice of women in senior leadership positions. Companies benefit a lot from this initiative. Companies that promote diversity allow people to bring their unique skills and ideas to the workplace. This can lead to innovations, a great demand of our times.
In your book, you say the concept of ‘cream reaches the top’ is flawed. What’s the alternative to keeping the talent pipeline flowing?
Internal processes in identifying high potential employees in organisations often focus on managers between 28-35 years. In general, the number of women in 30-plus age group is significantly lower than that of women in their 20s. Because typically, women take breaks for marriage, motherhood and elder care. Therefore, commitment to including a target number of female candidates for each leadership appointment must be made.
Senior management needs to ensure that women get developmental and multi-dimensional experience that would qualify them for senior level positions. Organisations should also create a system of providing mentors and sponsors who can advocate for good women candidates.
Your book argues that promotions of high-performing men are fast-tracked, while talented women find it tough to grow beyond a certain level. If this is a systemic problem, how can companies fix this?
To ensure fairness, the evaluation of candidates for promotion should be based on explicit, transparent criteria that leave no scope for the influence of unconscious bias of the selection committee members.
Awareness about the influence of stereotypes on personnel decisions and carefully monitoring them through diversity committees also can ensure fairness in the systems. Identification of qualified /competent women candidates must be accompanied by coaching, mentoring and relevant skill development around the career path of high potential women. Regular monitoring of the gender pipeline is important as the senior management is not readily able to see the full range of talent and skills available.
Most corporates are alive to the issue of gender pay gap. In the Indian context, is the situation any better in top leadership roles?
Not really. According to a recent report based on review of FY17 annual reports, India’s women directors are not as well paid as their male counterparts. In the 30 Sensex companies, women directors on an average were paid 46 per cent less than men. Women also lose out on big salary jumps as they are not getting promoted as much as men.