Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has accomplished a genderbalanced staff throughout ranges in its R&D serve as, which homes over 750 staff. HUL govt director (R&D) Vibhav Sanjgiri stated, “We realized there was a significant issue in terms of having women representation in science and technology across India. Women constitute approximately 16% of R&D manpower. We decided to drive gender balance, not just at an entry level, but at every level across our R&D team. Women scientists and technologists now account for 50% of our entire HUL R&D function, and 50% of our R&D leaders are women. ,
The pool for STEM talent is restricted. Companies across IT, tech and other sectors are constantly vying for this talent, and HUL decided to think outside the box. “We reached out to a more diverse set of women talent — beyond engineers — to tap into other sciences such as microbiology, nutrition, cosmetology, chemists and even psychologists. This gave us a larger and wider pool to choose from,” said Sanzgiri.
HUL executive director (HR) Anuradha Razdan said, since it’s harder to bring more women into functions like R&D, supply chain, manufacturing and sales, HUL has created accelerator feeder programs to ensure there’s a steady stream of talent.
On the other hand, at digital networks company STL, which has a full-time employee strength of 5,000, about 300 women are working in plants across different domains and roles. The entire coloring section in its optical cable factory across three facilities is run by an all-women team. STL CHRO Anjali Byce said, “We believe that a gender-diverse workforce enables a diversity of thought, new ways of working, equal opportunity, and creative problem-solving. ,
STL has over 150 female operators working in core operations across units. “The team recently exported a large shipment of connectivity solutions to a key European customer, boosting new revenues. This is a feat that we are proud of, and we are not resting. We want to take the diversity ratio to 50% from the current approximately 20%,” stated Byce.
Another historically male-dominated sector is realty. Mahindra Lifespaces has, for the primary time, employed 15 feminine civil engineers from its campus recruitment program as graduate engineer trainees (GETs). Mahindra Lifespaces leader folks officer Kriti Sharma stated, “We are taking another step towards a diverse workplace. The company has achieved a gender diversity ratio of 21%, which is relatively high with respect to industry standards. The aim now is to enhance this to 30% by fiscal year 2030.
Another area where companies across India Inc find it difficult to get adequate gender diversity is the leadership level. Some are enabling women to shatter the glass ceiling. Kellogg India now has 50:50 gender representation at its leadership level. Also, for the first time at the company’s Taloja plant, which has 200 workers, there’s around 45% representation of women in the leadership team. “It’s nolonger about having the statutory 25-30% women, but truly becoming an organization which is gender-balanced,” stated Kellogg South Asia director (HR) Nimisha Das.
In a learn about by means of Dale Carnegie on variety, fairness & inclusion (DEI) at hybrid places of work in India, 95% of organizations agree that variety creates a good surroundings for taking choices on commonplace problems with none conflicts. The learn about states that whilst maximum organizations are conscious about the significance of variety, the level of adoption stays beneath 25% of the entire worker power.
Based on comments HUL gained from staff, Razdan stated it is transparent that girls stick with a company on account of the tradition, the versatility introduced and paintings insurance policies however, above all, it is the high quality of labor that influences their choice.
For HUL, it is been a adventure that began in 2010 when the gender variety used to be 18% within the managerial staff. “Today we are 45% in the management workforce, and we will get to 50% by 2025. The next level is to raise the diversity numbers on the manufacturing side and frontline sales,” stated Razdan.
The corporate is now launching the HUL STEM Women’s Scholarship beneath the aegis of Ficci-WISE Council. “We will sponsor the education for 20 female Masters/ PhD students with India’s top educational institutes. What will be unique about this scholarship is that in addition to the financial grant, the selected scholars will be mentored by HUL leadership and both internal and external scientists,” stated Sanzgiri.