The reality of women friendly workplace
“…but diversity is expensive. If we took a bottoms up approach, we would need to estimate number of women who would take maternity leave within a year. The company would need to bear the cost and keep the jobs open when the women return. Who would pay for this? Maybe the employees pay for this – almost like a common pool where everybody pays into” said a friend, thinking aloud what would make it feasible for more companies to be diverse. Establishing gender diversity is hard work, be it at mid level managerial positions or at leadership levels.
But is it an impossible goal? While developed countries like UK and Germany have long emphasized gender equality, developing countries are also catching up. ICICI Bank in India has been a shining example. ICICI Bank, which lends to corporations and individuals and offers insurance, investment banking and other financial services, has produced some of India's top female financial professionals. Today, ICICI bank is referred to as the ‘women CEO factory’. It is led by a woman, Chanda Kochhar. Moreover, Shikha Sharma, who heads Axis Bank, and Kalpana Morparia, who heads JP Morgan in India, were both groomed in ICICI.
Last year, ICICI launched two initiatives to help women employees manage personal life without compromising on careers. iWork@home, enables women employees across hierarchies to work from home for up to one year. The second initiative is aimed at women managers whose work necessitates travel and have children up to the age of three. During such travels, the bank will now provide for the travel and stay of the child plus a care taker/family member.
As one dives deeper, there are many more instances of women who were afforded the flexibility when extraneous circumstances change, without being forced to compromise on their careers. These include time off to help their son/daughter prepare for secondary school exams and providing employment options when the employee has to move to a different city along with the family. The objective has clearly been to provide the support women need during their middle years, when family pressures tend to take them away from the workplace.
These examples demonstrate a commitment to creating and sustaining a culture of gender diversity at ICICI. Building a more diverse pool of employees by retaining women employees allows the bank to choose its future leaders from a wider talent pool. ICICI is rightly recognized as a trend setter in this space, and with workplaces increasingly becoming virtual, other companies should follow the lead to help employees, men or women, overcome mitigating circumstances by offering options such as the ones mentioned above.
