The manufacturing sector in India has embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, DEI requires to be deeper in the sector than just some standard practices.
Sharing his perspectives on furthering DEI in the space, Ashok Ramachandran, CEO and President, Schindler India, talks to Avtar Insights, about targeted interventions in gender diversity, and on embedding culture as a leader to support it.
You are a leader who puts people at the center of operations. Tell us some principles you follow when building a culture that supports them.
Some ways to build a culture are:
- Giving them the freedom to operate and personalize our leadership style based on individual needs.
- Understanding the importance of having good managers, I started by propagating my ideology with the direct reportees, and with time it has moved down the organization and similar ideologies are being spread by my reportees.
- Not always reviewing numbers but also focusing on their well-being, the secret sauce is to also focus on the ‘how’ and not just the ‘what’
- Be soft on the person but tough on the issues.
As a signatory of Women Empowerment Principles (WEPS), you have prioritized gender diversity. Share the results you have witnessed due to this emphasis with us.
There has been an increased awareness among People Managers and teams down the line due to multiple sensitization platforms. These comprise bottom-Up Leadership Stories, Branding initiatives – Women in Leadership, Female Leadership Program for Young Women, Quarterly Skill building sessions for all women, POSH workshops, etc.
We have witnessed a rise in Gender Diversity from 2% in 2018 to 4% in 2022 – marginal growth with increased efforts on hiring. Retention remains our constant challenge.
When we started in 2019, we experimented with hiring women across various field roles for the first time. 2019 was the year of many firsts. We continued to build on that till 2022.
Over the last four years, we now have a fair view of which roles and locations are favorable for our women employees and we plan to leverage the insights from the same.
Share with us the impact of the ‘Be an Ally’ program adopted at Schindler for people managers?
In 2020, Be an Ally was our first step towards sensitizing our People Managers on DEI. In this, we spoke about several diversities in the workplace, including Female & LGBTQI+ Inclusion.In 2021, we launched an extension of the same program and deep-dived into two major spectrums of diversity at Schindler– mainly Female & LGBTQI inclusion. In 2022, we launched the ‘Inclusive Leadership’ program, which sensitized the people managers on the exact behaviors that they need to display with the diversities in their teams & how they can be inclusive leaders
As a result of these continued efforts, we had our first transgender hire, who was integrated with the organization. Also, we can now clearly see female diversity being nurtured and built in many of our branches.
How is India different in the realm of DEI, according to you?
There are a few differences that are unique to India:
- Cultural diversities
- Advent of GenZs & dominance of Millennials in the Workforce
- 50% women population
- Growing opportunities to work abroad/ global organizations
- Deep-rooted beliefs and biases towards females, stereotypes, etc.
Tell us how your focus areas in diversity and inclusion have changed over the years.
When we started our I&D journey in 2019, we focussed on the attraction of talent from the non-Elevator industry & hired Females in various roles
Over the last four years, our focus has been on creating awareness and sensitization across all diversities. In 2023, we are now moving towards three sharp focus areas – increasing female diversity, inclusion awareness & building inclusive leaders
Going forward, we will focus on other spectrums like PWD and LGBTQI and take initiatives accordingly.
The manufacturing industry in India is opening up to the advantages of diversity and inclusion. What changes do you foresee resulting from this transformation? And is there a potential you feel is still unlocked for the industry in this space?
The manufacturing industry has seen great success in building & skilling female talent through their flagship DET/ GET Train & Hire programs that have resulted in higher ROIs. This is an extremely positive shift from the DEI aspect.
However, the industry is also currently facing immense challenges in terms of acceptance from families, customers, managers, and team members. This has also impacted the retention of female talent in the industry. Most female exits from Schindler are either not joining anywhere or joining the Non-Elevator/ Service industries.
The increase of women in STEM is very encouraging and will be a boost to the availability of women’s talent pool for the manufacturing sector.
There is immense potential yet to be unlocked in terms of the shift in the mindsets of leaders, openness to experiment and fail, job readiness, train, and hire. These are some of the untapped opportunities that may help female talent grow in the manufacturing space in India.
