While the lean representation of women in managerial levels has been a concern among industries, companies across are consciously working towards improving their numbers through well-directed efforts.
‘Best Practices of the 100 Best Conference’ witnessed the sessions ‘Step Up’ with Thiru Nagarajan, Vice President and Head of HR for IBM India and South Asia, and ‘Women in Leadership’ by Amit Vaish, Director HR, Barclays Global Service Centre. The recently-held event turned the spotlight on the women-centric programs in the companies.
Thiru explained that IBM decided to launch ‘Step Up’ to address women managers’ attrition rates at the mid-managerial level across the organization. They identified high-potential women, who had the desire to take up leadership roles but refused to do so because of various reasons. IBM decided to bring in programs to build their confidence and remove inhibitions. They held design thinking sessions and also addressed generational differences. They created an enabling work environment through policies. IBM had to refresh its existing set of people managers to address the root of this problem.
Amit shared the various initiatives that Barclays has developed to ensure they have equal gender representation across all levels. Tech Pioneer identifies high-potential women, giving them the right tools and support to ensure they grow within the organization. A 12-month program, it focuses on technical building, coaching, and mentoring. About 40% of the women who participated in this program got promoted to the next level. Talent upskill is another initiative by Barclays that focuses on training women and ensuring they learned coding from industry experts. While the two programs addressed attrition rates in women, Barclays built a program named ‘The Progression Launchpad’ to address the women attrition rates amongst the Assistant Vice-President’s level. Barclays also addressed the systemic issue within their organization that led to women’s attrition.
Snapshots
Why did the step-up program from IBM tackle gender and generational diversity in parallel?
IBM realized the need to sensitize its people managers to ensure women take up leadership positions. They trained younger managers to leverage their ideas. They also realized that it was important to look at gender and generational diversity from a woman’s perspective.
How do they make sure the women in Barclays willingly participated in their programs?
Barclays’ philosophy of learning within the organization enabled that mindset. They realized that it is an individual’s responsibility to ensure they participate in the learning process. They made their participants understand the ‘why’ behind these programs and created an enabling environment to flourish.
Key Takeaways
-It is important to look at gender and generational diversity from a woman’s perspective
-Women move forward in their careers when they understand the purpose
-To conclude, while IBM and Barclays launched various programs to address their women attrition rate, they also ensured an enabling environment. The enabling environment included making systemic changes, addressing the challenges related to generational diversity, etc. The companies realized the need to use a holistic approach to problem-solving rather than addressing it purely from an organization’s perspective.
