The 2023 Avtar and Seramount’s Best of the Best Conference–the 7th edition of the largest experiential DEI conference– brought together organizations from across India. The conference that served as a melting pot of thoughts and ideas witnessed a galaxy of leaders from the 2023 Avtar & Seramount Best Companies for Women in India and Most Inclusive Companies Study. On the sidelines of the event, Team Avtar caught up with Subha Barry, President of Seramount, an organization leading the DEI conversation for over 40 years in the US. Beginning as Working Mother, Seramount’s legacy in the space offers them deep insight into understanding the unique challenges that organizations face, the trends that drive change, and the nuances that exist across all facets of diversity. Subha shared insights into Seramount’s 100 Best Companies for Women in the United States comparing the growth to the outcomes of the Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) Study, an annual gender analytics by Avtar and Seramount.
Team Avtar: It is nice to see you at Avtar and Seramount’s Best of the Best Conference in person after a few years. This is always an opportune moment to talk about the history of Seramount and its vast canvas of work spanning over 40 years now, and the Best Companies for Women in India, which will become a decade old in the next two years.
I am thrilled to be here in person with you all, for the first time since the pandemic. I’m especially excited to share findings from our own Best Companies List in the US and compare them to those from the 100 Best Companies in India. We have been doing this from the beginning of our partnership with Avtar, which in turn has pushed each of us to keep improving both in India and in the U.S.
Avtar and Seramount’s 100 Best Companies for Women in India is a list which represents the most progressive and forward-thinking companies for women. We applaud their leadership, their employees, and their efforts to create an inclusive work environment where women (and men) can succeed.
Team Avtar: It would be great if you could draw a parallel between BCWI and Seramount’s US-based 100 Best Companies List. Please share with us the highlights of the comparison.
There are several interesting observations from this comparison. We will have to see them in different categories.
Avtar’s 100 Best Companies in India now has 37% women compared to 50% of Seramount’s 100 Best. But it is heartening to see that there has been a consistent growth trend, from 25% in 2016, and we hope to see this grow in the coming years.
Returnships, or programs designed to hire women returning to work after a hiatus, or second-career women are more embedded in India’s workplace culture and it’s great to see 83% of 100 Best Companies for Women in India offer formal programs.
This trend is more prevalent in India. I’m proud to say that Avtar pioneered this concept of Second Career Women to enable companies to see the value in it. I wish to see it take root in the U.S.
Career Developmental programs are the norm for the 100 Best Companies for Women in India – with all 100 of them offering structured mentoring programs, an enabler that has been established to be crucial to women’s career advancement. Comparatively, in the U.S., 90% of our 100 Best Companies offer formal mentorship programs.
92% have mechanisms to measure and benchmark gender pay equity, showing that the 100 Best companies consider pay parity as a very important pre-requisite for gender inclusion. On the other hand, 99% of the Seramount 100 Best Companies conduct pay equity analysis with 68% analyzing on an annual basis.
The average number of weeks of paternity leave offered by the 100 Best Companies in India is 16 weeks compared to an average of 11 weeks of gender-neutral parental leave offered by Seramount’s 100 Best Companies in the U.S.
The number of companies reimbursing for everyday childcare costs is also on the rise with 56% of the 100 Best Companies for Women in India offering a childcare allowance. In the U.S., 39% of our 100 Best offer subsidized childcare, a Year-over-Year increase on both lists. I hope this trend keeps growing.
Team Avtar: This edition of the BCWI study has seen some interesting policies and programs. How have organizations embraced them and what are the far-reaching changes?
Overall, more and more companies are becoming conscious of the elder care needs of employees – In India, 75% of the 100 Best Companies reported having an elder care support policy (for employees who are primary caregivers for elders in their families), while in the U.S., 85% of the 100 Best Companies offer caregiving leave, to care for a sick family member over an extended period, with an average of 40 days of caregiving leave offered per year.
In India, 23% of Best Companies have formalized a Period Leave Policy and 9% of companies extend this support during menopause stages for women, 28% of companies have dedicated resting facilities for menstrual support for women. While our annual application doesn’t cover “period leave” in the U.S., I’m pleased to share that we will be including questions about menopause benefits on next year’s application.
In the U.S., a growing number of companies are offering bereavement leave after a miscarriage for both parents. 91% of Seramount’s 100 Best offer this, I hope to see this become a trend in India in the coming years.
For all the challenges that employees face at work and at home, to have one of the 100 Best Companies for an employer means that you have someone who has your back! Policies and programs range from parental leave to subsidized childcare to caregiving leave and so much more, these companies work to alleviate the burden and create equity no matter your socio-economic status. These companies go the extra mile, helping to push our society in the right direction.
Many families may not have the financial security to hire help or take time off without pay. That’s why our 100 Best Companies, with their family-friendly policies, make all the difference. When you can take paid leave to take care of a loved one, I can imagine the relief and gratitude you feel and the loyalty it builds towards your employer. Such policies support socio-economic equity in workplaces and that’s the kind of workplace we all want!
Team Avtar: That seems like a lot of progress but it looks like there has to be a holistic approach to creating equitable and inclusive workplaces. What are the pointers that you would recommend?
It’s not only having these policies and programs in place, it’s equally important that employees at all levels (from entry-level to the C-suite), take advantage of them. Seeing an executive take their full parental leave, or take time to care for a family member, sends a powerful message to the rest of the organization and it becomes embedded in the culture.
Team Avtar: There has been considerable resistance to DEI measures in the US. Isn’t this pushback going to be a continuous challenge?
Building an inclusive workplace environment takes commitment. I think many of you would agree. In the U.S., we’ve hit obstacle after obstacle. From the overturning of Affirmative Action by the U.S. Supreme Court to the weaponization of the term “DEI” as “woke” politics– it has not been an easy path. But we know that we need to adapt as the world keeps throwing roadblocks our way. How do we do that?
The pushback to DEI is real, but the words we use to do this work in the U.S, appear to have received the most forceful pushback: diversity, equity, micro-aggressions, critical race theory, etc. Now, take a moment to compare them to the words we associate positively with the work we do every day to create inclusion: fairness, belonging, justice, welcoming, and decency.
The definition of what diversity means will continue to evolve and change and the language and focus will have to move to a more inclusive one about TALENT.
We believe the key to success is to be relentless about the “I”: Inclusion. Without effective recruitment of talent, aligned with our diverse society, corporations risk missing out on a significant portion of the future talent pool.
This evolving mindset demands new approaches from both Talent and DEI leaders. If we can focus on “inclusion,” and ensure that everyone’s voice and role is recognized, it will result in a motivated, valued, and supported workforce. And this is something corporate leaders will recognize as good for business.
Team Avtar: The VUCA world is probably the only constant in this fast-evolving workplace. How can organizations be poised for the change?
As society changes and volatility remains a constant, we must work to keep DEI and inclusive policies front and center on our company’s agenda. Today’s Chief Diversity Officers are finding themselves caught in the crosshairs, constantly balancing the imperatives of the C-suite while keeping in mind what the incoming generation of talent wants in a workplace. We must get corporate leaders to pay attention during economic and sociocultural upheavals.
Our most recent research, “Keeping DEI Strong During Volatile Times” found that 80% of organizations are taking a wait-and-see approach to DEI, roughly 10% of organizations are regressing, and the other 10% are doubling down and moving full steam ahead with their DEI efforts.
Team Avtar: It looks like Chief Diversity Officers and talent leaders are facing a lot of challenges to make the case for the power of their work to an audience that is fixated on the bottom line.
We found that linking DEI to urgent business goals can bolster DEI’s value to the company and the importance of moving beyond the conventional understanding of “the business case” for diversity. It’s almost like you have to flip the script because making the DEI business case is one thing, but driving business outcomes is another. And that’s what leadership will want to know. Driving business outcomes cuts sceptics off at the pass. It allows the results of DEI work to speak for themselves.
Instead of saying, “The U.S. will be majority-minority in 50 years” try “We increased our market share by 5% through selling more Black-owned beauty brands.”
Instead of saying “Diversity has helped us win in the marketplace”, try “by documenting the diversity of our teams, we have successfully been considered for 30% more RFPs and won 50% of them compared to the numbers from the prior year.” Instead of “Diverse teams come up with more innovative ideas” try “Collaborating with our employees with disabilities helped us develop a new product and here is the market impact it has had.”
The best way for a CDO to navigate volatility and make DEI integral to their organization is to weld DEI to their organization’s core strategic goals. This is the way to ensure that DEI efforts thrive no matter which way the pendulum swings.
A good part of this measure is to be tuned to how the industry or other sectors have been calibrating their DEI efforts. Benchmarking offers a progress monitoring system to track your growth and provides an opportunity to attract and retain talent. It is a significant part of the Best Companies for Women in India, enabling companies to accomplish their DEI goals. These reports are available across three levels with analysis of each diversity metric against the Top 10 and 100 Best companies, and a customized assessment report with recommendations for each key policy cluster compared to the Top 10 and 100 Best companies.
Team Avtar: Thanks for joining us for a detailed and insightful conversation, Subha.
Subha: It has been a pleasure and I look forward to returning next year to have another enriching conversation.
