Balance sheets and product portfolios are not the only evolving factor in corporate India but their work cultures too. Like everything else, the environment of a workplace adapts and evolves with time. In this regard diversity at the workplace is now the new mantra of India Inc, emphasising more on gender diversity.

According to a recent survey by the World Economic Forum, India is ranked 98th among 115 countries in relation to gender related development with the average female to male ratio being 0.38: 1, portraying a poor contrast to other countries. However, the situation is changing rapidly and leading the way is the burgeoning IT/ITES sector, which has developed many creative policies and initiatives not only to create diversity at work but inclusion of the fair sex too.

According to the IT industry body Nasscom, the male female ratio is expected to improve from 76:24 in 2005 to 65:35 in 2007. And women who now form a cool 30 per cent of the total workforce in this sector could spiral up to 45 per cent by 2010.Companies believe that women bring in special qualities such as dedication, innovation, patience to the workplace, and not to forget they are less prone to job-hopping, cutting down on attrition numbers. Therefore, women are increasingly playing an important and valuable role in the industry. Little wonder that companies are developing women-friendly policies to attract, retain and develop their women employees.

Networking
Recognising the importance of a supportive system for sharing information, experiences and to bring in a sense of community among women employees, companies have started women networks since a few years.
Indian IT major Infosys, where women constitute 30 per cent of the workforce, has setup an Infosys Women’s Inclusivity Network (IWIN) a forum that looks into various issues facing women in the organisation.“IWIN provides an opportunity for development as well as critiquing management policies to ensure that the Infosys workplace is inclusive, and open to ideas that women can contribute,” says an Infosys spokesperson.
And as for Cisco, it is the Women’s Action Network (WAN) which cultivates mentoring and career development opportunities for women. “Networking helps women find a sense of community; WAN is a forum that allows employees to expand communities. Every week the members are involved in volunteering and outreach activities,” says Tracy Ann Curtis, Operations Manager, Asia Pacific Diversity – India, Cisco.

She adds that WAN in India leads the way in Asia Pacific, as it is the most creative, effective and inclusive network. It also involves men in their activities, representing inclusion and a mature attitude.

All about kids
When it comes to both men or women, child care has always been one of the major concerns of most employees, and at times it has resulted in women discontinuing with work. Addressing this issue, IT firms now have facilities such as crèches, child care centres, summer camps, etc.

Accenture, where high performance needs to be delivered, certainly has adopted several initiatives and policies to support their women folk. One unique program is the Kids-at-Work day. This is where employees bring their families with their children and enjoy events organised by the company. “With the need for creativity to drive innovation in the IT industry, the need to seek out, welcome and nurture diversity in thought has become a key enabler to business strategy execution,” opines Rekha Menon, Lead Executive, India Geographic Services & Human Capital & Diversity, Accenture India. Similarly, a year ago IBM conducted a survey on the family needs of employees, which resulted in a childcare centre that was set up near one of its office in Bangalore. Launched in March this year, IBM opened a first-of-a-kind childcare centre under its $50 million Global Work/Life Fund.
This entails a partnership between IBM and ‘Your Kids R Our Kids’ - a pre-school and daycare centre recognized by the India Ministry of Elementary Education, where IBM employees can enroll their children for various activities and courses.  “We understand the challenge men and women in IT face while navigating between work and family; hence our goal is to enhance the childcare environment of our employees through such initiatives,” says Kalpana Veeraraghavan, Asia Pacific Leader for IBM Global Work Life Fund.

Leadership
The number of women employees has steadily increased in the industry over the years, however, the glitch in this picture perfect situation is that there are skewed numbers at the senior management positions.
Being the homemaker and the breadwinner, today women have added responsibilities and roles to play. And this, at times pulls her back from aspiring to higher levels at work.  Realizing that women could add value to the enterprises in productivity and quality, IT companies are aggressively creating an environment of inclusion as well as growth.

With this regard IBM India is a special place for women employees. The company runs several programs which enhances gender inclusiveness among its employees. One such initiative is the Indian Women Leadership Council, where the council designs programmes to enhance the development and retention of women employees.
“Under this program women are trained to take the stage and learn to be comfortable under the spotlight. Diversity of ideas is important during brainstorming sessions for a solution or innovation,” says Anita Guha, Diversity Leader, IBM India where 26 per cent of the total population are women.

It is not all about diversity but inclusivity too, believes Accenture and says that the IT industry realises that diversity is no longer “nice to have” but “necessary to have”.“Many clients in industry today enquire about the diversity and inclusion agenda of organizations they plan to work with. It is an integral part of the business and thus we must proactively address these needs,” explains Rekha Menon. To strengthen this move for diversity at the workplace Nasscom too is playing a role to support and appreciate organisations. It has instituted awards to recognise companies with excellent “gender empowerment practices.” “Indian companies have started these practices and initiatives since the last 5-6 years only, it is still in a nascent stage and more has to be done,” says Sangeeta Gupta, Vice President, Nasscom. She adds that Nasscom will showcase cases/initiatives that have worked well in large companies and develop training modules for the small and medium enterprises too.
While efforts are being made by companies and Nasscom to increase inclusiveness, a few women go-getters in the industry felt that women too must take certain steps to reach their goal. “We need to become more ambitious and aspire to reach higher levels at work. A trailblazer attitude is required now,” says Anita Guha.