A Potpourri Workforce

They are still a minority in the boardrooms and in the higher

echelons of the Indian IT industry. That's the bad news. The good news is that

this is changing. Diversity is the new buzzword in corporate India, with the IT

industry leading from the front.

Says C Mahalingam, senior VP, HR, Symphony Services,

"Diversity has a fairly wide connotation and could include anything from

age, gender, orientation, culture, race, religion and even thought."

Typically, diversity refers to the demographic description of the people working

for an organization and human resource policies to correct gender and other

imbalances. Issues may include age, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities,

qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic

location, income, marital status, parental status, religious beliefs, work

experience, and job classification.

But there is one rider here: this phenomenon is more in evidence

at multinationals than in Indian corporates. Diversity as a concept is not new

and has been practiced for decades together in the West. Most multinational

companies, both IT and non-IT have consciously practiced diversity for a long

time now back home. Explains Mahalingam, "MNCs have already seen the

benefits of practicing diversity." Says Anita Guha, chief diversity leader,

IBM India, "Our strong commitment to diversity is a part of IBM's global

philosophy."

Interestingly, diversity today is being practiced in an active

as well as a passive manner. Put simply, there are certain aspects of it that

companies like to practice and talk about openly and certain others, for

example, orientation, that remain under cover but are practiced under the garb

of being an equal opportunity player-which is a fair call at the end of the

day. Says Prithvi Shergill, head of Human Capital Strategy at Accenture,

"What you can observe is what we call "visible" diversity.

Visible diversity is generally things we cannot change and are external, such as

age, race, ethnicity, gender, and physical attributes." Accenture, for

example, focuses on the larger concept of 'Inclusion' which encompasses

"invisible" diversity, that includes attributes that are not readily

seen, such as work experience, marital status, educational background, parental

status, income, religious beliefs and affiliations, geographic location, or

socioeconomic status. Adds Shergill, "However, it's the combination of

these attributes, both visible and invisible, that defines an individual's

"personal" diversity. No individual's personal diversity is exactly

like another's. So, when we recognize, value, and embrace inclusion and

diversity, we are also recognizing, valuing and embracing the uniqueness of each

individual."

It all Makes Sense



The practice of diversity brings along with it several benefits, difficult
for the industry to ignore. This is more applicable in the case of multi

national IT companies which have seen the business benefits.

	"The focus on diversity should be sharper at the entry and exit points of an organization" -Akila Krishnakumar, CEO, SunGard Offshore Services
	"Our strong commitment to diversity is a part of IBM's global philosophy" -Anita Guha, chief diversity leader, IBM India

Today the IT industry is under a lot of pressure to recruit,

given the pace of growth in business. This pressure is only going to mount with

the passage of time. Attracting the best talent, irrespective of the differences

that may exist between individuals, is one of the primary drivers of practicing

diversity.

Secondly, it has become a business imperative for companies to

create a workforce that reflects the marketplace. Says Guha of IBM, "It

helps us understand our customers better."

Finally, at the heart of diversity is the variety of ideas that

get generated from people with different backgrounds. This results in

out-of-the-box solutions. Says Louis Hall, COO, Xansa India, "Diversity is

a key competence to create a culture of innovation."

Finally, acknowledging diversity at the workplace is largely

about respecting differences between one individual and another. Says DK

Shrivastava, sr VP, HR, HCL Technologies, "Recognizing diversity means

creating a workplace that respects and includes differences; recognizes the

unique contributions that different individuals can make, and creating a work

environment that maximizes the potential of all employees."

There are three aspects of diversity-inclusiveness, work-life

balance and creating a harassment-free work environment. While most corporate

houses have policies on one or the other, what is clearly lacking today is a

more holistic policy on all the aspects of diversity. Says Mahalingam,

"Isolated policies exist here and there but there needs to be a

well-articulated and holistic policy."

Tackling Gender Bias



Gender diversity is probably the most recognized form of diversity. And with
organizations making constructive efforts to create an environment of

inclusiveness on this front. Women now occupy a much larger-though far from

equitable-percentage of middle management berths than was the case even a few

years ago. There are both push and pull factors behind this. The felt need to

appear politically correct is undoubtedly playing an important role as far as

large IT companies are concerned; but the economic pull of the fairer sex is

making the process irreversible now.

Take for example Genpact. The GE legacy naturally creates space

for a large number of best practices from GE into the BPO. GE launched its GE

Women's Network (GEWN) in 1997 in India. GEWN provides opportunities for women

to engage with GE leaders and learn from their experiences.

	"Diversity has a fairly wide connotation and could include anything from age, gender, orientation, culture, race, religion and even thought" -C Mahalingam, senior VP, HR, Symphony Services
	"Diversity is a key competence to create a culture of innovation" -Louis Hall, COO, Xansa India

A variety of fora are used, including seminars, workshops,

networking dinners and regional mega-events. Participants share information on

job opportunities and exchange views with successful role models. GEWN is a part

of Genpact as well.

The concept of diversity in the workplace was born in the US, so

it's not surprising that American companies are driving this trend in India.

"Gender diversity helps employees become more tolerant of each other and

prepares them to be a part of the global team," says IBM's Guha.

Diversity also helps in a highly competitive environment where customers are

also diverse and demand the same of their vendors. Concurs Binoo Wadhwa,

director, People Success, Sapient India, "Diversity brings in different

leadership styles that complement and balance one another and enrich a company's

talent pool."

Women currently account for 40% of IBM India's strength. For

Sapient the proportion stands at 31%, while it's 33% for Xansa India and

SunGard Offshore Services. The goal for Xansa is to take this figure up to

around 38% over the next one year, which is the proportion of women employees

that the UK-based parent has on its rolls. Says Vijayalakshmi Sankar, director (Chennai

and US Operations), Xansa (India), "I have found Xansa to be a gender

neutral organization with a culture that champions women to play strategic

roles."

A focus area for most IT companies in India today is to bring

more women into the hard-core technology space. IBM, for example, has identified

four women-only colleges while Cisco has tied up with engineering institutes

across the country to train women who are then hired by the company. IBM also

offers special incentives to headhunters to get qualified women professionals

into the organization.

Anita Guha says communication and propaganda are of little use

without structured interventions to ensure greater gender diversity and

reinforcing the message that a gender diverse organization is central to the

practice of diversity. This communication at IBM happens both at the recruitment

stage as well as a later stage. Says Guha, "The objective is also to put

forward women who can act as role models for prospective recruits." Women

are also encouraged in leadership positions and drive a number of leadership

development programs through the Indian Women Leadership Council that comprises

15-16 women from different business units of women. IBM also comes up with a Top

Talent list every year and tracks this list to ensure that if there are women in

the list, what the company is doing to make sure that proper leadership

development initiatives are organized for them, and they receive a fair growth

path.

"It has to be a top down approach to create a culture of sensitivity" -Nandita Gurjar, head of HR, Infosys BPO

Motorola, which aims to increase the representation of women on

its rolls over the next one year, is in the process of setting up a Country

Diversity Council for India. To guard against gender bias, recruitment panels

have a fair number of women. Sapient, which has been championing diversity,

especially gender diversity, for a long time now feels that the fundamental

concept is a part of the DNA of the organization. "It's really about

walking the talk," says Wadhwa of Sapient. At the global level, the CFO,

general counsel, or VP, marketing and sales, are all women. This culture has

trickled down into Sapient India as well where there is a significant proportion

of women in leadership positions.

Differently-abled Values



Another aspect of diversity that the IT industry has started recognizing is
disability. Disabled individuals-have slowly but steadily started finding a

place for themselves within the plush confines of the IT companies in India.

Interestingly, while MNCs are way ahead when it comes to gender

neutral organizations, the same cannot be said in case of employing disabled

individuals where a good number of Indian companies are making significant

effort. Chennai-based Laser Soft Infosystems has been actively providing

employment to people with disabilities. Software programmers on wheelchairs,

those with vision and hearing impairments-this is a fairly common sight at the

10-year-old software company. Today there are 80 people with disabilities in the

organization, which is nearly 14% of the manpower strength and those with

adequate merit receive a fair opportunity to rise up the career ladder.

Meet Javeed Guledgudd, a process executive at Infosys BPO in

Bangalore. Every time Javeed went looking for a job he was forced to retreat at

the interview stage. Finally, six months back, Javeed joined Infosys BPO and has

not looked back since. Premraj is a hearing and speech impaired process

executive in the same center and writes in a piece of paper that after having

worked for nine years, he has finally come to an organization where he gets

treated as an equal. Mangalagouri, Premraj's wife who is also disabled, works

at the BPO as well.

Practicing equal employment opportunity in case of employing

disabled is a tad bit difficult than being a gender neutral organization. For

one, there needs to be a focused approach through policies coupled with

significant investments. Says Nandita Gurjar, head of HR at Infosys BPO,

"Although we have been working in this area for a while now, embracing

inclusiveness and diversity through a concrete policy began a year back."

Admits Gurjar that it has to be a top down approach to create a culture of

sensitivity because one cannot force a disabled individual into a team unless

the team leader or manager is sensitive to the condition and needs of the

individual. For example, one entire team of 24 people at Infosys BPO were taught

sign language to help them communicate with the hearing and speech impaired.

Being a value-driven organization, Infosys is sensitizing its employees through

a code of conduct. Today Infosys BPO employs 112 people who suffer from

different forms of disability. Even though an insignificant proportion of its

entire strength of 9,800, nevertheless commendable. The company wants to take

the proportion to 3-4% in the next couple of years.

"An organization has to make a culture that champions women to play strategic roles" -Vijayalakshmi Sankar, director (Chennai and US Operations), Xansa (India)

The other key factor is creating and providing the right kind of

infrastructure. Physical infrastructure is a part of this. For example, there

are special facilities within the office premises such as ramps for those who

need to move around in wheelchairs, specially equipped toilets and additional

railings. Be it recruitment interviews or general body meetings, all are held on

ground floor, for easy access in case of Laser Soft. Cites Prema Parashuraman, a

Data Quality Analyst at IBM Global Services, "I had to quit my earlier job

because I had to be seated on the ground floor while the rest of my team was

located on a different floor." Prema had nearly given up her dreams of

being a developer and was dappling with a customer service job at Hutch for 16

months till she joined IBM in Bangalore six months back. The Infosys campus in

Bangalore has ramps to allow people on wheelchairs to move around freely. Says

Gurjar, "The team of experts who set up the infrastructure here was made to

spend 24 hours to observe the disabled and understand their special needs."

For example, the restrooms used by people on wheelchairs need to be a feet

broader. The Infosys campus at Bangalore also provides wheelchair-friendly

elevators where the buttons are at a lower level than the normal ones, within

easy reach of the disabled employees.

Considerable investment also goes into procuring the

technological support that is required by a disabled individual. A near blind or

completely blind person usually uses JAWS, a powerful software program designed

to work with a speech synthesizer to improve the productivity level of the

visually impaired, which need to be installed. One needs to create other

facilities depending on the form of impairment. Experts are also hired to train

the impaired as well as train their normal colleagues. Infosys BPO, for example,

has interpreters for the hearing impaired during Townhall meetings while there

is special transportation within campus that runs for its disabled employees. As

part of their CSR initiative, Infosys BPO also runs training programs for the

disabled to help them find better job opportunities.

While employing disabled falls within the realms of a company's

CSR initiatives, it also makes business sense. For one, it helps contain

attrition. Says Anand Talwar, vice president, Talent Management, ITC Infotech,

"Physically challenged employees would have lesser knack to go job hunting

as compared to normal employees." Disagrees Gurjar, "Job hopping is

just an artificial reflection of success. After a while, a disabled individual

is at par with his or her normal colleagues." Secondly, it helps the

outsourcing champions to replicate a truly global organizational culture.

Finally, the availability of untapped talent is always a driver.

However, a probable reason as to why we still do not see too

many disabled employees in the industry can be attributed to factors like heavy

investments that are required, a lack of initiative, and an attitude of

disconcern.

Going Beyond



Finally, diversity goes far beyond just gender and disability. Most Indian
IT companies are truly global in nature. Take for example Infosys and TCS. Both

companies do not just have offices worldwide but also a good number of people

from different geographies and cultures on their payrolls. Says Shrivastava of

HCL Technologies, "There is an emerging trend where Indian IT companies are

recruiting from abroad, and what is taking shape is a fair mix of

nationalities." This in turn is giving the IT workforce in Indian IT

companies a global dimension and careful watch is also being maintained on the

ratio balance of the workforce. Adds Mahalingam, who was part of the first CII

summit on diversity organized in Bangalore in 2003: "Everyone in business

is now focusing on building dream teams that bring out the best results out of

their individual diversities-be it age, gender, culture, ability or

nationality."

In today's multi-cultural, multi-national environment, it has

become a business imperative for companies to tap a heterogeneous gene pool

across genders, age groups, cultures among others. And the IT industry is

leading from the front to create truly global organizations with a resource pool

that reflects the diverse character of the society.

Bhaswati Chakravorty



bhaswatic@cybermedia.co.in