'Build a talent pipeline for female employees'
The ET Roundtable panelists emphasised the importance of investment in the female talent pool of India.
By TNN |
The ET Roundtable panelists emphasised the importance of investment in the talent pool — whether it’s encouraging more female candidates to apply for jobs, or providing a chance of skill upadate to women re-entering the workforce after a break.
| “The quota system alienates nearly 50% of your population. So, you can’t start with a quota gender card.” Tracy Ann Curtis, Cisco | |
A single sentence is sometimes all it takes to change the way a company is perceived, said Tracy Ann Curtis of Cisco. While recruiting on an Indian campus, she said, “One of the freshers I spoke to, said her decision to approach the company was due to the fact that we had a line in the brochure that said that Cisco is a women-friendly company.”
Simply putting in that reassurance spoke volumes about the company — that it would have a system in place to help women grow in their profession, a system that understood their needs, and that was enough to encourage women to apply.
Geeta Kannan of Infosys concurred, saying that companies needed to invest in the entire pyramid of their workforce, and address the specific needs of the lower rungs. “Companies need to spend a great deal of time at university campuses training students, as well as invite young graduates to their own facilities. These initiatives should aim at educating graduates about diverse fields of work in the science and tech sectors,” she said
With a growing number of women who have dropped out of the workforce looking to get back to work, industry needs to address their concerns too. “These women need knowledge inputs.
They need a forum to share their insecurities. You have to give them a sense of confidence, for which you need to put in place training programs that acclimatize them with their current work scenario,” said strategic HR consultant Hema Ravichandar.
Simply putting in that reassurance spoke volumes about the company — that it would have a system in place to help women grow in their profession, a system that understood their needs, and that was enough to encourage women to apply.
Geeta Kannan of Infosys concurred, saying that companies needed to invest in the entire pyramid of their workforce, and address the specific needs of the lower rungs. “Companies need to spend a great deal of time at university campuses training students, as well as invite young graduates to their own facilities. These initiatives should aim at educating graduates about diverse fields of work in the science and tech sectors,” she said
With a growing number of women who have dropped out of the workforce looking to get back to work, industry needs to address their concerns too. “These women need knowledge inputs.
They need a forum to share their insecurities. You have to give them a sense of confidence, for which you need to put in place training programs that acclimatize them with their current work scenario,” said strategic HR consultant Hema Ravichandar.
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