Hiring more women: India Inc sees rise in demand for Chief Diversity Officers

In the engineering sector, there is a push on hiring as well as giving opportunities to women in leadership roles beyond R&D, production, project, etc.

By ET Bureau | Aug 27, 2018, 11.32 PM IST

"Companies are willing to experiment with different backgrounds,” said James Agrawal, managing director of BTI Executive Search.

There is an increase in demand for chief diversity officers in the FMCG and FMCD, retail, life sciences, IT and engineering/manufacturing sectors, shows a survey of over 100 organisations carried out by BTI Executive Search.

“In the IT sector, where most women are hired for software testing than programming, there is a focus on hiring more women for programming. Similarly, in the engineering sector, there is a push on hiring as well as giving opportunities to women in leadership roles beyond R&D, production, project, etc.

Also, companies are willing to experiment with different backgrounds,” said James Agrawal, managing director of BTI Executive Search.

ET looks at the reasons for the spike in demand and the skillsets companies are looking at.