Climbing the Corporate Ladder - Our Experience

Recently, we, at Interweave, met a high-energy and vibrant group of women.

This group of professional women had been nominated by their organsiations for our Open Program, Climbing the Corporate Ladder.

This program, aimed at identifying and addressing the unique challenges that professional women face, saw a powerful interaction not only between us and the women but also among one another. We recognize that each group of professionals brings a set of their own challenges to the workplace.

This program, however, explored the challenges that women deal with. The group explored concepts like assertiveness, learning to say no, dealing with power and conflict among others. We also facilitated the group to identify strategies that will help them effectively deal with such barriers so they can reach their full potential at work. Introspection naturally flowed into the session as more and more participants saw where they were being unfair in their high expectations of themselves, to perform well at both the work and home fronts. Listening to other participants share how they had dealt with the situation in their own way, brought new ideas to the table. The sense of camaraderie was quite high.

The program energized not only the participants but also us at Interweave!

We are looking forward to having such enriching experiences with more groups in the times ahead.

Is weight the new race?

Along with other dimensions such as race and gender, obesity has emerged as a new concern that calls for inclusion and diversity training. Overweight and obese people are often subject to discrimination in hiring, promoting and recruiting due to preconceived biases.

It is easy to understand why issues about obesity discrimination are being raised more frequently these days. Countries across the world are grappling with obesity issues. According to the American Obesity Association, 127 million adults in the US are overweight, 60 million are clinically obese, and 9 million are severely obese:  figures that constitute roughly 66% of the US population.

With one of the fastest growing diabetic population in the world, coupled with the modern sedentary lifestyle, India will soon face the reality of a workforce battling weight issues. Additionally, obesity carries huge social stigma, making it crucial for employers to address social stereotypes related to weight, such as laziness or lack of discipline, in the workplace.

Companies must sensitise managers and employees to the fact that weight issues are medically attributed to social, cultural, physiological, metabolic, and genetic factors; rather than negative stereotypes. As with any other discrimination, obesity related diversity begins with providing an environment that doesn’t encourage prejudice.

What you can do:

·         Practice diversity and inclusion right from recruitment through to training and management levels

·         Examine merit on individual basis

·         Making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by overweight or obese people such as larger ergonomic chairs or specifically designed ladders and harnesses in factories

·         Job restructuring and/or modifying work schedules

·         Promote a healthy lifestyle within the company through healthy food choices in cafeterias and vending machines

·         Offer voluntary health risk appraisals through health plans and health professionals to obtain baseline data

·         Hold sessions on wellness, stress management, and other weight related ‘triggers’

Many organisations have recognised the reality that a combination of high-stress lifestyle, unhealthy foods and low exercise affects the mental and physical wellness of employees. However, while health programmes are a good idea, avoid those that specifically target obesity. A health programme should focus on health more than weight, so that there is no stigma attached to the programme.

Stigmatising on the basis of weight has the same detrimental effects on your business as with any other form of discrimination – it reduces the impact of your diversity and inclusion initiatives.

If your organisation is planning initiatives around diversity & inclusion, we at Interweave would be happy to help.