Interweave in the news!

.........The idea for Interweave came directly from Nirmala’s experience with IBM where she was part of the global management development team that focussed specifically on Diversity and multi-cultural inclusion. Having worked with IBM for five years in several countries around the world on this initiative, she was the Diversity and Employee Relations Lead for IBM in India when she quit in 2005. In 2006, she had the idea of pioneering work in this space on a larger scale in India. Ironically, IBM was her first client and Interweave has gone on to work with several other Fortune 500 companies over the last few years.

Interweave began as a proprietorship – a one-woman army actively crusading for a culture change well before D&I was a subject of conversation at business meetings in India. “Challenging work and the thrill of creating niche offerings and the excitement of being pioneers in the space were what kept us going for a good part of the initial three years. We registered as a Private Ltd. company in late 2007 with two employees and have since grown to be a team of 10 across Bangalore, Gurgaon, and Mumbai,” says Nirmala......

Prashant, Kalpana, Nimmi (L to R)

Read more about our coverage in yourstory.in by clicking on: http://yourstory.in/2012/06/interweave-provides-diversity-management-and-inclusion-solutions-for-your-workplace/

Legal/Moral?

“A pregnant employee who was fired from her retail job after giving her supervisors a doctor’s note requesting she be allowed to refrain from heavy lifting and climbing ladders during the month and a half before her maternity leave: That’s what happened to Patricia Leahy. In 2008 a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled that her firing was fair because her employers were not obligated to accommodate her needs……... It happens every day to pregnant women in the United States, and it happens thanks to a gap between discrimination laws and disability laws. 

Federal and state laws ban discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace. And amendments to the Americans With Disabilities Act require employers to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled employees (including most employees with medical complications arising from pregnancies) who need them to do their jobs. But because pregnancy itself is not considered a disability, employers are not obligated to accommodate most pregnant workers in any way.” – Deccan Herald, 2 Feb 2012. 

Where do we draw the line between what’s legal and what’s right? If an employer is not held legally accountable for firing a woman who was pretty much fired for being pregnant, do you think that would affect the company? Is there a solution to this sort of thinking by the employer?

Making-up competence?

A recent Harvard study found that women with make-up are perceived as being more confident. As part of the study, respondents were shown pictures of many women – of different ages and racial backgrounds – with different levels of make-up. They rated the women who had worn visible make-up as looking more competent compared to those hadn’t.

So, where does it leave the average woman with a career? Will lipstick and eye-liner help her land plum posts? Feminists have lashed out against the findings.

Often, corporate careers place subtle demands on women to dress and behave in particular ways. However, can a woman not confirm to these expectations and still be successful? Can organisations truly value employees for their loyalty and work; not their skills with the eye-pencil and blush?

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. 

Breaking Stereotypes

Zoya Akhter’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara(ZNMD) has broken many mind-made/societal shackles we live by to show us that true happiness doesn’t come dressed in the colour of money one makes, the country we come from, or one’s so-called ‘cool’ appearance. It comes, simply from recognising and accepting the difference around us, doing away with stereotypes, and opening our hearts and lives to the richness of diversity around us.

Right from the onset, the film is a lesson in diversity and inclusiveness, which corporate India can easily leverage. The three friends on the bachelor party are poles apart… two of them don’t even have an easy equation to begin with, but they stick it through to experience life like they never have before. And therein lies one of life’s biggest success lessons.

There is also the adventure sport each protagonist plans – the rule, everyone does what is chosen, come what may. So while we have Hrithik shivering with fear as he deep-sea dives, we see Farhan biting his nails when he skydives. But the lesson is a clear one – they accept that another’s choice could be different and go ahead and try it. The result – exhilaration and pure joy. Because, sometimes the path chosen by another is not the way we see it; nevertheless, give it a fair chance and one never knows what roads open ahead!

In fact Zoya breaks stereotypes in almost all frames. Who says a pretty girl of Indian origin (Katrina), working out of London, cannot take a break of 3 months to teach deep sea-diving in a remote corner of Spain? We’ve been fed on films where the Hindi film hero is Mr Perfect but not in ZNMD where each protagonist confronts their own fears in different ways, making them real and human.

And, just when the moment of realisation happens for Hrithik (the one carrying the maximum number of pre-fixed notions of who should do what: he is judgmental, difficult, and pretty much today’s corporate high-performer), Zoya does something beautiful – for the first time in Indian cinema, Hrithik’s right hand (which everyone knows, has a 6^th digit) is used to describe the gush of emotion he feels. This, to me is big, because in Hindi cinema (and in the everyday workplaces), imperfection is a dirty word. If one is not perfect at something, they’re no good… not worth a second chance. The director breaks a huge stereotype here for cinema-goers – Hrithik finally discovers his element and revels in it… nothing could depict the moment better than him being comfortable in his own skin. What the audience experiences with him breaks the barriers that we’ve carried in our minds for so long. Suddenly, appearances don’t mean anything, the experience does!

There is ample learning throughout the film… but the biggest one I have chosen to take away is the above. Because, not a day goes through when I don’t see occurrences in the workplace where someone is not given an opportunity due to a stereotype logged in a manager’s mind. Just the other day, I heard of a lady who was denied a visit to a client location in the US, because she had had a baby six months ago and the manger didn’t think she would be willing to travel yet. She however, would have been happy to make arrangements for the 5-day visit.

Then again, how many times have expecting mothers been denied plum roles in a team, when she is soon going to be on maternity leave? Or how often are good-looking women hired for the front-office desk – or even a position on the sales team? Even at schools, I see children facing discrimination when parents cannot be excessively involved with the extra-curricular activities as the school demands – mothers of course are asked to play a larger role… do fathers even get asked to teach something extra to the children? And what does a child do if their mother has a more demanding career than the father and can’t make the time?

Walk into any 5-star property in the city and watch the difference in the doorman’s salute to those who step out of expensive cars in posh clothing, versus an inexpensively-dressed family, who might actually be carrying the money to dine in the restaurant there.

These well-recognised stereotypes are strongly conditioned indeed. While it is difficult to make the immediate change, being aware of it itself is a good start. Somewhere we will begin to check ourselves at it. Because until then, someone somewhere is losing out on opportunities, on a maximised experience, on life…because of the pre-conditioned mindsets we all carry.

The movie has managed to convince some people that they are ready to change. But the big question is, is India ready? Because, unfortunately a film, which leaves us with so much, grossed only 30% at its opening on the box office and is called a ‘flop’ where all the other films that opened with it, were ‘hits’. Has it become another victim of stereotype?

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Whose concern is it?

The article “Let Us Continue Work in Bar, Say 3 Women” in the July 8^th issue of The Times of India talks about how these 3 women have petitioned to let them continue working as bar stewards. Now, safety of employees, according to the law, is the responsibility of their employer. So how does the government, being the upholder of the law, have the right to suddenly decide that women can work at five- star hotels but not bars? Especially when the women themselves say that accommodation and safe transportation have, in fact, been given to them by their employer.

On one hand, the government claims to have the safety of these women in mind while on the other hand, it has unfairly pushed them out of this space of employment while they want to continue working in it.

Should there be a line that the government should not cross, between ‘protective’ and ‘stifling’? Or should the women be grateful that someone finally has their welfare in mind?

She is worth the wait!

Women form a significant part of the workforce today, bringing into focus the need to manage unique issues such as pregnancy and post-maternity, a business priority. 

Issues facing the post-maternity women workforce need to be addressed because when inadvertent discrimination occurs, not only do companies lose out on trained and existing talent, but they also face the costs of replacing staff and hampering a productive work environment.

A recent report by NASSCOM estimated that companies can generate a return of around 8 per cent by adopting family friendly policies. As talent becomes scarce across all levels in the organisation—women power if leveraged, can bring significant benefits to all stakeholders.

At Interweave, we recommend that organisations:

• Addressing the needs of the post-maternity employee, begin by acknowledging her contribution and empathising with her new roles.
• Formulate comprehensive maternity policies as well as build support systems to help her stay connected with the organisation during the period of maternity. Women should be allowed to return to work when they are ready and when adequate child-care arrangements are in place.
• Formulate empathetic and inclusive policies such as gradual transition into workload, staggered working hours, working from home, and child care to help your employees work and perform better.
• Enable the women to have their work life balance by providing the appropriate support systems and permit women to have flexible schedules that will help them remain productive.
• Create a clear productivity measurement model, amenable for women to work from outside the office. Women friendly policies have to be deployed in a fair and transparent way, resulting in neither misuse nor discrimination. 
• Companies can invest in technology infrastructure so that women can work from home or from satellite offices when needed, operate on flexible work schedules especially during the pre- and post-natal periods. 
• Remember to check frequently to re-assess the employee’s readiness and work satisfaction levels. Employees who feel supported through personal milestones are likely to be more productive and efficient.

At Interweave, we take pride in assisting organisations to invest more time and resources in helping women employees develop, participate, and contribute fairly and equitably. We recently helped a large global MNC launch a series of handbooks for their managers and employees to understand and work with maternity better. The request for this had specifically been generated when Business Units internally noticed that managers needed support to work around expecting mothers. Companies that take efforts to develop and retain competent women benefit immensely, not just through home-groomed talent but by being able to attract fresh talent as well. 

Not only does an inclusive work environment spell wonder for your company’s branding (yes, go ahead and ask the happiest women employees you see and you’ll see that their workplace boasts of rich women-oriented policies) but research has indicated that diverse and inclusive organisations show characteristics of improved problem solving, creativity and innovation.

It's discreet, but is it adequate?

Do the Dominique Strauss-Kahn kind of incidents come to light in the Indian hospitality sector? A leading Indian magazine delicately probed the issue, in a recent article, to show how cases of sexual harassments by guests are becoming a greater concern for the industry. It also showed how often such cases are handled with ‘discretion’ to ensure there’s no harm to the hotel’s, staff’s, or individual guest’s reputation.

Let’s move away from the hospitality sector and broaden our canvas to include all organisations across sectors. While many organisations treat cases of sexual harassment with discretion, what is often missing is an official mechanism to see the process through.

The Supreme Court of India has set out guidelines for all organisations to follow when dealing with cases of sexual harassment. This includes having a complaints committee to prevent and look into such matters. Here are some of our recommendations, based on the Supreme Court guidelines, for the Internal Complaints Committee.

Ø  The Internal Complaints Committee should consist of 5 to 7 members.

Ø  The Committee should be headed by a woman employee, who shall be its Chairperson.

Ø  There should be at least one person selected from an external group, like an NGO that works towards interests of women.

In our experience, we have observed that...

·      Most employees are unsure about what sexual harassment is and how it can be addressed.

·      Often employers themselves are ignorant and do not have established policies to deal with the matter.

·      Stigmas, fear of tarnishing the company’s or one’s personal reputation, and lack of a suitable support system prevent people from voicing out.

However, sensitisation programmes and educative attempts are helping to highlight the damage caused by such issues. Employers are becoming more sensitive to the matter and employees are becoming more conscious how to contribute to creating a respectful workplace. We see an enormous interest from organisations asking us to conduct workshops and help them define the necessary sexual harassment policies. And it’s even better when an organisation that has already taken the first steps, decides to go a step further by conducting more sessions for further batches of their employees. Clearly, they have seen merit in educating their employees and  creating a wholesome work atmosphere.

What steps has your organisation taken in this direction? Write in and tell us. 

Respectful Workplace with Gender Diversity

We are happy to share pictures of a session conducted by us for the government sector in Chandigarh. We were invited to participate in a seminar on ‘Respectful Workplace with Gender Diversity’. Our CEO, Nirmala Menon participated in the event, touching upon the challenges that face diversity and inclusion in India.

Interweave used interesting tools to highlight some of the inherent stereotypes and prejudices that exist within all of us and how these can impact performance and productivity at the workplace. Underlining the need to bring greater diversity to the workplace, we drew the attention of participants on the need to consciously nurture a respectful workplace.

The event provided an interesting platform to discuss some of the most challenging issues around gender inclusion at work. Several senior representatives from the Civil Services, Police and Income Tax were present at the event.