How we chose to walk the talk on gender equality

At [24]7.ai, gender equality, and women’s empowerment were waiting to break the boundaries of boardroom discussions and take on the scale of a revolution. Some challenges to be addressed were the need for a powerful vision and bringing it to the forefront of organizational priorities. We also wanted to drive leadership commitment, alignment, and a strong strategy, while addressing stereotypes and unconscious bias.

While we set out on our DEI goals in 2018, we wanted to convey the goals emphatically to steer the journey. We brought DEI to the forefront by making it a key focus area in our Annual Strategy Meet. When we said diversity meant business, it was a message reinforced with data.

Messaging and stakeholder involvement

To get our vision aligned, we had vision alignment execution workshops. Consistent efforts were made to embed gender diversity goals across the board, and the leadership took to constant messaging to all employees. Certification programs were conducted to ‘overcome limiting beliefs’ apart from building a strong code of conduct framework. The diversity council of leaders and diversity champions for governance and execution had the task cut out for the champions and leaders. The council is a cross-section of leaders from operations and support Functions.

Diversity Champions representing every team-owned execution and penetration of initiatives at the ground level. Monthly progress reviews with the chief diversity officer and the senior leadership reinforced the required focus. The efforts were complemented by support policies, dashboards, and newsletters to bring in transparency.

Along with the recognition from the UN Women 2020 – Asia Pacific women Empowerment principles (WEPs) for India, in COVID 19 action category – both at India and APAC levels, for two successive years (2019 and 2020), we have been recognized by Great Place To Work, as one of India’s Top 100 Best Workplaces, Top 50 Best Workplaces for Women and Top 25 Best IT-BPM organizations.

Quantifying impact

While we look at the progress made, our metrics indicate a positive change. Some of the important ones are diversity ratios increasing from 29 percent in FY20 to 31 percent as of date, and the diversity attrition improved from 5.25% in FY20 to 3.75% today. We also have some encouraging results in the diversity hiring front– it has increased from 30% in H1 FY21 to 42% in H1 FY22. At mid to senior levels, we have hired 45.83% in this fiscal. Diversity in senior management has gone up from 16% last year to 24% this year. Another notable change has been in the women leadership sphere, as 75 emerging women leaders have put through our Womenable program this year compared to 50 last year. The program, which aims to build next-generation women leaders, is now extended to frontline women employees.

Participation in DEI Initiatives increased from ~3500 in 2019 to~6000 by June 2021. There has been a five percent increase in the total promotions among women when compared to last year. A noticeable change is the pay parity– the average CTC for Women is 11% and 8% higher in operations and support function than the male population. Lastly, a relevant one in the pandemic— 85% women employees are already vaccinated.

What lies ahead

As an Organization, we have charted our roadmap as follows:

¨    Financial Year 2022 and Financial Year 2023: 35% Gender Diversity, and constantly revamp processes, introduce new policies and practices

¨    Financial Year 2024  and Financial Year2025: 40% Gender Diversity and focus on bringing Differently Abled women and create more opportunities in our workplace.

¨    Financial Year 2026 and onward:  Sustain, improve and expand year on year.

 

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