· PDF fileled by Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, to honor the Best Companies for Women in India and celebrate the forward-thinking

THE

2017WORKING MOTHER

AND AVTARBEST COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN

INDIA

THE 2017 WORKING MOTHER AND AVTAR BEST COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN INDIA2

ABOUT

A role model, mentor and advocate for the over-24-million mothers in the U.S. who are devoted to their families and careers. Working Mother is a celebrated gender parity champion in the United States. With its website, magazine, research, social networks, video, and powerful events, Working Mother provides its readers with the community, solutions and strategies they need to thrive. The Working Mother 100 Best Companies list celebrates its 32nd anniversary this year and continues to set the standard for work life practices in the U.S., raises awareness of the issues women face in the workplace and encourages the development of programs to address those issues.

Established in 2000, AVTAR is India’s �rst diversity advocate & workplace inclusion expert. Renowned for its extensive work in the space of Diversity & Inclusion and more speci�cally, women’s workforce participation, it is the country’s largest provider of second career opportunities for women and is also the earliest to begin working on diversity audits and measurement. Lead by the visionary Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, AVTAR has ventured into areas of women’s empowerment and career creation, which are �rsts to India, including: 1) Creating a marketplace for second career women to meet potential employers, 2) Developing a comprehensive set of career enablers which companies can implement in their workspaces, 3) Spearheading original research that has provided cutting edge insights to organizations and 4) Re-Skilling, up-skilling and counselling of women to pursue sustainable career paths. Over its 17 years of existence, AVTAR has helped charter Diversity & Inclusion plans for several organizations in the IT, FMCG and �nancial sectors in the country.

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FOREWORD02Dear Colleagues and Friends,

I’m pleased to present the results of the second annual Working Mother and AVTAR Best Companies for Women in India study. As the study continues to evolve and grow, it is India’s largest gender analytics exercise in its second year. This year, over 360 companies expressed interest in participating in the survey and 250 companies submitted applications. We received applications from companies spanning every major industry, geographical location and line of business.

The exemplary companies that made the 100 Best list represent the most progressive companies for women in India and we applaud their vision, leadership teams and e�orts to create and sustain a work environment where women can advance and thrive.

For 32 years, Working Mother has honored the U.S. 100 Best Companies for o�ering programs and progressive policies that allow all employees to succeed at work and beyond. We are delighted to again partner with AVTAR, led by Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, to honor the Best Companies for Women in India and celebrate the forward-thinking changes these companies have implemented for their women employees in India, and around the world.

We invite you to study and share this Working Mother and AVTAR Best Companies for Women in India report for vital insights into the current status of women in India’s workplace.

Best,SUBHA V. BARRYSenior Vice President & Managing DirectorWorking Mother Media


Being �rst is best, you say? But being second is harder! Inevitable comparisons to the �rst, a necessity to up the standards and retain the absolute uniqueness.

Hence, it is with great pride that we bring you the second edition of the Working Mother & AVTAR Best companies for Women in India (#BCWI)! Launched (as is tradition) on the 8th of March this year, the #BCWI as you will see, is a list that celebrates the 100 Best organizations that have invested with intention in ensuring gender balance in their workplaces.

Yes, it got tougher this year. Selecting the 100 Best among more than 3 times that number is not easy. But, it is a happy problem for us to have! As more and more women express their intent to climb up the corporate ladder and impactbusiness and society, it is important to showcase the organizations that have given them the platform to do so. And selecting the organizations, based not only on the existence of policies, but also its impact and utilization is what makes the #BCWI India’s ONLY analytics exercise of its kind, size and scale.

I am delighted to share that we at AVTAR are living up to the benchmark that was created by our partners, Working Mother Media in the US, where they have had 32 continuous editions of the Best Companies initiative! Let me share a little secret with you - there's de�nitely more than what meets the eye. An exercise which begins in March, with AVTAR’s research team putting together a list of companies for outreach, then socialising the same, signing the con�rmation with over 350 companies, creating a fully encrypted online link that obtains the responses, analysing the responses by using a state-of-art non-manual analytics engine and �nally arriving at the 100 Best list –there’s thousands of man-hours (and woman-hours!) of some of the best minds in gender analytics that gets invested in this journey!

The 2017 edition of the #BCWI is special for one more reason! This year, we have a new recognition that we believe will create history, once again! I am certain you will agree that without Men as Allies, the gender diversity story will never take o�. This year, Working Mother and AVTAR institute the country’s �rst and only award to recognize male allies – MALA – the Male Ally Legacy Award! Nominations from companies poured in for this prestigious award that recognizes men who have championed gender equity and equality. Male Allies, whose support both in strategic intent as well as operational excellence, has ensured that businesses, women, men, and families win bigger! To select this elite list, we had a power-packed jury. The list that has emerged celebrates some amazing male leaders who have created not just policies or frameworks but entire organizations and cultures that empower and advance women.

Best wishes and congratulations,DR. SAUNDARYA RAJESHFounder-PresidentAVTAR Group

Thus, with your amazing support, the second successful edition of #BCWI draws to a close. But, the gender inclusion journey in many companies in India is just beginning to become more intense, more involved and more intentional! And we at AVTAR and Working Mother would like to cheer you on towards a �nishing line that creates successful, sustainable and impactful careers for women, going on to build a 50-50 gender balance in the workplaces of our country!

INDEXONE-YEAR JOURNEY

THE EXPANSEPROFILE OF THE PARTICIPATING COMPANIES

CHOOSING THE 100 BEST

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

LEADING THE WAY:THE 2017 TOP 10 BEST COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN INDIA

CELEBRATING THE 2017100 BEST COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN INDIA

KEY FINDINGS 1. Gender Mix 2. Women Rising to Leadership 3. Creating Gender Sensitive Workplaces 4. Evolving Fexibility 5. Parental Provisions 6. Career Enabling Environment 7. Organizational Culture and Leadership Commitment

2017 MALE ALLY LEGACY AWARD

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A BEST COMPANYFOR WOMEN IN INDIA?

LOOKING AHEADUSING 100 BEST COMPANIES RESULTS TO PLAN THE FUTURE

THE POWER OF BENCHMARKINGLEARN FROM THE BEST

BCWI: 2018 TIMELINES

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75

92

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THE ONE-YEAR JOURNEY03

Today, we have two successful editions of BCWI behind us. Two lists – 2016 and 2017 – of Top 10 and 100 Best Companies for Women in India have emerged which contain some of India’s most purposeful role model organizations investing in both the soft and hard architecture of gender inclusion. The platform that BCWI created has resulted in the coming together of employer brands in India whose conviction in gender diversity is deep rooted, is far beyond business. This platform is also witness to the generosity of these organisations in sharing policy/program/practice information to create a magni�cent data repository. But most importantly, the BCWI platform is instrumental in being the only one that has ensured that the individual visions of each of these organizations combines universally into a national purpose for India to move up the human development index ranks via enhanced women’s workforce participation. With its stellar legacy of a 32-year old existence in the US under the aegis of Working Mother, the second Indian edition saw an evolution in the expanse, in the canvas and in the entire participation spectrum! 360 companies – cross industry, pan-country – registered to apply. The robust data-protected analytics tool (like in the inaugural edition) was employed to pick the 100 Best from the applicant companies. The companies that featured in the list, along with the Top 10 Best Companies, were honoured at the 100 Best Companies for Women in India Awards Ceremony and Celebration on the November 16, 2017, at the ‘Best Practices of the 100 Best Conference’ in Chennai.

There is more to come, there are more realms to be conquered. Female talent drain continues to be a problem, with an 8% drop in female labour force participation over the last decade. Digital disruption and threat of automation are expected to impact gender dynamics in the corporate world. But amidst it all, the warm welcome which the BCWI has received is testimony to the fact that the study is here to stay! In the years to come, the marketplace will become more and more familiar with this exercise, with this recognition. Gender diversity champions and D&I practitioners will want to leverage the immense possibilities of this data intensive exercise. Potential recruits and employees both will want to make sure that the companies they apply to and work for are on the list! As we march towards Planet 50:50 by 2030, being one of the Working Mother & AVTAR 100 Best Companies for Women in India would eventually be a visible seal of approval of an organisation’s gender inclusive work culture.

It was in 2016 that the country witnessed the launch of India’s largest gender analytics exercise – The Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI). Never before had an initiative of this magnitude, that pivoted around the gender inclusivity intent of India Inc., been undertaken. The coming together of two celebrated gender diversity advocates from two very di�erent geographies- Working Mother (from the US) and AVTAR (a pioneer in gender diversity – thought leadership) resulted in setting the ball rolling towards creating gender balance!

Proud to be amongst the best employers for Diversity employees in the Industry.

THEEXPANSE

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1. INDUSTRY-WISE DISTRIBUTION

5 10 15 20 25 30 4035

IT/ITES

FINANCIAL SERVICES

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES,MANAGEMENT CONSULTING, ACCOUNTING

CONSUMER PRODUCTS(INCLUDING COSMETICS, FOOD AND BEVERAGES)

CHEMICAL(INCLUDING PETRO)

PHARMACEUTICAL

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

MANUFACTURING

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

HOSPITALS/HEALTH CARE

HOSPITALITY

UTILITIES

RETAIL AND APPAREL

INSURANCE

MEDIA, INTERNET AND ADVERTISING

EDUCATION

36%

12%

6%

6%

6%

6%

5%

3%

3%

3%

3%

3%

2%

2%

2%

1%

1%


2. SIZE-WISE DISTRIBUTION

3. YEAR OF INCORPORATION IN INDIA

501-1000 employees

1001-5000 employees

5001-15000 employees

15001-30000 employees

>30000 employees

14.8%

44.55%

23.76%

7.92%8.91%

BEFORE 1900

3%

1901-1950

8%

1951-1980

6%

1981-1990

12%

1991-2000

33%

2001-2010

31%

AFTER 2010

7%



CHOOSING THE 100 BEST!05It started with every applicant company �lling an application form with 422 questions spanning seven key policy clusters of women’s career enablement, namely, Workforce pro�le, Flexible work, Women’s recruitment and retention, Bene�ts, Paid-time, Company culture and Safety and security. Every applicant was required to provide data of high-order granularity on their initiatives in each of these areas. The application form was hosted on a high-security online platform with companies being given company-speci�c credentials to access it.

Over a million data points were collated from across applications on the online survey link. A robust data-protected analytics tool (built in-house) was deployed to evaluate applications using statistically established relative scoring methods. The key policy clusters were prioritized upon referencing several of AVTAR's own research studies. The policy impacts were measured on the existence, access and utilization data points for the respective policies. The greater the data intensity of an application, the better was its score. The tool picked the 100 Best Companies for Women in India from the applicant companies based on their overall scores, making this an entirely data-driven, subjectivity-free exercise of evaluation. The tool also assigned overall ranks and cluster-wise ranks for every application the scorecard for which was shared con�dentially with the applicant companies.

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AND THEWINNERSARE...

AND THE WINNERS ARE...06

2017 WORKING MOTHER & AVTAR 100 BEST COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN INDIA


100BEST

Accenture Solutions Pvt. Ltd. ADP Pvt. Ltd. AGS Health Pvt Ltd. Barclays Shared Services Pvt. Ltd.

BASF India Ltd. Bayer Biocon Ltd.Bny Mellon International

Operations (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Boehringer Ingelheim India Pvt. Ltd.Broadridge Financial Solutions

(India) Pvt. Ltd. CA TechnologiesCapgemini Technology

Services India Ltd.

Capita India Pvt. Ltd. Castrol India Ltd. Cdk Global (India) Pvt. Ltd. Cisco Systems

Citibank Credit Suisse India Crisil Ltd. Cushman & Wake�eld India Pvt. Ltd.

Cypress Semiconductor TechnologyIndia Pvt. Ltd. Dbs Bank Deloitte In India Dow Chemical International Pvt. Ltd.



MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. Netmeds Market Place Ltd. Nielsen (India) Pvt. Ltd. Northern Trust Bank

Mondelez India Foods Pvt. Ltd. Monsanto Morgan Stanley Mphasis Ltd.

Metlife Global OperationsSupport Center Pvt. Ltd.

Midland Credit ManagementIndia Pvt. Ltd. Mindtree Ltd. Molecular Connections Pvt. Ltd.

Mahindra Susten Pvt. Ltd. Makemytrip (India) Pvt. Ltd. Marico Ltd. Mastercard Incorporated

L'oreal India Pvt. Ltd.Mahindra & MahindraFinancial Services Ltd. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd.

Johnson & Johnson Pvt. Ltd. K. Raheja Corp Kellogg India Pvt. Ltd. KONE Elevator India Pvt. Ltd.

In�niti Retail Ltd. Infosys Ltd. Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd.

IBM India Pvt. Ltd. IBS Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Inautix Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. Indegene Pvt. Ltd.

Great Software LaboratoryHDFC Standard Life Insurance

Company Ltd. HP Inc.HSBC Electronic Data Processing

(India) Pvt. Ltd.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories Elico Healthcare Services Ltd. EY Future Focus Infotech Pvt. Ltd.


WM Global Technology ServicesIndia Pvt. Ltd.

Visa Inc. Vodafone India Ltd. Walmart India Pvt. Ltd. Wells Fargo India Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

ThoughtWorks Technologies(India) Pvt. Ltd. ValueLabs Vedanta Ltd. Verizon Data Services India Pvt. Ltd.

Tech Mahindra Ltd. Tesco Bengaluru Pvt. Ltd. The Indian Hotels Company Ltd. Thomas Cook Group, India

Tata Communications Ltd. Tata Consultancy Services Tata Starbucks Pvt. Ltd. Tata Steel Limited

Standard CharteredGlobal Business Services Pvt. Ltd.

State Street Corporate ServicesMumbai Pvt. Ltd. Sun Life India Service Centre Pvt. Ltd. Target Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.

Societe GeneraleGlobal Solution Centre Sodexo Onsite Services Sony Pictures Networks

India Pvt. Ltd.Standard Chartered Bank, India

Raychem RPG Sapient Consulting Pvt. Ltd. Schneider Electric India Shell India Markets Pvt. Ltd.

People CombineEducational Initiatives Ltd. PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd. PNB Metlife India Insurance Co. Ltd. Procter & Gamble

Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.Optum Global Solutions

(India) Pvt. Ltd. PayPal India Pvt. Ltd.Pega Systems Worldwide

India Pvt. Ltd.


On account of a tie in one of the positions, the 2017 – 100 Best list features 101 companies.

2017 WORKING MOTHER & AVTAR TOP 10 COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN INDIA


10TOP

Accenture Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Deloitte in India EY

IBM India Pvt. Ltd. Northern Trust Bank People Combine Educational Initiatives Ltd.

Procter & Gamble Schneider Electric India

Tata Consultancy Services

Shell India Markets Pvt. Ltd.

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THE 2017 TOP 10BEST COMPANIESFOR WOMENIN INDIA

LEADING THE WAY:

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 411,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives.

At Accenture, Inclusion and Diversity is integral to business and they believe diversity makes them smarter and more innovative. I&D at Accenture India is driven by a cohesive I&D strategy, that is underpinned by their Talent Ambition to be the most inclusive and diverse organization in the world, shaped by insights from original thought leadership driven research, market intelligence, data analytics and de�ned talent strategy, further driven by employees, along with guardrails of measurement of outcomes and accountability of leaders. In FY17, Accenture made a global commitment to be gender equal by the year 2025, along with increasing women representation at leadership level to 25% by 2020.

While signi�cantly growing its talent base in India over the past decade, Accenture has always had a sustained focus on diversity. Today, more than 1/3rd of 150,000+ people at Accenture in India, are women, and are proud of their contribution to Accenture’s success.

For the inclusion of women at every level of the organization, Accenture o�ers an environment and culture that develops, empowers and enables them to thrive through their career and life stages, and lead successful and intentional careers as they learn and grow. Accenture has consistently elevated the discourse on Gender diversity, both within the organization as well as at the cross-industry level. An industry-leading parental leave policy where Adoption and Surrogacy leave = Maternity Leave at 26 weeks+ 12 weeks of unpaid leave of absence, up from the statutory guideline of 12 weeks paid leave. In addition, new mothers are also entitled to an additional 4 weeks paid leave in case of pregnancy-related illness.

At Accenture, men play an active role as advocates of gender diversity and leaders consistently engage in fostering a culture of inclusion in their businesses by sponsoring and advocating for diversity. Supported by a strong leadership governance structure, Accenture continues to meet and exceed diversity targets that it sets for itself.

ACCENTURE SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.


LEADING THE WAY: THE 2017 TOP 10BEST COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN INDIA07


Rekha M. MenonChairman and Senior Managing Director, Accenture India

For Accenture, the focus on diversity is about doing the right thing – for our people, our communities and our business. It makes us stronger and more successful. We have had a long-standing commitment to gender diversity, and remain focused on pushing boundaries to drive the growth and success of women at Accenture and in the community, we live and work in.

It is Accenture’s commitment to inclusion and diversity that enables the organization to ensure sustained growth for its clients and the larger communities in which it operates. Accenture is proud of the accomplishments and recognition it has received for its inclusion and diversity practices.

2017 WORKING MOTHER & AVTARTOP 10 BEST COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN INDIA

Being Distinctively Deloitte

In an era of heightened corporate transparency, greater workforce mobility, and more millennials in the workforce, culture is one of the top priorities in an organization.

The unique culture of Deloitte is built on the foundation of empowerment, inclusion, and advancement with a leadership group that believes in the philosophy of Connect, Develop, and Care to provide a world class talent experience. With this philosophy, Deloitte has created an irresistible, agile, and di�erentiated brand in the marketplace.

What makes Deloitte distinct?The �rm provides – talent experience and rewards that you would expect from the undisputed leader. They encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of leaders and professionals, and embrace the diversity of thoughts and experiences. A culture focused on well-being, the �rm respects the well-being and work-life choices that its people make and encourages a holistic view of well-being in and outside of work.

Deloitte’s competitive bene�ts as part of its “Total Rewards” philosophy are comprehensive, tax-friendly, internally equitable, and it helps in creating a caring culture. Under the umbrella of DCare, the �rm provides various bene�ts to its people like, DMom (program to provide support to mothers on maternity), EmoFit (program for emotional wellbeing of professionals and their families), Insured (insurance bene�t for professionals, their parents and parents-in-law).

As an incubator of exceptional talent and women’s leadership, the �rm’s approach is focused on creating an environment of inclusion and support. For its women professionals, this is enabled by providing relevant resources and learning programs, embedding �exibility into teams, and encouragement at all levels to engage in open and honest discussions about their careers, especially from male leaders. DWin initiative is a program launched to focus on women leaders and providing opportunities for their growth. The organization also provides women professionals with tailored bene�ts, programs, and resources to support them and their families throughout life’s major milestones.

Deloitte believes in a holistic approach to wellbeing for all its professionals. “Empowered Well-being” is the organization’s response to help its workforce balance personal and professional commitments while leading healthy and purposeful lives. Empowered Well-being provides professionals access to tools, resources and encouragement to make individual choices that positively impact their personal well-being. Built on the foundation of �exibility, the program encompasses the core aspects of nurturing a healthy body and a positive mindset while creating a sense of purpose to help each professional stay productive and involved.

In essence, Deloitte brings out the best of every professional to deliver the best that the �rm has to o�er to the clients, people, and communities.

DELOITTE IN INDIA



Bhavani BalasubramanianPartner, Deloitte India

Inclusion is the way of life at Deloitte! Inclusion is looking beyond visible differences and encouraging diversity in thoughts and beliefs. Working with professionals belonging to different backgrounds, cultures and thinking styles, helps our talent become better leaders and professionals leading to their enrichment and empowerment. Inclusion then is about leveraging global expertise to address complex business challenges faced by our clients, serve them with distinction and make an impact that matters.

Amita KasbekarVice President, Deloitte Consulting India Pvt. Ltd.

At Deloitte, Inclusion remains pivotal to our culture of empowerment, opportunity, enrichment, equity and excellence. This helps us develop and maintain strong connections and enables us to continuously grow, create value and deliver excellence in all that we do.

Accelerating gender parity, within EY and outside, takes on a sense of urgency with the Global Gender Gap Report predicting 170 years to achieve it. EY continues to focus on building an inclusive workplace that helps women employees hone their skills and grow into stellar leaders through purposeful actions and strategic programs.

Key initiatives towards thisare:Tracking the leadership pipeline: EY conducts a detailed performance review every year to identify high-potential woman employees in senior manager or higher ranks. They are nurtured through focused development experiences, career sponsorship, mentoring, coaching and exposure to critical assignments.

Leadership development workshops: All the high potential women undergo a 2-day leadership development workshop. The workshop encourages them to explore their own personal leadership styles

Focused group discussions (FGDs): FGDs help EY connect with its woman employees to �nd what works for them and address the challenges they face in career progression.

You Inc.: You Inc. is EY’s bespoke program for its woman employees (senior manager and above) to strengthen their personal brand.

ReWrite& Back in Game: These are EY’s second career programs that aim to bring back eligible women who have taken a career break as full-time employees (and not on internships). It also supports their transition by building a structured support system.

Intentional Career Path Program (ICP): The ICP program coaches women on strategically building their career trajectories by helping them manage their professional challenges. My Life: The program provides �exible working options to the employees. EY managers are sensitized to enable work �exibility.

EY@Work: In addition to the �exible work arrangement policy, EY’s new workplace concept provides employees with a trust-based, �exible environment designed for activity-based working.

Enhanced maternity bene�t: EY implemented a fully paid maternity leave of up to 26 weeks for the �rst two children, before the new regulatory act was enforced.

GDS Mentoring on Maternity (GDS MOM) and MomEY – Break and Beyond: This maternity and transition support program is for mothers-to-be and maternity returners. EY conducts exclusive workshops to sensitize the managers of expectant and new mothers in their teams.

Other initiatives for creating an inclusive environment: RecruitHER –RecruitHER brings in 360 degree focus on hiring women - from campuses and laterally. EY engages with prospective women candidates through social media extending opportunities. They engage with diversity vendors, provide enhanced referral bonus and sensitize hiring managers on unconscious biases on engaging with women on career break.

EY



Employee Resource Groups • EY GDS Professional Networks and EY Women’s India Network allow employees to connect professionally, build relationships and learn from each other.• The Working Parent’s Network provides a support system for new, expectant and experienced parents in managing personal and career challenges.• EY GDS Visionaries leverages the digitally native millennial population to steer the organization forward.

Awareness on Unconscious Bias: Theatre style gender sensitization sessions are conducted to create awareness on unconscious bias and break stereotypes. EY conducts various campaigns including a month-long education and awareness campaign that is held for managers. Before every review committee formation, managers undergo the Unconscious Bias training to ensure fair performance appraisals.

D&I Awards: To acknowledge individuals who are inclusive leaders and progressive thinkers, EY extends D&I Role Model, Catalyst and Rising Star awards.

All-gender restrooms: In 2016, EY instated all-gender restrooms across the o�ces in India. At EY, the inclusiveness philosophy covers not just women, but all employees across the diversity spectrum. This is to ensure every employee at EY is able to bring their whole selves to work, every day.


Gwen M. RyanOperations Leader, EY Global Delivery Services

We are committed to providing our women a supportive ecosystem in an ever changing disruptive business environment. We want our women to have rewarding careers, achieve their fullest potential, and benefit from the exceptional EY experience.

We nurture a diverse workforce by providing anenvironment where our women colleagues can contribute their best. From the time of hiring to advancing career aspirations of our women colleagues and building our leadership pipeline, our goal is to provide the right level of support and mentoring to make their EY journey more fulfilling and rewarding.

Rajiv MemaniChairman – EY India Region & Global Emerging Markets


IBM’s Founder, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., said: “Today, we are on the cusp of one more de�ning moment and its rippling across business models, technical models, and the very expectations people have for any enterprise they will call a leader” As a company that has reinvented it’s business constantly from a tabulating, hardware & software company to a cognitive solutions, cloud platform and digital organization, IBM’s “de�ning moments” on advancement of women mirror this constant evolution and focus to stay relevant to their clients, constituents and the marketplace. Since 1899, even before legislations and compliance drove gender diversity focus in most organizations, IBM embarked upon its journey to tap into the women talent pool (Diversity 1.0) by eliminating workplace barriers. What followed is a focus on nurturing women’s potential and adapting to the changing demands of new workforce dynamics via robust work/life management programs that continue to be a key di�erentiator for the company (Diversity 2.0). Diversity 3.0 has been around deepening engagement with all IBMers, overcoming unconscious bias to tap into their full innovation capability, and increasing societal impact through strategic partnerships with premier institutions, policy makers and government. This strong foundation has been e�ectively leveraged by IBM in India since the early 1990s – attracting, developing and growing women talent, translating what often is mere ‘corporate speak’ to something ‘real’ for an individual IBMer. In a lighter vein, they call it the “been there, done that and what next” syndrome. IBM India’s commitment to advancing women can be looked through a 2-angled lens: Bridging the workplace & marketplace.

The Marketplace:Tanmatra is a leadership development program targeted at women in the top echelon of the leadership pipeline. It is the brainchild of IBM in partnership with IIM-B and Catalyst India. The objective is to develop general management skills for the cohort and the context is intentionally external facing. There are on average 10+ organizations (cross – industry verticals) that send their high potentials to the program on a yearly basis.

IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program is another one of its kind leadership development initiative of high potentials. Teams of 25 – 30 IBMers per assignment, are deployed to emerging markets to consult with start - ups and grassroots organizations on a host of business topics: strategy, IT, �nancial management, operations. Till date, approx. 300+ women leaders from IBM India have been impacted by this development exposure, across the world.

The Workplace:The IBM Corporation provides an environment rich in career and leadership opportunities, with many programs and resources available to women to advance their career. The IBM Leadership Academy, women speci�c leadership development o�erings, rotational programs, mentoring, stretch assignment opportunities, are great examples of access to tools and training women have to help them in their career and leadership journey.

IBM INDIA PVT. LTD.



Dilpreet SinghVP & HR Head, IBM India Pvt Ltd

IBM recognises that the women that we develop today will help advance and lead the business of the future. Our company has long had industry-leading policies focused on attracting, developing and retaining women talent, globally and locally. It is an honour to be part of the Working Mother and AVTAR Top 10 Best companies for Women, as it is aligned with IBM's goal of building women leaders who will contribute to the transformation of our business and mentoring the next generation of talent.

Disha: is a one of a kind intervention targeted at emerging top talent women. The initiative was customized to empower young women with high potential before they “leak” from the workforce on account of a variety of reasons. Building a strong career identity capable of weathering many work life cycle storms is at the heart of this intervention. Run in partnership with AVTAR, Disha meaning “direction”, provides just that: an intentional, career path and direction for aspiring young women leaders. Building Relationship and In�uencing (BRI) is a program for high potential women leaders, two to four years away from promotion to an executive role. Participants engage in experiential and action-centered learning that helps them develop business relationship and in�uencing capabilities. This increases their internal con�dence and inner competence, laying the foundations for a shift in how they see themselves. In addition to this formal learning, participants become part of an online community, and are exposed to opportunities for mentorship.


Northern Trust Corporation is a leading provider of wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking to corporations, institutions, a�uent families and individuals. Northern Operating Services Private Limited (NOSPL) was incorporated in 2005 in Bangalore, India and is committed to hiring, developing and retaining a diverse workforce and fostering a culture of inclusion.

The organization has an overall representation of 43% women in India. Diversity and Inclusion is a strategic priority at NOSPL and is driven by the executive management team. Gender diversity is tracked across all people practices drive.There are targeted talent acquisition drives for women as well as focused hiring women for senior leadership positions. Within the organization, career interventions like the talent assessment program identi�es and develops a pipeline of talented female leaders for senior leadership positions.

The annual Chairman's Diversity Advocate Award Program recognizes employees who champion and make contributions to the company’s diversity e�orts.

All employees go through a training program on Diversity and Inclusion titled Open Minds as part of their induction.

Safety and wellbeing are central to NOSPL’s talent management strategy. NOSPL provides transportation to all employees with additional security features for women employees. A centralized transport command center monitors movement of vehicles, all vehicles are GPS (Global Positioning System) and RFID (Radio-frequency identi�cation) enabled, security guard for women employees and mobile application to track and communicate with the Transport desk. Dedicated parking slots are provided for women who are expecting a child.

As a part of the larger competitive bene�ts o�ering, NOSPL has tied up with leading child care centres which are in close proximity to the o�ces. NOSPL has committed to provide �nancial support for child care to working mothers as they return to work from maternity leave.

NOSPL o�ers a very generous parental leave o�ering including 14 days of paternity leave for all male employees and 12 weeks of adoption leave for primary caregivers. Financial assistance is provided for infertility treatments. Most recently, the organization has introduced an adoption assistance program for all employees.

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP), provides con�dential assistance to resolve the broad range of personal problems such as stress, grief, relationship concerns and even legal or �nancial questions that may be a�ecting the lives of the employees and their families.

As part of the work life integration programs, NOSPL has an alternate working option policy which provides options for di�erent types of �exible working arrangements including remote work, compressed working schedules, �exible time, part time working and telecommuting.

NORTHERN TRUST BANK


NOSPL’s Women in Leadership business resource council supports the career development of women and organizes several sessions on topics related to the professional development of women. As a way forward this council will work towards developing the female talent pipeline as well as position NOSPL as a great place to work for women in external forums.

A competitive bene�ts o�ering covering di�erent areas including educational assistance, employee discounts, subsidized health care checkups and di�erent initiatives related to employee wellness complement all of the above initiatives in building a supportive work environment for the employees.

Northern Operating Services Private Limited is committed to fostering and supporting a diverse and inclusive culture where every partner is welcomed, valued and respected. NOSPL’s journey towards inclusion is ongoing and the company �rmly believes they are making positive steps towards this.


Mosur SaisekarSenior Vice President & Chief Executive O�cer (India)

At Northern Trust, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We strongly believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce acts as a catalyst for organizational advancement through diversity of thought, ability and perspective. To this end, our leadership team is committed to institutionalizing a culture of diversity and inclusion within our organization and we strive to establish ourselves as a leader in diversity and inclusion in India.


“There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to �y on one wing” – Swami Vivekananda.

People Combine Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd provides an environment which is truly diverse and give equal opportunities to one and all. People Combine focuses on this philosophy which re�ects in its vision, mission and core values. Also as a name endeavors “People Combine”, the company is “People” �rst. People are at the heart of every initiative and policy. They seek people with whom they can “Imagine Together” and who embody People Combine’s core values of unity, integrity, accountability, enthusiasm and compassion. These have been ingrained in every employee at People Combine creating a vibrant and healthy organization.

Women are undoubtedly the backbone of any society. At People Combine, delivering multiple roles e�ortlessly by doting daughters, caring mothers, competent colleagues and a wide range of many other roles are played by women around �awlessly with grace. People Combine employs a large number of women and that number has increased exponentially to 866 women employees in the year 2016. There are 171 female managers, 36 senior managers and 7 corporate executives(C-suite).

“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish, whether that’s in politics or other �elds” – Michelle Obama. The company has initiated various women centric programs at People Combine, which not only focus on the goal of building women leaders but also on how customized it can be during the journey of becoming a leader. In 2016, People Combine initiated a formal sponsorship program, and they had 86 women participation as sponsee. In 2016, they had 516 (increased from 368 in 2015) women employees who actively participated in mentoring program. In the Career Counselling program 258 women employees participated and the key objective of the program was to determine the best direction for their career. To help established and emerging female executives become extraordinary leaders, they organized leadership and executive programs. 69 women employees participated in Leadership training program. 17 women in executive coaching and 72 women were considered in formal executive succession planning. The female managers were sent to leadership programs in IIM – Bangalore, ISB and IB Leadership program in Singapore.

People Combine has a structured policy which helps both the women employees as well as the new reporting manager on how to make the rotation successful. In addition to this they have ACDC Program for identifying Women Leaders & promoting them to Leadership positions. At the start of year based on self-nominations women employees enroll themselves for leadership program. The nominations are screened and selected. This program has been very successful and in mid manager level they have been able to close greater than 90% of positions internally.

“I never dreamed about success I worked for it – Estee Lauder.”There is a high potential program wherein the company identi�es women leaders during the appraisal process. Additional tasks & training is provided. This program is

PEOPLE COMBINE EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES LTD.



Mr. Rajeev TupsakriChief People O�cer

At People Combine multitude of initiatives in sync with our core values are conceptualized and effectively implemented to ensure that we make this organization the best place for working women. The resultsspeak for themselves as consecutively for the second time in a rowPeople Combine is ranked in top 10.

named as Fast Tracker – wherein a women Employee can move up the corporate ladder quickly for them there is1:1 Executive coaching, and 100% fast track employees are covered in the program.

There is more than one instance wherein a women employee who joined at the entry level of the organization is now leading a strategic business unit. There is no dearth of opportunity to someone who is willing to climb the ladder of success. Today there are 7 women employees in CE category of which 4 women (@60%) employees have risen through the ranks. They joined at Executive level and today they are heading a Strategic Business Unit. For E.g. Hema Sanjay – Principal, joined as Assistant Teacher & moved up the ranks. Similarly, in Senior Manager Category 32 women (80%) employees have risen through ranks out of 36 women employees. Till date they have hired 1134 women employees who have joined as Second Career. Last year they hired 101 women employees as second career and year before last the �gure was 90 women employees.

“At People Combine multitude of initiatives in sync with our core values are conceptualized and e�ectively implemented to ensure that we make this organization the best place for working women. The results speak for themselves as consecutively for the second time in a row People Combine is ranked in top 10.”– Rajeev Tupsakri, Chief People O�cer.

P&G has steadily made progress on Diversity & Inclusion over the years. Today, P&G has the most diverse workforce in the company’s history, with more than 145 nationalities and over 44,000 women employees. The Indian workforce is young (average age of 30 years) and they strive to create a culture where “Everyone Valued, Everyone Included, Everyone performing at their PEAK”.

Some of the key e�orts / initiatives include

Integration into Core Talent Processes: Built into P&G’s talent evaluation is a systemic review of our diversity pro�le (Hires / Exits / Fair Share Ratings & Promotions). The company has integrated insights on how men and women express career aspirations di�erently into manager coaching guides/trainings. They also incorporated a research insight that women are disadvantaged because they are not placed in high impact roles. Today, they identify top talent women early and support their learning and growth by providing progressively broader and more challenging roles that will prepare them for increasing levels of responsibility. For the most talented women (sponsored by Functional leaders), concerted e�orts are made over time to ensure that they are placed into highly visible and high impact roles for the Company which both accelerates their development and provides them broader exposure.

Inclusion & Diversity Council: The I&D Council is sponsored by the CEO and includes Leaders from Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing and HR. The purpose of the I&D Council is to sponsor D&I activities, track status and provide insight. The council tracks progress on key metrics such as hiring / number in mission critical roles / promotion / rating / usage of �ex / top talent to ensure women are represented at fair share or more. The council sponsors key D&I events including a 2-day internal D&I Forum called REACH. This was attended by 110 Women + 40 Manager of Others from >10 locations.

Training for corporate executives: To combat unconscious biases, 90% of India corporate executives have undergone a 6-hour workshop on intentionally inclusive leadership (IIL). The intent of the workshop is to ensure that executives are aware of their operating biases and take steps to proactively manage them.

Sponsors Day / Family Day: P&G has an annual family day at each location where families are encouraged to visit the o�ce / interact with leaders with the intent of instilling pride in the Company. As part of Sponsors Day, they invite “sponsors” of both male / female employees (spouse / parents / grandparents / siblings / children) and celebrate them. Sponsors are invited for o�ce tours. Employee stories are shared. Employees & Leadership acknowledge the contribution of Sponsors to the continued success of the Company.

Using the company’s voice in advertising & media for Gender Equality: P&G has launched multiple brand initiatives that impact women, their families, and their communities to improve lives. Examples include Whisper ‘Touch the Pickle’ and ‘Like A Girl’, Ariel’s ‘Share the Load’ and Pampers ‘It takes two’.

PROCTER & GAMBLE




Al RajwaniMD & CEO, ISC, P&G

As a company, we believe in the power of diversity and not just because it is the right thing to do but because we value diversity in thinking that builds the business. It is also reflective of the markets and consumers we serve. Gender Diversity presents a compelling business and global citizenship opportunity. We improve the lives of 2.5 billion women and girls in virtually every part of the world every day through our brands, products and education programs.


Schneider believes that a movement for change begins with a shift in mindsets and its possibility of e�ecting major change that lead them to enthusiastically embrace the HeforShe Campaign - the results of which have proved all the expectations true! HeForShe is a UN campaign which encourages men to be advocates for gender equality. Schneider Electric is proud to be selected as one of the Impact 10*10*10* (UN women selected 10 countries, 10 universities and 10 corporates around the globe) corporate champions for the HeforShe movement. Anil Chaudhry, Managing Director & President India has committed to the following towards pushing forward the HeforShe agenda in India:

> Increase the representation of women across all levels of management and ensure that 40% of new hires are women > Increase the overall gender ratio at the workplace year-on-year > Adhering to the WEP commitment, which focuses on “bringing about societal changes through education and women employment”

Through this initiative, men were sensitized towards workplace issues faced by women and towards creating a more gender neutral world. The campaign became a lever to bring about a cultural change not just within the organization but outside as well. Hence, actions were directed towards the internal employees and external stakeholders.

i. Internal Campaign – All the tools of internal communication channels were utilized to educate employees and garner their support for this, it included • Weekly communication letter • SMS’s encouraging employees to participate in the campaign and commit towards gender equality • Signing up for the cause was also incorporated across Family Day functions which was held in 13 locations, covering a thousand-odd families. Through this medium families of employees were included too in sharing this message • Leaders personally committed and pledged towards this movement. Their pledge was displayed across the o�ces, which further encouraged employees.

ii. External Campaign – the initiative has been socialized extensively across all the platforms to generate awareness in the society as well. • The posts on social media received over 23 million impressions • 2 rock shows were organized in Bangalore and in Delhi to amplify this campaign and its message across the society • 2 marathons were organized in the cities of Chennai & Hyderabad where employees, their families and people from these cities ran in support of this cause • Also engaged with over 25 educational campuses to spread the message of this movement • HeForShe kiosks were set up in prominent work locations (of Cyber City), Marathalli in Bangalore to garner support from people outside Schneider Electric for this campaign

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC INDIA


iii. The initiative also sought feedback from the participants on the major cause of gender inequality in India, the feedback revealed that “Education” and “Work” are the top gender inequality issues. Schneider Electric tried to address those issues by following • Jagriti involves designing a school curriculum aimed to teach children about gender stereotyping. One of the biggest hurdles in a woman’s life is societal perceptions and gender stereotypes. They have embarked on an ambitious initiative to �x this problem where it begins. By touching the lives of little children in schools, and �xes this problem by educating children about gender imaging • Diya is a women entrepreneurship program which encourages bright and smart women students to seek a career as an entrepreneur. This is a novel way of enabling women outside of the organization,to have a means of livelihood

iv. Impact • More than 15K commitments from Schneider Electric India (highest among all other Schneider Electric countries) • Positive changes in the conversations happening in the organization, movement from “Why” to “How” • Covered 45 schools through Jagriti and touched lives of 4500 children and have a target to educate 9000+ children in 2017 • Enriching experience for men by being a facilitator for “Jagriti” and engaging with children. • Inducted 10 women as “Diyas” across locations

The implementation of the D&I strategies will go a long way in creating an impact on the company’s internal employees as well as future prospects and the society at large. The learning is that despite challenges, momentum is possible and a positive and inclusive world can be possible in the future.


At Schneider, we advocate diversity as a core value and a key metric of success. Gender balance for us is about creating a diverse workplace enriched by different cultures, backgrounds and generations of individuals. Diversity brings in a more innovative approach to business issues and as a practice, which is now part of the DNA of our business, we support advancement of women’s career through to executive levels. We have a flexible working policy to encourage and motivate women to join work after a sabbatical. We have also enhanced our sabbatical policy to include elderly care and children’s education. Along with this we have a robust day care policy wherein all our manufacturing units have in-house crèches. This is the extensive support network which is made available for our professionals to make the aspiration of a diverseworkplace real one.

Mr. Anil ChaudhryManaging Director & Country President India


Shell has a proud heritage of celebrating its people and has always been a pioneer in the journey of diversity and inclusion.

For Shell, diversity and inclusion (D&I) are key drivers of value. Their global theme of ‘Balance means Business’ is built on the foundation that better gender balance leads to greater business performance.

Shell has a host of policies that o�er a suite of options to sta� including Maternity Leave Policy, Part time Working Policy, Child Care Policy, Sabbatical Policy. In fact Shell, has been leading these policies by having maternity and maternal of 6 months even before the regulation by Govt.

Career Development:• Targeted Leadership programs for women in middle and senior level roles that address the gender speci�c leadership challenges have also been implemented. With active role models who lead key businesses and hold signi�cant positions Shell India aims to walk the talk about balance meaning business. Shell also launched a program to engage men in accelerating Gender Balance via targeted engagements via mediums such as Inclusive leadership theatre workshops, storytelling sessions,

• E�ective programs are in place to help women manage their career. Shell India o�ers a suite of development programs that help women upskill from business awareness sessions, women’s career development programs, formal mentoring etc. In addition, they ensure that the D&I e�orts work on sensitizing all sta� driving a supportive culture in which careers can be developed.

Recruiting E�orts and Priorities:Over the last 2 years 15% of experienced hires and 40% of campus hires have been women.Several measures in the recruitment process have been undertaken to maximize the intake of women including exclusive referral drives for women, targeting 50% women for campus and experienced hires while also sensitizing the internal organization to embrace the diversity being recruitedTalent Management:

• Speci�c focus on gender diversity in Talent Management processes, Employee Engagement Survey and �exible working policies.

• E�orts with hiring managers on work arrangements through formal workshops and Engaging men programs. • ‘Project Re-Energize,’ a re-entry program for women on a career break, has expanded from being a pilot to being implemented across the business in India.

Leadership Commitment:Under the sponsorship of Mansi Tripathy, Country General Manager, Sales and Marketing and Tarun Varma VP HR India, the Shell India women’s Network has been forging forward to maximize women’s contribution towards achieving Shell’s goals

SHELL INDIA MARKETS PVT. LTD.


for growth, pro�tability and leadership. The network established a holistic set of programs, which focus on key strategic themes namely Building Professional Knowledge, External Focus, Mentoring and Engaging Men in Gender Initiatives. Several Shell India leaders have personally committed to advance the careers for their ‘sponsors’ and make a real di�erence to the outcomes.


Shell is proud of our efforts in making our company a great place to work for women and are grateful for the recognition.We understand the need to collaboratively learn and share best practices to deliver the shared vision we have, as a community. We truly admire and respect the many roles women play, both personally and professionally. Irrespective of gender, culture and sexualorientation, we have worked hard to create an environment that allows everyone to thrive in. It is not a 'nice to do' or 'checkboxexercise' for us, it is a way of life and we are committed to the journey while welcoming any help we can get.

Mr. Nitin PrasadChairman, Shell India


Inclusiveness & Diversity has been the core culture at TCS. This attribute has not only strengthened TCS’ customer base, emotional quotient, high integrity, creative and innovative solutions to new age problems, but has also established TCS as future ready organization.

Diversity is a given in TCS and the success of TCS’ culture of inclusiveness re�ects in the strong contribution of its women workforce towards the bottom line and employee retention, being highest in the IT industry. An attribute that has earned the organization many accolades worldwide, most prominent being the TCS’ GoIT program to overcome shortage of women who pursue careers in STEM.

With a gender diversity ratio of 35%, TCS provides equal opportunities to diverse workforce of over 380,000 employees. TCS has focused on building and sustaining more women leaders and have created unique programs to support their career advancement. 11% of TCS’ senior leaders are women, with many of them holding P&L responsibilities, globally. Among 84% of Gen-Y employees, TCS’ gender ratio at the fresh graduate level is whopping 47%. TCS not only hires higher number of women but also is able to develop, motivate and retain them to take up key positions.

Balanced leadership is an integral part of TCS’ strategy and the organization has designed customized developmental opportunities, backed by strong business sponsors who help women identify their potential, develop vision and goals, expand their networks and advance to the next level.

TCS’ initiative called Network to Win or nWin helps women employees build strong networks. Mentors are assigned to small groups of junior women employees to provide support and guidance. Areas such as career aspirations, work-life integration, organizational culture, life stage changes, professional grooming, safety and wellbeing are addressed through discussion circles, co�ee chats, virtual live chats as well as panel discussions.

Be Inspired is an initiative where inspirational women leaders share their experi-ences and their approach to manage various aspects of their career journey through the company’s internal social networking platform.

iExcel is one of the marquee leadership development programs for senior women leaders. This is a residential programme aimed at top performing managers who are at a critical point in shaping career goals and progressing towards high impact roles. Through this program, participants receive an opportunity to learn and interact with business leaders within TCS, as well as pioneers from other industries. With an investment and sponsorship by the CEO, iExcel reinforces TCS’ serious commitment to create and sustain a robust pipeline of women leaders. A new initiative, iLead, has been designed to engage, inspire and mentor young women and propel them to aim for niche and visible roles.

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES



I am delighted that TCS has emerged as one of the top 10 companies for Women. We believe that a diverse workforce providesa holistic view and brings in different capabilities & perspectives to formulate a business strategy for the growth of an organization.Our focus on diversity & inclusion and the effort to retain talentby implementing people friendly policies so that they realizetheir potential and grow with the organization is helping usin our journey.

Ajoy MukherjeeExecutive Vice President & Global Head, Human Resources

Executive Mentoring and Sponsorship help ensure high potential women leaders have access and exposure to senior leaders who can provide career guidance to take on more challenging leadership roles. Participants have witnessed measurable return on investment, in terms of role progression.

TCS celebrates the talent and the spirit of inclusion by investing in creativity, con�dence and capability that TCS’ diverse workforce brings in. Says Ritu Anand, Senior Vice President, “It is our constant endeavour to leverage diversity of ideas from among our diverse workforce, by encouraging them to “be themselves”, aspire for their Mount Everest, perform to the core and realize their potential”.

AVTAR Group – Leading from the frontAVTAR is one of the most successful recruitment and diversity consulting brands in India. It was started in the year 2000, and has since rapidly gained industry attention & recognition for its e�ective, unconventional work in talent strategy consulting, D&I advocacy & proactive CSR. The Group has AVTAR Career Creators, FLEXI careers India and AVTAR Human Capital Trust within its fold.

20,000+

08CELEBRATINGTHE 2017100 BESTCOMPANIESFOR WOMENIN INDIA!

session for women associates conducted by the Managing Director to sensitize women leaders and to widen their business horizon in order to take up challenges in senior roles. In the last year, 14 women leaders successfully completed the Management Development Program, 20+ talks with senior women leaders were organized across locations in India, 150+ women associates participated in multiple external forums and workshops in collaboration with IIM-Ahmedabad, NHRD and CII & the ADP sponsored Women in Leadership (WiL) program was launched in India.

AGS Health Pvt. Ltd.

AGS Health has one of the best gender diversity ratios in the industry – women colleagues comprise over 47% of the workforce. Tanvi (meaning ‘beautiful’ in Sanskrit) is AGS Health’s dedicated gender diversity forum that was formed to maximize the innate potential among women colleagues by creating an enriching career experience that o�ers personal, professional and �nancial growth. Most of AGS Health’s initiatives are centered towards building an enabling work environment for women colleagues, and supporting business through e�ective analytics and diversity support. AGS Health’s programs consist of the following �ve areas: Safety & Security; Health & Wellness; Social Networking & Talent Forums; Personal & Professional Development and Gender Diversity Analytics & Business Support. This year, their primary focus has been on: Career Development (Mentoring Circle, “Power of Pink” or PoPStar workshops), Maternity Support (Priority Badges, Champion Mom’s Circle), Wellness Workshops and Gender Diversity Analytics.

Accenture Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Accenture's Gender Diversity programs are designed to ensure that high-potential women receive access to enhanced network of senior professionals and leaders, apart from being enrolled in accelerated new skill development trainings. Some of the hallmark initiatives include: An industry-leading parental leave policy where Adoption and Surrogacy leave is equal to Maternity Leave at 26 weeks+12 weeks of unpaid leave of absence, up from the statutory guideline of 12 weeks paid leave. In addition, new mothers are also entitled to an additional 4 weeks paid leave in case of pregnancy-related illness. Leadership development programs such as the Women and Client Centricity program that help them on strategies and tactics to maximize client relationships, accelerating performance opportunities at work and social collaboration. Executive Sponsorship Program where High-potential women managers are assigned a Leadership Sponsor to help de�ne their career goals and Career development programs to empower women to thrive in their careers, make conscious investment toward career goals and receive relevant certi�cations to advance their careers.

ADP Pvt. Ltd.

ADP is committed to develop and enhance leadership skills of women associates and equip them to take up leadership roles in the organization. In line with that ADP has created a platform “The ADP Mentoring framework for women leaders”, a program aimed at preparing a strong talent pool of women leaders through a formal mentoring channel. ADP launched a program ‘Rendezvous with MK’ which is an open house


CELEBRATING THE 2017100 BEST COMPANIES FOR WOMEN IN INDIA!08

Barclays Shared Services Pvt. Ltd.

Diverse organisations perform better. They understand their customers’ needs better, they make better decisions and they are better places to work. Barclays is committed to equality. Diversity is critical to their success. They strive to achieve this through a variety of initiatives. Barclays has �ve global pillars of focus: Disability, Gender, LGBT, Multicultural and Multigenerational. They have internal employee networks to support these pillars. They recognise that employees have many roles in addition to their work, so the �exible working options support their commitments outside their professional lives. Barclays is a proud partner of the United Nations HeForShe campaign, which seeks to engage one billion men in the advancement of women's rights.

BASF India Ltd.

BASF believes the uniqueness of its people is its asset (Diversity) and that everyone can contribute to the organization (Inclusion). By leveraging the same, they create an environment that gets the best out of every employee, thereby driving towards sustainable business growth. The core focus for them in India is Gender Diversity. They encourage women to take up non stereotyped roles in manufacturing, sales,and business P&L management. Policies and platforms like �exi-hours, skill building programmes, wo-mentoring and career development plans have been put in place by BASF, to provide greater �exibility for growth and development of all employees. Their hiring, retention and development programme is designed to attract, retain and advance competent women. BASF is working constantly to make their organization a great place to work, an organization where women can achieve the full potential of their abilities.

Bayer

My Growth My Life (MGML) is an internally developed 12 month accelerated leadership development program for young high potentials at Bayer. After going through a stringent evaluation process, colleagues who are selected, undertake classroom leadership development workshops every quarter. These are designed to help develop self-leadership, team leadership and social leadership. Participants also go

through online sessions on various functional topics. The composition of the batch, which is equally gender and functionally balanced, ensures diversity of thought and ideas. The MGML program provides a great platform for participants to get an opportunity to interact and learn from senior colleagues, understand and appreciate the roles of other functions and see the ‘big picture’ of the business as a whole, acquire people and leadership skills and in doing so help to identify and create a talent pipeline to support future organizational growth at Bayer.

Biocon Ltd.

13% women on-board, with 13% women in both top 20% and top 10% earners - wouldn’t mean anything if what they do not have su�cient meaning. For women in Biocon, it’s much more than safety-security-pay parity equal opportunity. Its winning in all fronts. All that are an outcome of a group of leaders conceiving the idea named “BioWin”. The �rst ever women oriented initiative, with CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw leading from the front. BioWin began its journey with an objective to unleash true potential of women and make workplace a more meaningful experience. It included leadership development, career-counse, training, o�er improved ‘work-life balance’, and several other programmes. In addition, BioWin extended its e�orts to di�erent CSR activities including teaching the underprivileged, cancer screening for women cops, helping cancer patients post treatments etc. BioWin has touched and transformed many lives. This is just the beginning. BioWin hopes to touch and transform many more lives.



BNY Mellon International Operations (India) Pvt. Ltd.

At BNY Mellon, the women’s network has been a real catalyst for change since its launch in 2008. i-WIN has made a conscious e�ort to help women in balancing and integrating their work and personal life. Special referral drives for women are organized every year and hiring managers are sensitized to providing an equal opportunity to women. Regular “Thought Leadership” sessions are organized to help women better understand how to take their career to the next level. Professional Development of women is key to WIN’s mission and has organized several mentoring programmes over the years, where high-potential women were paired with senior leaders. One of the most successful Leadership Development programmes for women has been when, on two di�erent occasions, the company sent a team of high potential women on exposure visits to the UK and US. The programme o�ered an opportunity to meet senior global leaders, shadow them, and attend special trainings to enhance their development.

Boehringer Ingelheim India Pvt. Ltd.

Boehringer Ingelheim strives to be an Employer of Choice and hence have several employee friendly policies and practices in the company which provides the required �exibility at work and supports personal development and growth of employees. Some of the di�erent initiatives include: In addition to the 26-week statutory maternity leave, 3 month’s work-from-home with full pay; Flexi time, work-from home options; Women's Forum where Women employees share their concerns, grievances, experiences in the Annual Business Conference; Womentoring, to provide self-development and professional development

guidance to women employees; Competency Based Interview skill workshop; Need based interventions and support to employees to cater to their various requirements at home; Physical �tness (Zumba) and grooming sessions like foot massage and a Women safety handbook-that talks about safety awareness, legal guidelines, and sexual harassment at work place, self-defence techniques and women rights. The handbook is handed to all the women employees working in BI.

Broadridge Financial Solutions (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Broadridge India views D&I as a cause and not an initiative. They believe in harnessing the inherent strengths of their diverse workforce while creating an inclusive environment where all associates are moti-vated to provide accurate, dependable and e�cient solutions to all stakeholders including themselves. An all-women group – Advika (meaning “Unique”) - brings in a distinctive blend of creativity and erudi-tion to fuel D&I at Broadridge India by integrating D&I into all talent management processes. It is one of the key drivers for creating a diverse leadership pipeline and focuses on the development of all women at Broadridge making them future ready. Advika’s agenda stretches beyond providing support to work-ing mothers through tie-ups with leading day-care centers or sensitizing managers towards women associates on or planning maternity. Empowering associates with e�ectual networking opportunities, providing knowledge sharing platforms through outreach programs on disruptive and other business/tech topics are just few examples of their many endowing e�orts.



CA Technologies

CA believes that a diverse workforce increases the ability to succeed in a global, highly competitive market and focuses on increasing female and diverse representation in leadership and management ranks as well as throughout the company. CA not only seeks to attract and hire employees who will bring wide range of backgrounds, perspectives and insights, but is also focused on e�orts that will retain, inspire, engage and grow the female and diverse talent. As an employer in the technology sector, CA is impacted by the fact that education and careers in the STEM �elds - science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - have traditionally been male dominated and there is an underrepresentation of women and minorities and is working to change those statistics. Since 2005, CA Technologies has supported the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, a nonpro�t dedicated to increasing the impact of women on all aspects of technology and increasing the positive impact of technology on women.

Capgemini Technology ServicesIndia Ltd.

Capgemini is committed to equal opportunity employment across all forms of diversity present in society. Diversity and Inclusion is a business imperative for Capgemini. Their gender balance program, coined as WINSPIRE, ensures equal growth opportunities and favorable working conditions, enabling them to achieve their career aspirations and organizational milestones. They achieve this through focused recruitment initiatives to ensure that every position in Capgemini is gender independent; retention of talent by enabling job continuity and sensitization of the environment including infrastructural facilities; developmental programs for women; and through Corporate Awareness of their commitment for gender balance externally and internally. Initiatives that Capgemini has started include WLDP (Women

leadership developmental program), ICP (Intentional Career Pathing Program), Global Mentoring program; Corporate Executive level Diversity award, Career-come back initiatives, Be The You campaign, Care Nine Programs and �exi work option framework.

Capita India Pvt. Ltd.

Women comprise 36% of Capita’s workforce in India, and all policies are designed to promote diversity and equality. While there are no gender-based distinctions at a policy-level, there are several initiatives to ensure women feel comfortable and safe. For example: transport is arranged for all employees whose shifts end between 8pm and 8am. For cabs with women travelers, a separate security escort is always present. Capita has also set up a dedicated transport hotline number and female colleagues have been requested to give a missed call to con�rm they have reached home safely. In case no call is received, an employee from the Transport desk personally calls the concerned employee to check. Further, on the wellness front, Capita not only provides free mental health counseling services to all employees, but also conducts yoga and self-defense workshops for women on a periodic basis. In fact, on Women’s Day last year, Capita had invited the local branch of Mumbai Police to talk to women employees on a range of issues including workplace and public safety, domestic abuse, etc.



Castrol India Ltd.

Castrol’s D&I ambition is built around 3 key pillars – Diversity, by ensuring that Castrol re�ects the local communities in which they work; Inclusiveness, by creating an environment where all employees and business partners feel valued and can give their best and Meritocracy, by opening up access to opportunity to everyone and allowing them to succeed based on merit. Castrol’s ambition is to ensure women make it to the senior levels of the Company and �ourish. To help empower women in the workplace, Castrol is seeking to champion much greater transparency and dialogue about the needs and ambition of women. D&I has been a long and challenging journey the Company took in 2005. Today they have made progress in various dimensions like gender diversity, focused development of women managers and supporting women to take up key leadership roles, cultural and mind set transformation of employees and creation of a supportive ecosystem that facilitates women’s success to excel in the workplace on a sustainable basis.

CDK Global (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Spanning over a range of wellness initiatives for its employees, life at this automotive commerce company is focused on seamlessly integrating and professional life for working mothers and women associates alike. The company invests a healthy interest in providing �exible working hours, work from home options, reimbursements for day care centres, and a paid leave of 26 weeks for expectant mothers. Along with these initiatives, CDK Global also arranges self-defence and image building workshops for women, coding competitions to promote and encourage women in technology, and a development program with senior women leaders to hone leadership skills for career

progression. The company also widely promotes their in-house women empowerment forum, Sangini, which focuses on ensuring that women get equal opportunity to compete, perform a choice of roles and nurture careers. Over the years, women-employee population has seen an increase and is now almost 31% of total employees.

Cisco Systems

“Diversity is fundamental to Cisco’s business,” says CEO Chuck Robbins, “With the increasing pace and complexity of today’s market, it’s critical that we understand our customers, deliver results, bring diverse perspectives and experiences, and build world-class, highly-motivated teams. This is what will di�erentiate us as an innovative organization that delivers the best results for our customers.” (source: Winter 2016-17 issue of Inclusion magazine). Inclusion and Collaboration starts with ‘Our People Deal’ which is simply the understanding of what Cisco can do for its people and what they expect in return. Every interaction, every communication and every experience. By connecting everything, innovating everywhere and bene�ting everyone, ‘Our People Deal’ is transforming its employees’ experience by delivering on the Moments that Matter those de�ning career and personal moments that are important to them. Cisco continues to innovate solutions for Moments which may range from �exible work practices for child and dependent care, healthcare options, taking one’s birthday o�; to focusing performance management on development.





Citibank

Citi globally recognizes diversity as a critical component to the way they do business. Citi envisions sustaining a diverse workforce that stimulates new ideas and fresh ways of thinking and skills needed to be a successful business in a rapidly changing environment. They have created a one-of-its-kind governance structure to ensure leadership oversight and smooth functioning of the diversity initiatives. Several of these are innovative & best-in-class policies that are �rst-of-its-kind in the Indian landscape. Citi has envisaged multiple initiatives to enable career growth for women, some of the key initiatives include focused leadership development programs for women across levels, franchise wide mentoring program, Women Leadership Conclave, Maternity support program to provide support to women in critical life stages, Performance Guidelines for women returning/ progressing on maternity, Citi Women Leader Award is o�ered to meritorious women across B-schools and engineering schools among others. They are committed to providing women employees with holistic support that spans across nature of work, infrastructure, policies, developmental opportunities & interventions.

Credit Suisse India

Global Credit Suisse D&I framework is based on 4 pillars: Mentoring, Employee Network, External partnership & Regional Councils. India has been able to adopt or be part of all 4 pillars divisionally and regionally. There have been several signature Programs launched to cater to the requirements of growth & development of women employees. ‘Tête-a-Tête Series’ emphasises the need of Networking while GEM focuses on guiding

expecting mothers on pre & post maternity challenges. RISE aims at skill development and enhancement through psychometric analysis and mentoring. To boost the in�ux of women candidates they have planted tools such as ‘Textio’ and encourage managers to adopt and assess candidates on competency based interview framework, which helps eliminate biases to best possible options. The CS signature program ‘Real Return’; which helps attract women back to work post career break has been a key initiative supported and appreciated across the board with concrete results published in press.

CRISIL Ltd.

Inclusive culture is core at CRISIL. Not only do women constitute around two-�fths of its 3,500+ workforce, but also play diverse and critical roles in strategy, operations, management, legal, compliance and marketing. Various initiatives have helped create a more enabling workplace for women, sensitive to their growth and lifecycle needs. For instance, aside from the maternity bene�ts o�ered, a special policy introduced last year o�ers salaried leave to rejuvenate themselves and/or pursue other interests and spend time with family. Further, Winspiration, an organisation-wide diversity and inclusion platform, focusses on enhancing their professional skills and leadership development. Yet other aspects of the 360-degree approach include workshops on relevant issues, travel facilitation and wellness, etc. Women’s safety is paramount, too, with stringent security follow-up and monitoring for women leaving after 9 pm, etc. It’s CRISIL’s considered view that a�ording work-life balance to employees is quintessential to the win-wins of higher e�ciencies and growth.



Cushman & Wake�eld India Pvt. Ltd.

At Cushman & Wake�eld, they encourage women to climb the corporate ladder by promoting education, training and professional development for women. The company also provides benefts such as onsite childcare, maternity bene�ts, women’s networking groups, mentoring and development. They have active policies in place ensure equal rights for women and have taken active steps to redress that imbalance. Cushman & Wake�eld’s foremost standard of conduct is “integrity”. The Ethics Help Line enables employees to con�dentially report possible “illegal, unethical, or improper conduct”. C&W ensures that at least half of the membership of the Committee to be women. C&W has allowed female sta� to opt working from home in case of emergency, the same needs to be approved by the HOD. Cushman & Wake�eld o�ers equal employment opportunities and take a�rmative action with regard to all employees and quali�ed applicants without regard to: Religion, National origin, Gender, Age, Disability, Marital status, Sexual Orientation.

Cypress Semiconductor Technology India Pvt. Ltd.

Cypress makes sure that they have a su�cient representation of women at Management levels. Woman in Cypress India program with its various events, work–life balance programs and pro-women campaigns, helps women successfully lead and exert in�uence at all organization levels. The high impact Development Programs and unique learning programs enable women to grow and hold positions in senior management. Paid maternity leave of 26 weeks, phased back-to-work program for new mothers, telecommuting, crèche facility, work from home, remote work, maternity leave for miscarriage, medical termination of pregnancy, tubectomy operation;

female counsellor exclusively for women employees are some of their policies. Unique gender neutral career path system evaluate women employee’s performance and potential for higher responsibilities. As part of preventing Harassment of workplace, The Whistleblower hotline is available 24/7 to report Sexual Harassment. They have a Workplace Harassment online training course for new hires and dedicated Internal Complaints Committee including 1 external member.

DBS Bank

DBS is driven by the belief that diversity of their people is a source of strength. The organization embraces gender diversity, with women accounting for 58% of workforce globally and more than one-third of their leadership positions. Through innovative hiring initiatives like, ‘Gift Her A Job’ – a woman-centric referral program and ‘Hacker in Her’ – an exclusive recruitment drive for women, DBS has reinvented hiring women talent in banking and technology sector. At DBS, the employees’ needs form the basis of work-life policies, creating a �exible system which allows customization of bene�ts based on di�erent life stages and needs with �exible policies like Staggered Hours, Work-from-Home, Part-Time Work, 5@5. An option of Long Leave up to one-year is also provided to employees to enable them to meet personal goals and re-join work. Agile workspaces with facilities like post-maternity support, nursing & medical rooms, on-site �tness centers are also a part of creating an inclusive environment which takes care of individual needs.



Deloitte in India

Deloitte’s women’s career enablement programs encompass several dimensions. Through a culture of sponsorship, they nurture a leadership pipeline by providing avenues to shape careers. On a foundation of �exibility, Deloitte believes that empowering employees leads to greater engagement and productivity. The holistic ‘Empowered Well-Being’ program gives its people not only the access, but the consent and resources to activate well-being in their lives. It integrates work �exibility, emotional/mental well-being, and physical and �nancial health into a uni�ed program. On the maternity leave dimension, the company’s program was enhanced to 26 weeks of paid leave prior to this being formalized as a statutory requirement. When combined with the other maternity-related bene�ts, such as transport reimbursement for expectant mothers, this serves as a market di�erentiator. Lastly, Deloitte’s talent acquisition strategy complements its investments and commitment to women’s career enablement and advancement.

Dow Chemical International Pvt. Ltd.

A science rooted company like Dow India’s very premise is built on diversity – Dow is committed to building a diverse and highly capable workforce of tomorrow. Dow has deployed multiple initiatives to enable female workforce to develop and grow their careers. These include mentoring, leadership training, external coaching, executive presence, certi�cations from premier schools. A special focused platform, the Women’s Innovation Network - IWIN at Dow aims to bring diversity in thought and approach to the fore. The next generation 2020 people strategy aims to further capitalize the uniqueness of contribution that gender diversity brings through a twofold approach:

Increasing percentage of female workforce from 19% to 24% (including hiring second career and di�erently abled women) and Investing in developing more existing women leaders for senior leadership roles. Dow is committed to provide the best in class policies and programs to develop and retain female talent and facilitate their growth.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories

Dr. Reddy’s understands the crucial role that women returning post maternity play at the workplace, and have created several initiatives and policies to support them through the entire process and empower them to return to work without any bias or discrimination. For instance, they provide maternity counselling services to all their women employees, along with access to a “buddy mothers” program wherein soon to be mothers can reach out to “buddies” within the company that can help them with their doubts and queries around pregnancy. Post maternity, women are exempted from the bell curve appraisal, and are eligible for reduced work hours for a period of one year. The company also realises that these policies also require the buy-in of male colleagues and also provided them with 15 days of paternity leave and reduced workhours for a period of 6 months, as well an option to avail family care leave. Apart from this, Dr. Reddy’s also reaches out to returning mothers externally through their comeback career for women’s platform.



Elico Healthcare Services Ltd.

Gender diversity is giving equal opportunity and equal treatment to females and males in an organization. They value the backgrounds and perspectives of every individual at Elico. The Current Gender ratio Male:Female is at 53:47. Elico is tied up with women colleges to hire them after their graduation. Elico also counsels the placement o�cers to improve, add trainings which will help the students get better jobs in future. Women at leadership levels are empowered to make business decisions, the company has been able to enhance women employees, assign business units to them, and they currently have 3 of the processes headed by women. Post Maternity, women have the �exibility to work in any shift, go home to take care of the new born and get use to a schedule for the next 6 months. At times, they are given work from home/part time option as well. Women Centric Training Programs are conducted to make the women employees a true leader at work place.

EY

At EY in India, diversity and inclusiveness (D&I) is part of everything they do and is deeply embedded in the company’s culture and ethos. The spirit of inclusion guides their ability to attract, retain and advance a diverse pool of talent, with a speci�c focus on ensuring gender parity at the workplace. An integral part of the success of EY’s D&I agenda is being in constant touch with the women employees, �nding out what works for them and what doesn’t. They make sure there are periodic one-on-one connects with them. These conversations often help in re-strategizing the existing programs and policies. Unconscious Bias Theatre Style Workshops, ReWrite (a program for returner women professionals),

Mentoring on Maternity (MOM) program, and professional networks through platforms such as the Professional Speaker Series, Women’s Access Program and Working Parent’s Network are just a few of EY’s women-centric initiatives that enable to drive inclusive behaviours at EY.

Future Focus Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

At Future Focus Infotech (FFI), Women have been seen as leaders right from FFI’s inception, with the key management portfolios like Sales, Delivery and HR spearheaded by women. The HR policies have been re�ned to include �exi hours, remote working and work from home for new mothers, with also transfer and remote working options of recently married women folk. The percentage of women promoted as managers has moved from 4% to 13% between 2015-16 & 2016-17. Women leaders have been successful in their careers (some of them work from home) and cross skilling and up skilling exercises are being undertaken consciously to ensure that they move up the career ladders. FFI has been 100% compliant with statutory laws pertaining to women, and in addition, have policies for special working options for women who undergo fertility treatment, and young mothers can work from home up to a year and more with special approvals.


Great Software Laboratory

GS Lab works with customers building innovative products and services, helping them nurture their ideas, staying with them during market validation and scaling them into viable businesses. They have Self-help/Community groups on Slack at di�erent levels/stages which is only accessible to women employees. They also organize speci�c leadership programs for women employees. There is special focus on young mothers for re-joining the company via Full Circle program. The program has formulized returning programs, an option for second career programs. The program also focuses on the phase back period post maternity, which is crucial. The company also helps with skill building through short assignments post maternity for the returning employee. They also give the returning mother assurance on job security. They have an option to work on a Partial-work Partial-pay model.

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd.

HDFC Life is cognizant of the positive impact women bring to the organization. A merit-based talent management plan has been created to promote gender inclusion with programs like ZENITH for senior leadership and STRIDE for the middle management. HDFC Life has policies that facilitate the career path for women professionals and help in their retention and growth. The company has a maternity policy wherein female employees could avail of additional 90-days maternity leave over and above the prescribed statutory leave. This was put in place to support working mothers’ smooth re-entry into the workplace. The company also has a designated

committee for redressal of complaints related to sexual harassment. Recently, the company has also introduced Flexi-working policy to facilitate a balance between employee‘s professional and personal priorities by allowing employees to work out of branches closest to their residence. The policy also allows for work from home on a full time basis for a speci�c period of time under special circumstances.

HP Inc.

HP Inc. is a global Fortune 100 company, with operations in 170 countries. India is a key location and a hub for many of the company’s operations. HP’s India site is known for high employee engagement, innovative programs, a commitment to diversity & inclusion, and a vibrant culture. The company has formal policies in place for �exibility in the workplace, an open door for communications, global non-discrimination, standards of business conduct for respect and fairness, and a global best work environment. They o�er innovative programs to attract, retain, develop and promote women as part of their workforce. This includes a strong Women’s Business Impact Network (employee groups), mentoring, coaching, sponsorship, and a broad range of development opportunities. HP is driven to be a career destination of choice for women and all underrepresented groups in technology.



HSBC Electronic Data Processing (India) Pvt. Ltd., HSBC Software Development (India) Ltd.

‘Take Two’ is an initiative that o�ers a 3 Month Full-Time Internship program for senior women professionals, who have taken a break of service and wish to re-enter the professional workplace at mid and senior level management positions. Each of the participants is provided with a mentor, who is an experienced GSC project manager. The participants get opportunities to work on projects that meet the Bank’s business priorities, providing valuable on-the-job exposure. They also participate in various learning and training modules, which focus on leadership, technical knowledge and con�dence building. After the internship programme has been completed, each participant and their project manager will have the option to explore further employment opportunities on mutually acceptable terms. Another program, Catalyst, is a 4-month employee development intervention for GCB 7/6 HIPO women Individual contributors to advance their capabilities to progress in their careers.

IBM India Pvt. Ltd.

1899 - Hired �rst female employee. 1934 - Recruited �rst female professional. 1935 - First written equal opportunity policy. 1943 - First woman vice president, Ruth Leach. 2006 - First woman to receive the prestigious Turing Award for technical excellence. 2012 - First woman CEO appointed. And the list goes on... Nothing captures IBM's leadership on women's advancement more accurately, than the above milestones. IBM's willingness to promote issues of equity and equal opportunity anywhere in the world has not only set them apart, but positively distinguished the company. They have come to a realization that IBM is a company of '�rsts'—a company

that has led and not followed, from its earliest days to the present. Their de�ning moments on the advancement of women mirror IBM’s constant business evolution and reinvention from a tabulating, hardware & software company to a cognitive-solutions, cloud platform and digital organization.

IBS Software Services Pvt. Ltd.

Apart from the regular career development support that includes acquiring new skills, competencies needed to scale-up in their career, IBS also sponsors for seeking certi�cations relevant to their domain, skills. IBS also provide 6 days of examination leave every year (in addition to the 28 days of regular leaves), to promote higher studies or enhancement of competencies amongst employees. Women employees are encouraged to continue in their career and advance at their own pace, by enabling lot of �exible work options like Teleworking, Part-time, Sabbatical. This would help balance their work-life and di�erent priorities they pass through during their career & life. The company tries and holds the position / role of employees taking a break from work, by having temporary support or managed by other team members for that period. This helps employees assigned to their previous role, project team thereby putting them at great ease.




iNautix Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

To help women navigate their career through life-changing phases such as marriage, maternity and associated career break, iNautix follows wide-ranging industry best practices and policies such as fully-paid maternity leaves, �exi-work time, special women’s recruitment drive, telecommuting options and wellness initiatives for a better work-life balance.

Over the last three years, their Return to Work program has been a focus area by Women’s Initiative Network (WIN), which is devised to reintegrate women into the workplace after a career break. To ensure robust representation of women across levels, the Women in Technology (WIT) network identi�es and sponsors young and talented emerging women leaders within the organisation. This initiative o�ers women an outstanding platform for building capabilities and powering their success.

INautix’s focus has been around increasing retention, recruitment and advancement of women in technology. The company strives for an inclusive culture and diversity of thought leadership, thereby continuing to increase diverse representation across leadership ranks and sustaining a strong talent pipeline.

Indegene Pvt. Ltd.

Indegene seamlessly integrates Analytics, Technology, Operations and Medical Science to better health and business outcomes for its clients. 40% of Indegene are women with signi�cant representation in leadership, scienti�c content business, analytics and technology.

With an equitable treatment for career progress, the women utilize the telecommuting, remote work facility

and �exible timings to integrate their work and life. Indegene provides job opportunities based on meritocracy, business needs and individual aspirations. Women have taken up interesting and challenging roles across business development, operations, domain and technical specializations across geographies. Indegene provides opportunities for women to interact through their network group “DIVA”, online and o�ine to equip themselves from a professional and personal front. Diva organises “Experts Speak” session on various topics like self-defence, �nancial management, health and �tness along with fun initiatives.

Personal milestones of marriage and motherhood is celebrated in addition to recognising professional accomplishments.

In�niti Retail Ltd

As an organisation it is In�niti Retail’s constant endeavor to maintain a healthy women representation across all our establishments. Their policies and culture are one of the key drivers leading to the retention and further advancement of women within the organisation, having a focus on aspects such as learning and development, fairness, care, safety and security. The practical implementation of these aspects can be validated through the e�ective policies which include – the Maternity policy, Policy on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace, �exible work timings and work location preference and the �ve and a half day working for retail shop �oor employees. They are one of the few retail companies which o�ers a one and a half day weekly o� to its shop �oor employees, thus ensuring that they get their rest and have time for their families and personal commitments, in turn leading to a healthier work-life balance.


Infosys Ltd.

A strong diversity policy and leadership commitment are cornerstones of Infosys’s diversity e�orts. The inclusion of Diversity goals on the Corporate Score Card provides the necessary impetus.

Leadership Mentoring, training and development and hiring e�orts have seen an increase in the participation of women in senior leadership in the organization. Geo and Unit Diversity councils have enabled tracking diversity at business unit levels and driving change ‘ground up.’

A focused eco-system approach also ensures that policies and practices are looked at holistically to engender a culture of diversity at Infosys. The �exi-hour policy and 9 days’ work from home a month has bene�tted both men and women. Infosys believes this approach goes a long way in nurturing supportive ecosystems to build lasting cultures. International Women’s day is themed to support programs that is driven through the year with global leadership commitment.

These initiatives bolster programs for ‘Allies’ and ‘Champions for Change’.

Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.

Corporate initiatives for sustaining women careers are valued most in today’s competent world. The contributions organizations can make to take the country closer to the vision of gender equality are immense. Some of the major initiatives Integra practises towards women’s career enablement are – a) Work from home - Integra o�ers work from home option to eligible women employees who can work independently without supervision. Work from home employees will remain subject to all con�dentiality clauses contained within their contract of employment. b) Flexible working hours - They provide �exible working hours for women on need basis to take

care of various family needs. This includes nursing mothers which enable them to continue breastfeeding at work. c) Extended maternity leave - They implemented extended maternity leave policy before the Maternity Bene�t Act was passed. d) Privileged parking for expectant mothers - Expectant mothers parking is another privilege o�ered by Integra. e) Transport facility - They have secured transportation facility for women employees.

Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd.

Intel India’s constant endeavour is to foster an inclusive work environment where employees are engaged, and motivated. Senior leaders from Human Resources and Business constitute the Diversity and Inclusion core team which strategizes to work toward making Intel India a Workplace of Choice for women. Some of such policies include: Gradual Return from Maternity Program: Maternity returners are entitled to work part-time on full pay for up to 1 month (30 calendar days) post their return to work. The Women at Intel Network (WIN) focuses on Technical Development programmes, Mentoring, Tech-talks, etc. Accelerated Women’s Leadership Program (AWLP) is a Leadership Program for senior and high-potential women. Home to O�ce (H2O) program facilitates women professionals to resume their career after a break. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides employees and their dependents con�dential and convenient access to short-term work-life coaching - free of cost. Telecommuting/Flexi-time/Alternate Start Time facilities along with part-time employment options are provided.



Johnson & Johnson Pvt. Ltd.

J&J India has a strong commitment on creating & building a culture that focuses on Diversity & Inclusion at the workplace. In line with this commitment, the e�orts are two-fold focusing on – 1. Increasing Diversity Numbers at the Workplace and 2. Building a Culture of Diversity & Inclusion. There is an equally large amount of focused e�ort on developing women talent for leadership roles. Key women talent were nominated for state of the art leadership training programs depending on their seniority. Towards building a culture of inclusion, a gender sensitization workshop for all people managers was conducted through an innovative medium of theatre and role play. Another initiative titled ‘SARATHI’ acknowledged the role of family support in a woman’s career. These initiatives have resulted in an overall increase in the diversity ratio with a signi�cant increase in the women in Senior Leadership roles.

K. Raheja Corp

K. Raheja Corp drives female friendly policies to ensure well-being, professional development, career advancement and equal status at work. The HR-friendly policies acknowledge the fact that a modern day woman’s life demands her to multi-task. Initiatives like FAB Women, Flexi-hours, Work from home & Sabbatical helps in empowering women to foster a culture that balances both business and individual needs. No discrimination is made in Performance Appraisals due to life stages of Maternity breaks. Welfare activities like Zumba, Yoga, Bone Density tests, Eye & Dental check-ups, Adoption Assistance, Breast Cancer

Awareness camps, Comprehensive Health checks, Safety & Defence training etc are organised and various milestones for women are celebrated. Due to higher Emotional Intelligence, a woman brings a di�erent leadership perspective to strategic decisions and when empowered, she gains a sustainable edge. With 24% women employees at the corporate level, this organisation has the best gender diversity ratio in the real estate industry.

Kellogg India Pvt. Ltd.

Kellogg India is �rmly committed to diversity and inclusion and aims to have a workforce that re�ects the vast diversity of the consumer base. It continues to create an enabling environment to recruit, retain and develop women. It has more than trebled the number of women hires over the last two years. Given the �uid nature of roles in modern homes, it encourages both men and women to opt and bene�t from policies like Flexible Working Hours, Work from Home, Parental Leave - Maternity and Paternity / Adoption for single men and women and policies on women safety during work travel. Employee sensitization workshops, Leadership programs, Mentoring and Life coaching for women give them a perspective of how successful men and women have navigated the leadership journey and are some of the many e�orts to foster a supportive, positive environment to strengthen the D&I culture.



KONE Elevator India Pvt. Ltd.

KONE India employs women workers in several dynamic roles across domains. KONE’s inclusive culture ensures supportive environment for women through policies like Work from Home, especially during pregnancy and after maternity leave. KONE was also one of the �rst few organizations to implement the 26-weeks maternity leave policy. Women employees have the choice to extend their maternity leave based on their family circumstances and the organization takes a discretionary view to allow such requests by holding the position till they re-join. KONE also introduced the adoption policy last year and rolled out POSH policy as a best employer practice. KONE has a policy which encourages and supports hiring women employees in leadership roles. KONE promotes employee well-being through a 3rd party Employee Assistance Program (EAP) partner that extends services like counselling support and programs for women to ensure work-life balance. Women employees get home-drop-home-pickup services under supervision ensuring absolute safety.

L'OREAL India Pvt. Ltd.

At L’Oréal, Diversity and Inclusion is one of the key strategic business imperative. The company has a strong charter in place to promote diversity and create inclusive work culture with respect to Gender, Disability and Social & Ethnic origin. As regards Gender, women represent 33% at the senior management level and the company has plans to achieve 50% by year 2020. L’Oréal is the �rst company in India to be certi�ed by EDGE on gender equality practices. Under ‘share & care’ program, the company o�ers di�erentiating initiatives to enable women employees �nd a perfect work life balance. Extended maternity leaves, shorter working hours post maternity, Employees assistance Program,

Little Steps – simplifying pregnancy, etc are some of the examples. The company invests in building future women leaders through various short term and long term career mobility programmes.

Mahindra & Mahindra FinancialServices Ltd.

In the �nancial year 2016-2017, the organization launched its complete 3-year Roadmap for FY 17 to FY 19, wherein targeted initiatives for each year with respect to hiring, development and retention have been suggested. Mahindra Finance, with tie up with Mahindra Group, has initiated an 18 month Women Leadership program with tie up from SP Jain, Mumbai. This program is speci�cally designed for Hi-Potential Women at Leadership positions (Senior Manager and above role) from all across the country. The customized course content is one of its kinds to help women in leadership positions to manage work and life e�ectively.



Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

The Mahindra Group values the uniqueness of every individual and fosters an environment of inclusion and empowerment that will enable people and communities to Rise. There are Diversity Councils for each sector which create thought leadership while focusing on di�erent facets of diversity in the organization and sensitization process. There are policies for part time employment, �exi hours, work life integration, paternity and adoption, travel reimbursement for expecting mothers, secured rating during maternity break and a support system for transitioning to work post maternity break. There is a nationwide network of women to provide a platform for peer learning to solve work life challenges and deriving inspiration from role models internally and externally. Recently, Mahindra launched its unique leadership initiative - Women Leaders Program to enable women in middle management to nurture their capabilities and grow into leadership roles in the organization.

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd.

This organization has launched a wide variety of policies like the Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Policy, Wellness Policy, Training policy, Work-life Integration Policy and the Hi-Potential Development platform which work in tandem with each other to provide women with the support and the opportunity to make the best use of their capabilities in successfully growing in the organization.

Mahindra Susten Pvt. Ltd.

At Susten, they strongly believe that gender is a non-issue when it comes to career growth for their employees. The average increment for women and men in the team was identical in the year FY17. Each and every team member is to participate in, and contribute to, the progress and success of the company. The inclusiveness and participatory culture is re�ected in their engagement score for women being higher than that for men.

MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt. Ltd.

MakeMyTrip drives multiple Women friendly policies & practices. After the resounding success of “Holiday Experts” (around 750 Women who work from home as Holiday Consultants), they recently launched “BackToFuture”, a Program for women on career breaks (in tech) looking for a come-back. This initiative draws from the glaring Gender disparity seen in the Technology streams across the globe. BackToFuture launched in May, 17 this year is a 24-week long paid internship program that aims to drive positive Inclusion at workplace. Structured on-boarding, focused mentoring, role speci�c technical training & development, �exible work options, onsite crèche facility, are the key elements to help them get up-to-speed at work. It opens industry gateways for the aspiring talent to re start their career in the tech space. As they attempt to save talent drain in tech, MakeMyTrip hopes the future is brighter for women professionals at India Inc.




Marico Ltd.

Marico believes in meritocracy and ensures equal opportunity for all employees. They also o�er support to the women employee during certain stages of their lives. Their Maternity Leave policy o�ers a high level of �exibility for new mothers through which they can avail from various options until their child turns 1 year of age. These include Flexible Working arrangement and Extensions of Maternity Leave. A Wellness package o�ered to new mothers enables them to adapt to the new role of parenting and through the celebration package, they celebrate the personal milestone. Further, they have laid down clear guidelines on conducting appraisals and promotions for a female employee on maternity leave. These guidelines leave no scope for ambiguity and ensure that women are not penalised. Through these interventions, Marico encourages women to be more active participants in designing their own careers and self-development.

Mastercard Incorporated

An eclectic blend of focused programs and policies is the hallmark, at this digital payment technology company, that provides vast opportunities, making it a desired place to be for women. Gender diversity thrives through `The Whole You’ program; dedicated women networks like WLN (Women in Leadership Network) and WIT (Women in Technology) have programs that encourage women to join after a career break; provide internship for women STEM graduate students, hired women from premier institutes and hosted safety and leadership speaker sessions. Mastercard has built and sustained a culture of learning, collaboration and growth through key HR programs like sponsoring education, mentoring/ leadership development through `smart moves’ and `smart steps’ and training programs that provide career paths to accelerate their growth in technical, functional and leadership roles.

Work-life balance has been fostered through speci�c women-oriented health and support programs.

MetLife Global Operations Support Center Pvt. Ltd.

MetLife GOSC is committed to creating an environment of inclusion where all employees can contribute to their full potential and work in an atmosphere of mutual respect. The D&I canvas has three strategic pillars: 1) Attraction 2) Development/Advancement and 3) Retention. Diversity is a part of the leadership goal-sheet. The focus on the gender mix is rigorous; hiring of female employees is incentivized through employee referral and vendor channels. MetLife’s learning platform is also very strong. It gives immense opportunities to employees to build their technical and functional skills. There has been speci�c focus to build supporting mechanism in the light of the new maternity bene�t act. A strong networking forum, WE, committed to Women Empowerment conducts self-defence and �nancial awareness sessions, and inclusion workshops. Besides the in-house day care centre which enables careers of working mothers, a well-structured work from home program is also in place.

Midland Credit Management India Pvt. Ltd.

With policies and processes designed to create an optimal work life balance for their people, Encore India prides itself in cultivating a diverse and inclusive work culture. Alternate Work Arrangements Policy, on site amenities like ATM, gym, medical room and other recreational facilities, complimentary transport, cafeteria and library services, preventive health care bene�ts, extended maternity leave, paternity and adoption leave, a leave donation policy, higher education support and an abundance of career and talent development initiatives, ensure that employees have the right environment fostering personal and professional growth. Furthermore, for women employees, the company o�ers support groups and networks, and focused mentoring programs.


Mindtree Ltd.

Being inclusive since inception, Mindtree is committed to its diversity vision. As an equal opportunities employer, the organization works with non-discriminatory practices that fosters respect and value for the workforce and the companies that it does business with. Mindtree strongly believes in the strength that women bring to the organization and formulates policies that enable women empowerment. With several women-centric programs including extended maternity leave, exclusive app to keep women constantly updated about organizational development, helping new mothers get back to work comfortably through the buddy system, exclusive recruitment drives for women on long breaks, and mentorship programs to encourage women leaders, Mindtree reiterates its commitment to hire, support and retain their women workforce. The senior leadership is actively involved in driving all these initiatives and making Mindtree a workplace that endorses and encourages diversity.

Molecular Connections Pvt. Ltd.

MC is proud to call itself an inclusive organization from inception. Woman employees are treated on par - they believe in a culture of no boundaries. The only aspect that di�erentiates employees is, their performance. This is proven by the fact that they have gender and genera-tion diversity across all levels of organization. Average tenure of woman employees in managerial positions and above is 10+ years. They have taken e�orts to ensure equal pay (with pay for performance philosophy). MC’s Leave policy including, Maternity, Paid and unpaid leave ensure that women employees balance the needs of work and personal life. The environment of coaching and mentoring help them to stay focused on their career goals. They have had success stories of several woman

employees who have joined us fresh out of college and have grown into leadership positions over years. The aspect of enabling woman employees to perform and grow is embedded strongly in the culture of the organization.

Mondelez India Foods Pvt. Ltd.

For Mondelez India, an inclusive culture anchored on gender neutrality is a key business value. Their gender agnostic “New Parent Policy” covers natural childbirth, adoption & surrogacy and provides all primary caregivers (new mothers and single fathers) a 6 months ‘parental’ leave. Support at the workplace via health partner bene�ts is extended to all new parents. The organization has had �exible working options prevalent for over a few decades now, which is used by both men and women. Mondelez is also intentional about building the capability of its Middle Managers in being Inspiring Leaders; with Inclusion awareness being an integral part of the program design. Their Mentoring & networking initiatives help women gain new heights professionally. They are proud of having over 50% women on the shop �oor at their biggest factory at Sri City, AP. The ecosystem that enables it has helped not only attract and retain women on the shop�oor – but also change the way the local communities in AP and TN view employment of women in their villages!



Monsanto

Monsanto is committed to making the organization a great place to work for employees. To achieve this, their focus is on furthering the culture of “inclusion” thereby providing a fair workplace for all. They aim to recognize and celebrate achievements of all employees and encourage them to do better. This e�ort is re�ected in all processes and a culture of ‘Trust’ allows every person to use the �exibility that the organization o�ers - to work at one's comfort while allowing them to contribute at their optimum levels. To complement this culture, there are several networks for Women, Parents, Young professionals, Persons from certain ethnicities, LGBT networks, etc. Monsanto celebrates and nurtures their women leaders. This “Women’s Day” they featured every woman leader across the organization - 1 leader each day in the month of March. This was to inspire and create role-models for other women employees, provide employees a perspective about diverse experiences of women leaders, and to celebrate these leaders and their achievements.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley’s skilled and creative workforce is comprised of individuals drawn from a broad cross-section of global communities who re�ect a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives and experiences. Through its many diversity oriented programs and policies, the �rm is committed to attracting, retaining and developing diverse talent at all levels. Their Return to Work program enables experienced women professionals who are currently on a career break to return to the workforce and take pro�les that compliment their skillset and experience. Networking and mentoring provides access to an array of valuable resources and skillsets in turn encouraging individuals to share ideas, foster a culture of collaboration and facilitate career growth.

Keeping with the Firm’s core value of Giving Back, they partner with local non-pro�ts to promote health and nutrition and improve sanitation conditions and practices. All initiatives are periodically reviewed to maximize their impact and relevance for employees - focusing on employee engagement, retention and advancement.

Mphasis Ltd.

Mphasis is an equal opportunity employer and in the last few years, has worked consistently towards increasing and creating space for gender equality. At Mphasis, the prevention of sexual harassment policy was launched in 2008. To improve gender diversity, more focus is there on hiring and retaining women employees, working towards systems and policies that allow career progression of women including, short & long-term Work from Home. Sabbatical Policy for women post-maternity who have completed 5 years in the company provides �exibility to women employees to continue in jobs, be ambitious about their careers and come back to work after child birth without worrying about quitting. Self- defense classes and focus on sessions promoting health and work life balance has become a norm. Mphasis has already initiated a program called Leader Talent Pool. The idea is to invest di�erentially towards building a strong leadership pipeline �lled with the very best and brightest. They also plan to introduce mentoring program for women employees.



MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.

The D&I movement with a focus on gender diversity was started at MSD India 5 years back and it continues to be an important business imperative. Their D&I model that has given them a strong foundation for the activities and initiatives is based on the four pillars – 1) Leadership sponsorship, 2) Continuous focus on development and learning, 3) Linkage of the D&I initiatives to the core business of the company and additionally external focus where on partnership with like-minded organizations. MSD uses the women’s resource group, the MWN, as a change agent, a catalyst to drive change throughout the organization. They have a focused, yearlong development centre-STREE exclusively for the female reps to facilitate their development. They also have a short burst 6-month learning journey - LAMP - for women employees to sharpen their skills around strategic thinking, business acumen and career management. Company wide wellness program - Live It - has got excellent response from all the female colleagues.

Netmeds Market Place Ltd.

Netmeds provides a nurturing environment focusing mainly on employee development and welfare to achieve organizational as well as individual goals. 14% of women employees are entitled to �exitime and telecommuting option to allow them to schedule their lives around work in a more according way without losing work productivity to be at the top of their game. Mentoring program plays a vital role for both career development and leadership development to help employees develop new skills and feel engaged within the organization.

Nielsen (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Nielsen’s leadership belief is "Diversity and inclusion are crucial to Nielsen's growth, strength, and ability to innovate. Nielsen invests in technology, leadership development and other capabilities to enhance the creativity of teams globally and bene�t the companies and markets it serves." These principles are carried forward across the organisation with focus on Women in India. Nielsen’s policies for hiring, retention, motivation, professional development and safety are built keeping in mind this focus. Be it the leadership roles or roles in the historically male dominated areas, Nielsen looks at providing opportunities equally (and even more) for women. The company also recognises that at di�erent life stages women need additional support and policies related to work from home, �exi timings, extended maternity leave etc. are formulated and o�ered to employees. No organisation can succeed in bringing women to the forefront without the leadership drive and support of the men in the organisation. Nielsen is proud to have unconditional support from both.




Northern Trust Bank

Fostering and supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce is a fundamental strength of Northern Operating Services Private Limited (NOSPL), where di�erences are welcomed, valued and respected. With commitment from senior leadership, there is a focus on attracting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce. Embedded in the fabric of this inclusive culture are several Business Resource Councils that play a key role in driving programs for their respective constituencies. With an overall representation of 43% women, and an objective of having a more gender balanced workforce, there are targeted interventions to improve the representation of women across levels especially in senior leadership. A competitive bene�ts o�ering, child care subsidies and �exibility are some of the initiatives that enable women to help manage their work and family life. As a part of their journey, there is an ongoing focus to create a great place to work where every employee can be themselves and contribute their full potential. NOSPL is an Equal Opportunity Employer and committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.

At Novartis, every leader is encouraged to design and implement focused strategies to attract, engage, develop and retain women and create a culture of inclusion. A snapshot of women-oriented strategies that they have designed and successfully implemented are: Diversity hiring drives to attract women candidates for identi�ed roles, 30% resume slate for each leadership hiring, Driving Manager accountability through performance management in building diversity, a one-year multi-modular program for high potential women associates – Accelerated

Development Program. It involves a course at IIM-B, mentoring, stretch assignments, discussions on career growth opportunities for high-potential female talent in every talent review discussion. Other Women-friendly policies are: 6 months Maternity Leave, 3 months Adoption Leave, Reduced working hours for pregnant associates and nursing mothers, 60 days of Work from Home, Part-time working, POSH sensitisation and unlimited sick leave. The women-oriented programs conducted were - Panel discussion on “Women in Leadership” – how to get there, Pre-maternity preparedness, Pinkathons and Special workshops on Women’s Day.

Optum Global Solutions (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Care Nine – Optum’s Maternity support program ensures that expecting mothers in the organization have access to best in class doctors, nutritionist, physiotherapist, psychologists etc. Self-defence workshops which train women to become independent are a norm. They have di�erentiated o�erings in the health and wellness domain for women such as Zumba, �nancial wellness, sessions on hormones, cancer, lifestyle changes etc.

Demographic analysis is done to understand the ratios of career advancement, women representation across all sites and levels in the organization. This helps put together a plan for supporting women through in�ection/ transition points in their career by providing �exible work options, coaching and mentoring support through their tools like Mentor Source, leadership preparedness through programs like Manager ALPHA - a 48-month development journey for women (and men) colleagues to advance through their people leaders journey, EDP (preparing employees for a global enterprise senior leader role), ELP etc. Almost 400 (18% of all managers) women managers have undergone these managerial development programs.



PayPal India Pvt. Ltd.

Paypal values people and D&I is at the foundation of everything they do. It fuels their purpose to build a fully inclusive �nancial network. Technology doesn’t change the world, people do and they believe in nurturing technology craftsmen and women with passion, in order to create high quality products. Paypal has more than doubled the number of women in leadership since 2010. And now, nearly half of the workforce – 44% – is women and they make up one-third of the company’s leadership. Be it �exible work policies, in-house Gynecologist or transport arrangements for expectant mothers, PayPal goes the extra mile to maintain the welfare of women. PayPal’s �agship programmes like Recharge which empowers women to return to work after a career break and Girls in Tech which focuses on understanding of technology to get young girls interested in education are initiatives designed to deliver on their commitment to being a truly diverse and inclusive organization.

Pegasystems Worldwide India Pvt. Ltd.

Gender Balancing & Diversity has been a key focus at Pegasystems, a company that focuses on attracting, engaging, developing & advancing women in the organisation. Right now, they stand at 25% as diversity percentage with 50% India Leadership team being Women. With a strong leadership team that focuses on gender balancing as a strategic initiative, Pega has evolved as a robust, cross-cultural & diverse organisation with a high level of senior-executive involvement in various initiatives for D&I. Pegasystems India has a community of women in India, called Woman@Pega which provides women employees an opportunity to connect with the

leaders, gain insight to challenges faced by women, nurture inclusive leadership, and share prospects for growth. Pega has created a comprehensive diversity framework with 3 major focus areas that will cover gender balancing strategic imperatives – Hire, Engage & Advance and Give back to the Society. This framework is their guiding principle and have initiated signi�cant and successful programs around it.

People Combine Educational Initiatives Ltd.

People Combine has an array of work styles & arrangements to help employees �nd the right �t for their careers. In 2016 they had 90% availing free transport & food, 43% availing partial pay / remote working. They have 26 weeks of paid maternity leaves, 100% Tuition fee waiver for Academic sta�, �exi working hours and 80 hours of Leadership development training and host of network / a�nity groups to aid women development. 331 women employees have been provided with mentoring program while the Women Leadership team has been provided with 1: 1 Coaching. The company also has provided Child Day Care centres across all o�ce locations. They provide 52 days of paid leaves to women employees apart from Health & Wellness camps and extended the camp facility to parents of employees.



PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd.

The diversity agenda at PepsiCo India is driven by the top leadership with 4 leaders sponsoring various D&I focus areas. Balanced Gender Representation is ensured through – a) Supporting Working Caregivers: Implementation of Work �exibility policy and Location free roles enable caregivers to manage multiple responsibilities with ease b) Working Parents are extended support with onsite day-care at PepsiCo India Region HQ. In addition, tie-ups have been established with day-care centres across 4 primary locations across India. c) Working mothers are supported through their maternity leave with automated portal - MatCare4U. This clari�es all maternity bene�ts, manages the leaves process and coaches managers via an online module. Focused e�ort throughout the year has enabled 34% of external hiring comprising of women talent. Capability Building for women leaders and managers - 5 women leaders of the organization underwent the program with mentoring, peer learning and networking across the �ve companies. Breakthrough program is a focused capability intervention to enable women managers to identify and overcome their own latent challenges that hold back their career.

PNB Metlife India Insurance Co. Ltd.

PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and has a Zero Tolerance Policy towards Sexual Harassment. There are various programs and policies to empower women employees of the Organisation. The Company o�ers extended Maternity Leave, �exible working hours and Work-from-Home option to all women employees. Family Matters is their unique coaching program that is delivered to the expecting Mothers to ensure that they are well prepared for their parental leave transitions in a way that supports their

personal values and career goals. The Company also has ‘Returnship’ program focused on providing employment opportunities to women who had taken a break in their professional career. Various Health Talks and discounted medical checkups are o�ered for Women employees with a focus on their Health & Wellness. The Company organizes regular engagement activities focused on creating an inclusive workplace.

Procter & Gamble

P&G has steadily made progress on D&I and today they have the most diverse workforce in the company’s history. Key initiatives include - Council: This is sponsored by the CEO and includes Functional Leaders. The council sponsors D&I activities and tracks metrics (hiring / number in mission critical roles / promotion / rating / top talent). It sponsors a 2-day internal D&I Forum called REACH which is attended by women and their managers. To combat unconscious biases, 90% of India corporate executives have undergone a workshop on intentionally inclusive leadership. Built into talent reviews is a Gender review. P&G identi�es top talent women early and accelerates their growth by providing progressively broader and more challenging roles. They hold a Sponsors’ Day where they invite “sponsors” of female employees and celebrate their contribution. P&G has launched multiple brand initiatives that impact women. Examples include Whisper ‘Touch the Pickle’ and ‘Like A Girl’, Ariel’s ‘Share the Load’ and Pampers ‘It takes two’.



Raychem RPG

Raychem RPG has developed anAcquire-Develop-Motivate-Involve-Retain-Empower (ADMIRE) framework to promote diversity and inclusion in workforce. Initiatives under this umbrella are designed towards realizing the vision of “bringing balance in the RPG workforce by having equal women workforce, creating an inclusive environment and fostering their growth in the organization” In greater detail, they are - Acquire-Identi�cation and manning of mandatory roles by women; employee referral high pay-outs for women candidates, target to get 10% population by 2018, social media recruitment campaign, Develop – Formal education policy, Leadership Development Programs, Executive Coaching and Online e-learning modules Motivate – Virtual Workplace, Flexi-timing, Late working for women, Maternity/Childcare Bene�ts, Salary advance loan. Involve – Bindas Bol to capture feedback on policies, women network, participation in external forums/conferences. Retain – Exit Interviews, Metrics reporting to Chairman on women attrition, new hires, engagement scores, no. of grievances, resolution status, verbatim feedback. Empower-Gender Sensitization sessions, �nancial management programs and self-defence workshop.

Sapient Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Sapient’s purpose of “Enabling Human Potential” enables collaborative partnerships thereby promoting diversity in the workplace. Their culture of collaboration is at its best when they have diversity of perspective. Sapient supports career growth through its various employee friendly policies including Work-from-Home, 26 weeks of paid maternity/adoption/surrogacy leave, GPS enabled/escorts for women to travel for late evening drops, on-site doctors, dieticians, dedicated wellness weeks as well as the Women’s Leadership Network, dedicated to supporting the career development of Sapient women. Keeping up with their diversity and inclusion strategy, they recently launched program Spring, the �agship Women Employee Return Program for women looking to re-enter the workforce following an extended absence. The company also o�ers “Unconscious Bias” workshops designed to raise awareness and teach employees to be more self-aware of their behaviours and work towards building a more inclusive workplace.

Schneider Electric India

In Schneider’s endeavor to support employee’s diverse lifestyle, they have introduced several progressive policies like �exible work, work from home, sabbatical leave upto 2 years, maternity leave upto 26 weeks, surrogacy and adoption leave upto 12 weeks. Basis WEP commitment, initiatives like Jagriti taught 4500 school children on gender stereotyping and Diya, a women entrepreneurship initiative, encourages deserving women students to be entrepreneur. They have been celebrating success of women entrepreneurs (SME’s) in the last 2 years by institutionalizing Schneider Awards known as ‘Prerna Awards’. Schneider Electric has also been selected as one of the Impact corporate champions for HeForShe – a solidarity movement whereby they have mobilized 15000 commitments for gender equality. Employees are bene�ted by sending their children to Schneider registered day care centres near o�ces at negotiated rates. Mentoring, Urja, India Women Leadership Program, Her Second Innings, Maternity process, networking opportunities and medical insurance supports women’s holistic development.



Shell India Markets Pvt. Ltd.

Over the last 2 years, 15% of experienced hires and 40% of campus hires have been women. Several measures in the recruitment process have been undertaken to maximize the intake of women including exclusive referral drives for women, targeting 50% women for campus and experienced hires while also sensitizing organization to embrace diversity. Shell o�ers a suite of options to sta� including Maternity Leave Policy, Part time Working Policy, Child Care Policy, Sabbatical Policy. The company instituted the 6 months’ maternity leave policy even before the regulation by Govt. Speci�c focus on gender diversity is created through e�orts with hiring managers on work arrangements through formal workshops and Engaging men in programs. Their ‘Project Re-Energize,’ a re-entry program for women on a career break, has expanded from being a pilot to being implemented across the Downstream, P&T businesses and Shell Business operations Chennai successfully bringing women into workforce. Shell constantly monitors the market, sharing out best practices as well as learning constantly to adapt to the changing business environment and needs.

Societe Generale Global Solution Centre

With close to 30% of employees being women, nurturing women leaders has always been an important focus at Societe Generale Global Solution Centre. Led by Veronique Sani, CEO, they actively work on bridging the gender gap by creating opportunities for women professionals to enhance their careers. Their women-friendly policies create a work environment which allows employees the freedom to focus on their family without missing out on professional growth. A dedicated

group of employees work under the ‘India Women’s Network’ at SG GSC, and drive initiatives across technology & wellness. The ‘Women in Leadership’ programme continues to motivate more women to channelize their leadership abilities under the mentorship and guidance o�ered to them. An exclusive crèche, special transport arrangements for expectant mothers and �exible maternity policies are just some of the initiatives SG GSC proactively adopts to reduce the stress levels for women. The company o�ers dedicated platforms that provide counseling and assist with various topics related to mental wellness.

Sodexo Onsite Services

Sodexo’s initiatives to improve gender diversity include – a) Special women’s recruitment drive b) Increase in nominations of women employees in internal training program to build pipeline of women front line management c) SWIFt women’s leadership program d) Participation of woman candidates in External leadership program e) Internal network of gender ambassadors to drive engagement and learning for frontline sta� f) Bonus impact for all Senior leaders on improving gender balance in respective teams. Flexible Work Arrangements are provided to women, enabling them to manage both home/child/parent responsibilities and continue to work towards their career goals. Paternity Leave of 7 working days is provided to new fathers to help support the child and mother. 1-hour D&I module is given for all new hires to introduce organization priorities of driving inclusive workplace. The company enhances managers’ inclusive behaviours and leadership of diverse teams through internal workshop. Refresher training on POSH is done. Diversity updates is part of Townhalls and employee meets by Country President.



Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd.

Policies for women’s career enablement in Sony Pictures include: Tracking of and development plans for high-potential women talent, Training and sensitisation of people managers to ensure equal opportunities based on merit when it comes to hiring, assessments, development, compensation, promotions etc., Maternity cover options to ensure job security while an expectant mother is away for six months or more, Education assistance to employees who want to augment their professional skills, Leave bene�ts including enhanced maternity leave and sabbatical leaves, Informal �exible hours to allow all employees the �exibility to e�ectively integrate their work and personal lives, Infrastructural support for expecting and new mothers including preferred parking slots, mother’s room, an EAP which employees can use to discuss issues and seek solutions con�dentially with professional counsellors from a third-party service provider, annual voluntary health check-up, self-defence classes and health and nutrition workshops and tie-ups with child day-care facilities close to o�ces in Mumbai and Gurgaon.

Standard Chartered Bank, India

Diversity at Standard Chartered is about inclusion, embracing di�erences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. The company embraces diversity in their workforce. Full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuous development to all employees regardless of gender, nationality, race, creed, disability, style or sexuality. To support the diverse workforce, the company policies and practices help employees through various life and career stages. Enhanced Paternity and maternity bene�ts, onsite day care tie-ups, Flexi working Policy etc. are all part of

creating an inclusive workplace. A pan India women safety program “Sheroes” was launched which included a) One Touch Response: a mobile phone application to provide support to the women at the touch of a button during any real life situation involving personal safety. b) Fighting Fit – self defence program: a half-day session that gave hands-on practice on how to constructively disengage oneself in a potential unsafe situation.

Standard Chartered Global Business Services Pvt. Ltd(formerly known as Scope International Pvt. Ltd.)

SCB-GBS has always displayed an inclusive environment, where every employee can realise their full potential and contribute to the growth of the organisation. This re�ects in the way people practices & policies are designed, executed and continuously evaluated. GBS was one of the �rst few companies to formalise the extension of Maternity leave in mid-2016 before it was mandated. Line managers are empowered to provide �exible working options depending on the need - especially motherhood related. Apart from leadership and managerial development sessions to prepare women leaders for future roles, there have also been a series of sessions on POSH covering the leadership team, Internal Complaints Committee members, employees, line managers, etc. When it comes to performance & promotion, there is a fair process of assessment which is done only on merit irrespective of the gender. GBS’ performance management processes include checkpoints to ensure fair consideration of women candidates in promotion decisions.



State Street Corporate Services Mumbai Pvt. Ltd.

The State Street Career Enablement Framework, focuses on the entry, the working environment and the exit phases of the career of women in the workplace. At the point of entry, it is ensured that the job description for various roles do not create any unnecessary constraints for women. They ensure panels have at least one woman. At the middle and senior level hiring process, a diversity review is performed to con�rm that no women candidates with necessary skills have been overlooked. Internally, women are groomed to take up diverse roles across the company with a focus on ensuring their leadership development. The Internal Transfer processes, leadership training processes and promotion data are all reviewed by HR in a manner that nurtures women’s growth. Exits are reviewed and reasonable accommodations are explored including longer sabbaticals, �exible work options etc. to minimize attrition due to situations. State Street has a Professional Women's Network in India which supports women by providing awareness programs as well as professional development programs.

Sun Life India Service Centre Pvt. Ltd.

SLF ASCI is committed to diversity, inclusion and enablement of the women workforce. There are several people practices that can enable women to manage their career. They changed the maternity policy to 6 months paid leave + 6-month post-natal care. This stretched time gives them �exibility and comfort to adjust to the new life without worrying about their impact on work-life. Flexible work arrangement for child care helped in high e�ciency

and gave a satiating experience. They continue to develop capability at all levels with a special focus on Women employees. Mentoring is a program for enhancing one’s e�ectiveness and align women at middle management to Women Leaders who o�er guidance and support. This helps in building alliances and networking with individuals who do not normally interact but can learn from one another. This is an investment to increase their self-awareness through the lens of senior leaders.

Target Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.

Target India conducted several programs for women over the last year with the aim of encouraging recruitment, providing a healthy work environment and upskilling women team members. The programs include, an exclusive recruitment drive for women called ‘Recruit-her-thon’ that was conducted on International Women’s Day, with the aim of hiring women engineers. The company also introduced an internship program ‘Back on Target’ to encourage women on a career breaks to return to work. Target India has developed leadership training programs to encourage/upskill high potential women team members to take on leadership roles. The company provides holistic support for new parents through maternity/adoption leaves, insurance, lactation rooms at the o�ce premises, �exible work options and tie-ups with daycare centers. In addition, the Women’s Business Council of India (WBCI) was set up in Target I ndia with a focus on ta lent development, and creating awareness around the safety and wellbeing of women employees.



Tata Communications Ltd.

Tata Communications has a multicultural workforce with employees belonging to more than 36 nationalities. In the last two years, the organization has increased the proportion of women in the workforce by 25%, and continues to introduce policies that help attract and retain women even better. A case in point is the Caregiving Policy that has been designed to encourage both men and women to take the responsibility of being a care-giver for their families.

Diversity is key to creating a culture in which employees can thrive and Tata Communications is constantly looking at alternative solutions to improve the diversity quotient. The company �rmly focusses on understanding what it takes to attract and retain diverse talent. The company has been recently given industry recognitions and accolades based on employee feedback proving Tata Communications’ singular focus on employee growth.

Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services is a global leader in IT services, digital & business solutions and one of the largest private sector employers in India. With a total of 3,80,787 employees of which 34.7% are women, TCS has always focused on building and sustaining more women leaders and boasts of one of the lowest attrition rate in the industry for women. As an organization TCS believes that its commitment to attracting, retaining and advancing women is critical to its achievement as a business. This success is due to initiatives that weave diversity and inclusion into the ethos of the organisation. Their initiatives revolve around 4 pillars of action re�ecting our concept of diversity. These are Sensitization

& Awareness, Life Cycle Management, Grooming & Development and Networking & A�liations. They have customized these initiatives in a way so that it appeals to women at di�erent stages of their lives at a personal and professional level.

Tata Starbucks Pvt. Ltd.

In the last few years, Tata Starbucks has signi�cantly improved its gender diversity ratio, currently at over 25% of the partner base (employees referred as partners in Starbucks) despite several challenges being faced by the retail and QSR in attracting and retaining women talent. Company has innovated around creating di�erentiated value proposition for their Partners like implementation of 5-day work schedule for all partners including the frontline store partners. Flexible employ-ment model introduced helped in attracting and retaining talent, especially women. This also helps women partners switch between �exible and full time roles based on their life cycle needs, thereby helping them to continue their career journey without break. The company also provides mentoring, awareness programs, and workshops for women partners and their line managers to embrace diversity at workplace, counselling helpline for the partners etc. to build a partner friendly / diversity forward eco-system across the organisation.



Tata Steel Ltd.

Tata Steel strongly believes that women exemplify the smart, safe and sustainable workforce critical to keeping Indian manufacturing globally competitive. With a unique scholarship program - Women of Mettle which is a �rst of its kind in manufacturing sector, Tata Steel now attracts more women. There are training programs on Unconscious Bias ensuring that people action’s are not in�uenced by stereotypes. Flexible working policies like Satellite Operation, Work-from-Home and special provisions like Additional Leave for working mothers have enabled better retention of women. Dedicated leadership development initiatives – Tata Steel Engage & Ignite, Formal mentoring program with senior leaders and commitment by top leadership has resulted in doubling the number of women in senior leadership roles from the year 2014. With the recent permission for extended working hours for women on shop �oor, Tata Steel is gearing up to attract more women on the shop �oor with an integrated enabling framework.

Tech Mahindra Ltd.

Tech Mahindra believes in building women leaders by presenting them with opportunities to unleash their potential and contribute to business success is a key to growth. COLORS (Connect, Origin, Laughter, Optimism, Reason, Strength) is an experiential learning program to enable women Associates to understand and discover their potential, recognize the importance of staying positive in life and engage meaningfully with their signi�cant others. Mentoring Tables is a program specially designed for women Associates wherein experienced leaders are identi�ed as Mentors with whom women Associates can interact and learn from during these sessions. Role Model Series is a series of dialogues with inspiring women leaders from various �elds such as corporate, academics, sports, entertainment, administration etc. where these eminent leaders speak about their experiences and share their wisdom. The

D&I team also runs Fireside Chats with senior leaders where women Associates interact with senior leaders from the organization, both men and women, and get a broader perspective of Tech Mahindra’s progress on the business and technology front.

Tesco Bengaluru Pvt. Ltd.

A new initiative ‘I-inspire’ aims at providing a platform for employees to be inspired through the various success stories from within Tesco Bengaluru. The initiative provides employees opportunities to connect with internal speakers, gather insights on building their careers and how these insights can be implemented in their day to day lives. The Women in Leadership Development programme aims at driving women initiatives and programmes to connect, empower and equip women with skills and self-belief to take on broader roles within the organisation. The programme is a six-month journey speci�cally designed for high performing mid-career women colleagues to move their careers forward and help achieve their full potential. The programme consists of: Workshops speci�c to their development needs, Group projects aligned to diversity and inclusion council. Peer learning session to share, learn and build network and an opportunity to pay forward their learnings and inspire other women in Tesco Bengaluru.



The Indian Hotels Company Ltd.

Gender diversity is spearheaded by the senior leadership in the company. Day care centres are provided in all o�ce locations. Female associates are provided with 7 months of paid maternity leave. On completion of the Maternity Leave, they will resume work at the same compensation as applicable to them before proceeding on leave. In addition to this, Maternity Leave can be clubbed with any other kind of leave or holidays which they are entitled to. This also covers surrogacy. And paid time o� is provided for paternity and adoption. While women are on paid time o� they are still connected to the organization through employee portals. An associate can take sabbatical to include time o� for caring for parents/children, time-o� during critical school years etc. To ensure safety and security of women - transportation facility with GPS, Self defence training, pepper sprays are provided in key cities, employee hotline for emergencies are provided.

Thomas Cook Group, India

Thomas Cook Group, India’s Women of Will (WOW) platform enables its women to share their dreams, challenges, get support from each other and the organization to achieve their professional and personal goals. WOW manifests itself in many ways ranging from the WOW Newsletter to bring achievements to the fore; the WOW Call, a safe place to communicate as well as to

share grievances, ‘Career Planning’ and ‘Financial Planning’ to help women plan their careers and �nances, celebrate motherhood and being women. The 3rd annual WOW International Tour for our women employees saw 65 women explore Singapore in 2017. They came back to India in time for the WOW Call that had women from various parts of the group share personal stories of triumph and bolster each other’s con�dence. The Thomas Cook Group of companies continually strives for a working environment that allows women employees to consistently and fully demonstrate their capabilities.

ThoughtWorks Technologies(India) Pvt. Ltd.

ThoughtWorks believes that the workplace should be re�ective of the society we live in. Which also means, they abhor and reject discrimination and promote diversity in all its forms. Gender diversity is a strategic priority for ThoughtWorks, simply because they recognize that women are making a profound impact in technology. ThoughtWorks is constantly empowering its women to be thought leaders, to develop client strategies, to lead o�ces and to design the technology roadmap of the future. Their commitment to gender inclusion in�uences their policies, their hiring strategy, and their leadership development programs. Today, 39% of ThoughtWorks' employees in India, are women and 33% of their technology-facing roles are �lled by women. Interestingly, ThoughtWorks is one of the �rst companies to extend its maternity policy to 180 days, even before the law was passed.



ValueLabs

Keeping their core values intact, ValueLabs nurture their women employees and have become an employer that attracts talent from across the country. They do not run programs for “inclusion” of women because women are already an integral part of their success, with 50% of their Corporate Governing Board comprising women. Women employees also have representation in other corporate committees, including the CEO’s O�ce, the Sales PMO, the Grievance redressal cell, the committee against Sexual Harassment, as well as the Whistleblower committee. ValueLabs encourages women to start their second careers with them and ensures a fair assessment of their performance during and post-maternity. Women in the organization feel valued as they enjoy equal employment and growth opportunities, �exible work hours, extended parental support, as well as hygiene kiosks, in-house wellness programs and self-defense trainings. At the same time, they feel safe as they have access to cab services during odd times, on-�oor security guards, on-site doctor, and a hot line number to report harassment, if the need arises!

Vedanta Ltd.

Vedanta has a D&I council which focuses on diversity of all kinds like Gender, Disability, Ethnicity, Nationality. Developing a pipeline of e�ective leaders has always been a top priority at Vedanta. They have launched Leaders Connect, an extensive and large scale leadership development program. The objective of Leaders Connect is to identify the top leadership talent at Vedanta, and ready them to take up leadership roles. Promoting internal talent in to leadership roles is the

hallmark DNA of the Group. In line with their philosophy, they recently initiated “Internal Growth Workshops” to identify new leaders in various core functions - both Technical & Enabling. The evaluation provides appropriate weightages on – Professional Background, Educational Quali�cation, Performance and Potential Parameters. The participants also got an opportunity to share their contributions, achievements and aspirations with the top leadership team. These workshops were directly anchored and Chaired by the Vice Chairman. Equal Opportunity is given to both men and women.

Verizon Data Services India Pvt. Ltd.

Verizon values the uniqueness of its employees and believes in realizing their full potential, overcoming barriers. Their policy focus ranging from harassment-free workplace to gradual return to work constantly strives for behavioural changes and strategic choices that neutralize gender inequity and reiterate women participation across all levels of business. Beginning with providing a gender-diverse candidate slate to business, there are programs and policies to hire women across levels especially at mid and senior levels. People leaders are sensitized towards making unbiased decisions and realizing an equitable, safe and respectful workplace. Verizon supports joint parenting through its �exible work programs. Gradual Return to Work program eases return of new mothers back to work through a supportive environment. Sponsorship, Mentoring, and Networking programs for holistic development are complemented by safety and wellness initiatives and enabling infrastructure. It is a combination of policy mandate and leadership commitment that makes inclusivity work for Verizon.



Visa Inc.

Diversity and inclusion is a strategic imperative for Visa. Visa fosters an inclusive culture where everyone is accepted. The company puts a lot of resources into programs and bene�ts that support women in the workplace. There are several leadership development programs such as Executive Edge and Talking Cranes designed to help female leaders advance. Visa invests in the Visa Women’s Network (VWN), which facilitates professional growth of female employees through networking and company events like the International Women’s Day celebration. Outside of work, Visa o�ers comprehensive bene�ts that support employees including paid time o� for new mothers, tuition reimbursement and �ex time. Almost 90 percent of Visa’s female employees in India have utilized the �ex time bene�t last year.

Vodafone India Ltd.

Vodafone India is committed to being a truly diverse and inclusive workplace and one of the main focus areas has been the promotion of diverse talent and gender diversity-enhancement initiatives.

Their people processes have a gender-focused lens; they tackle gender biases by introducing Blind CVs in recruiting, launching Reconnect to help women return to work after career breaks, providing mentoring programs and executive coaching to high potential women.

Some of the policies and programs that help build culture conducive to diversity such as Unconscious Bias workshops, HeForShe initiatives, Reach Home Safe Policy, Work near Home Policy and a global Maternity policy that provides 42 weeks of fully paid maternity bene�ts. Their diversity agenda is aimed at reaching

not just employees but also the customers and communities through CSR initiatives like the Smart Snehidi programme – helping digitize rural women by overcoming their barriers to Internet usage to enhance their livelihoods.

Walmart India Pvt. Ltd.

Walmart India continuously deliberates on creative solutions to make women’s lives better while enabling them to be high performers. Leadership commitment, career progression initiatives, workplace policies and formal mentoring aid their development. For new mothers, the �exible work plan after maternity leave allows them to adjust their hours. Sabbatical leave allows women and men to pursue higher education or other personal obligations and return to work. Adoption leave allows women to avail 12 weeks o� at full pay. The Women Resource Council (WRC) has been set up to lead diversity improvement. WRC focuses on unique needs such as: Develop, retain and advance women; Attract female talent; Promote inclusion and guide members on in�uencing and mentoring others as well as maintaining a sustainable Ambassador Program involving women managers in the stores. The President & CEO serve as Executive Sponsor of the council to ensure su�cient resources are available and a steering committee drives its direction.



Wells Fargo India Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

At Wells Fargo, Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is a core value that is key to growth. To demonstrate their commitment to D&I, with a focus on gender diversity, they recognize the unique need to develop a conducive environment for new mothers during and after pregnancy. When working women go through pregnancy, and eventually new motherhood, these major transitional phases impact their work and personal life in a major way. Being prepared during the pregnancy and on returning to work helps both

the team member and the organization. When a team member approaches her Reporting Manager with the news on pregnancy, she is educated with all guidelines and privileges. A number of conveniences like special cab privileges and work from home options are provided to achieve their personal milestones alongside their career milestones seamlessly. Day Care/Crèche Facility reimbursement is aimed at supporting the needs of women returning back to work to manage young children at home.

WM Global Technology Services India Pvt. Ltd.

WM Global Technology Services’ take immense pride in their women associates. Under the umbrella of Women of Walmart (WoW), they drive initiatives that enhance their skills and help them ful�ll their potential. This year they are introducing an internship program to hire women software professionals who have taken a career break. Flexibility in work hours and dedicated cabs are extended to expecting mothers.

KEYFINDINGS

09

1. THE GENDER MIX

33.22%

NON-MANAGERS

66.42%

MANAGERS

19.88% 79.9%

SENIOR MANAGERS

13.87% 86.51%

CORPORATE EXECUTIVES

13.27% 87.50%

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

17.56% 82.44%

OVERALL

30.55% 69.14%

37.31%

NON-MANAGERS

62.69%

MANAGERS

22.86% 77.14%

SENIOR MANAGERS

13.76% 86.26%

CORPORATE EXECUTIVES

12.43% 87.45%

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

14.06% 85.94%

OVERALL

34.36% 65.64%

GENDER DIVERSITY RATIO - 100 BEST GENDER DIVERSITY RATIO - TOP 10

The very foundation of the 2017 BCWI is its workforce that has a healthy gender mix along the talent pipeline. The 5 tiers of corporate hierarchy in the order of career progression are – non-managers, managers, senior managers, corporate executives and Board of Directors. While in the 100 Best, 30.55% of the entire workforce is women, the Top 10 workforce is 34.36% women.


TOTAL EMPLOYEE BASE - 100 BEST

TOTAL EMPLOYEE BASE - TOP 10

NO. OF MEN

10,64,150

NO. OF WOMEN

4,67,883

NO. OF MEN

4,51,559

TOTAL EMPLOYEES

15,32,033

TOTAL EMPLOYEES

6,87,933

NO. OF WOMEN

2,36,374


HIRING – GENDER MIX - 100 BEST HIRING – GENDER MIX - TOP 10


NON-MANAGERS

37.00% 63.03%

CORPORATEEXECUTIVES

16.64% 83.55%

SENIORMANAGERS

15.38% 84.62%

MANAGERS

28.52% 71.56%

36.26% 63.77%

OVERALL

NON-MANAGERS

40.34% 59.66%

CORPORATEEXECUTIVES

17.7% 82.3%

SENIORMANAGERS

14.21% 85.79%

MANAGERS

19.95% 80.05%

39.5% 60.5%

OVERALL

ATTRITION – GENDER MIX - 100 BEST

ATTRITION – GENDER MIX - TOP 10

NON-MANAGERS MANAGERS SENIOR MANAGERS CORPORATE EXECUTIVES

14.72%13.11%

9.02%

14.12%14.5% 14.4%

22.72%22.19%

NON-MANAGERS MANAGERS SENIOR MANAGERS CORPORATE EXECUTIVES

11.26%9.58% 7.78%

10.74%8.96% 5.72%

17.96% 17.13%


These are percentages of men/women leaving expressed as a % of the total men/women at a particular level.

Data corroborates India Inc.’s movement towards gender balance. The conviction has been built, the momentum has been gained. In the sections to follow are highlights of the other key policy clusters for women’s career enablement in 2017 100 Best and Top 10.

LEADERSHIP – GENDER MIX - 100 BEST

LEADERSHIP – GENDER MIX - TOP 10

Leaders heading BU with turnoverbetween INR 500 Cr – INR 999 Cr

Leaders with P&L Responsibilities

Leaders heading BU with turnover> INR 1000 Cr

Top 20% earners

Direct reports to CEO

Top 10% earners

84.41% 15.59%

82.98% 17.02% 86.56% 13.44% 88.8% 11.2%

81.35% 18.65% 87.34% 12.66%

Leaders heading BU with turnoverbetween INR 500 Cr – INR 999 Cr

Leaders with P&L Responsibilities

Leaders heading BU with turnover> INR 1000 Cr

Top 20% earners

Direct reports to CEO

Top 10% earners

83.16% 16.84%

83.69% 16.31% 85.65% 14.35% 81.56% 18.54%

79.19% 20.81% 85.9% 14.1%


Career advancement initiatives are no longer women speci�c. The gender agnostic applicability of these programs contribute to the creation of an inclusive workplace.

2. WOMEN RISING TO LEADERSHIP

EXISTENCE OF PROGRAMS FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENT - 100 BEST

EXISTENCE OF PROGRAMS FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENT - TOP 10

How are the journeys to leadership paved for women in the 2017 Best Companies for Women in India? What are some of the key organisational interventions that catalyse the leadership journeys for women? This section shines the spotlight on some of the most impactful programs that 2017 BCWI have to recruit, retain and develop high potentialwomen building their female talent pipelines.

Management or leadership training

Executive succession planning

Job rotation

Male leader championing gender diversity

Networking/a�nity groups

Mentoring

Programs to identify high potential women

Executive coaching

Programs to develop talent pools for internal hiring

Employee surveys on women speci�c issues

Career counselling

Training for P&L roles

Career sponsorship

Second career recruitment(Programs for hiring women on career break)

25 50 75 100

98%

93%

91%

88%

86%

82%

80%

80%

79%

79%

71%

51%

71%

40%

Management or leadership training

Executive succession planning

Job rotation

Male leader championing gender diversity

Networking/a�nity groups

Mentoring

Programs to identify high potential women

Executive coaching

Programs to develop talent pools for internal hiring

Employee surveys on women speci�c issues

Career counselling

Training for P&L roles

Career sponsorship

Second career recruitment(Programs for hiring women on career break)

25 50 75 100

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

90%

100%

90%

80%

90%

90%


Prevention of sexual harassment at workplaces is critical in building gender sensitive workplaces. The 2017 BCWI lead by example!

3. SAFETY & SECURITY

POSH (PREVENTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT) SENSITISATION METHODS - 100 BEST

POSH (PREVENTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT) SENSITISATION METHODS - TOP 10

In the current corporate Indian context, ensuring secure work environments for employees is paramount. There are in place several mandates to ensure zero tolerance to workplace sexual harassment. The 2017 BCWI adopt di�erent sensitisation methods to create gender sensitive and secure workplaces, which this section highlights.

POSTERS ANDCIRCULARS

CLASS ROOMTRAINING

E-MAILCAMPAIGNS

E-LEARNINGMODULES

58% 77% 82% 85%

POSTERS ANDCIRCULARS

CLASS ROOMTRAINING

E-MAILCAMPAIGNS

E-LEARNINGMODULES

80% 100% 100% 100%


It is impressive to note that �exible working arrangements are increasingly becoming popular with both genders. To ensure functional businesses in an era of digital disruption, it is important to address the �exibility aspirations of the employee base.

4. EVOLVING FLEXIBILITY IN CORPORATE INDIA

EXISTENCE OF FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS - 100 BEST

EXISTENCE OF FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS - TOP 10

Technology has no doubt revolutionised the corporate landscape. So has it changed the way the world works. In this day and age where virtual connectivity is at its ever-seen best, there are several non-traditional, �exible work arrangements that companies provide to their employees. In this section, we discuss the evolving trends of work �exibility in 2017 BCWI.

PROCESS FORFLEXIBLE WORKING

TELECOMMUTING

REMOTE WORK PARTIAL WORKPARTIAL PAY

COMPRESSEDWORK SCHEDULE

FLEXTIME

100% 95% 88%

68% 55% 29%

PROCESS FORFLEXIBLE WORKING

TELECOMMUTING

REMOTE WORK PARTIAL WORKPARTIAL PAY

COMPRESSEDWORK SCHEDULE

FLEXTIME

100% 100% 100%

100% 90% 70%


5. PARENTAL PROVISIONSParenthood is much more than ‘leaves’ in the 2017 BCWI. Catering to the work-life integration needs of their employees, these companies extend comprehensive support for maternity, paternity and adoption. Re-integrating young mothers through phase-back programmes thereby ensuring maternity retention characterise the 2017 BCWI.


MAXIMUM AND AVERAGE DURATION OF FULLY PAID PARENTAL LEAVES - 100 BEST

MAXIMUM AND AVERAGE DURATION OF FULLY PAID PARENTAL LEAVES - TOP 10

MAXIMUM AVERAGE

30Weeks

19Weeks

MATERNITY LEAVE

MAXIMUM AVERAGE

8Weeks

2Weeks

PATERNITY LEAVE

MAXIMUM AVERAGE

26Weeks

12Weeks

ADOPTION LEAVE

MAXIMUM AVERAGE

26Weeks

21Weeks

MATERNITY LEAVE

MAXIMUM AVERAGE

2Weeks 1

Week

PATERNITY LEAVE

MAXIMUM AVERAGE

26Weeks

14Weeks

ADOPTION LEAVE

The �gures reported here are prior to the recent amendment of the Maternity Bene�t Act.

**The parental provisions reported is for the year 2016, before the amendment in the Maternity Bene�t Act came into force in April 2017.

MATERNITY RETENTION AND PHASE-BACK PROGRAMMES - 100 BEST

MATERNITY RETENTION AND PHASE-BACK PROGRAMMES - TOP 10

66%have maternity

phase-backprograms

Averageduration of

phase-back is5.45

months

90.33%is the maternityretention rate

CAREER DEVELOPMENTCONVERSATIONS BETWEEN

MANGERS AND WOMEN

OTHERS(LIKE BUDDY SYSTEM,

E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS)

58% 27% 21%65%

E-LEARNING COURSES APPS THATCONNECT WOMEN TO

THE WORKPLACE

Maternity Leave engegement methods (% distribution)

80%have maternity

phase-backprograms

Averageduration of

phase-back is3.12

months

90.36%is the maternityretention rate

CAREER DEVELOPMENTCONVERSATIONS BETWEEN

MANGERS AND WOMEN

OTHERS(LIKE BUDDY SYSTEM,

E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS)

67% 56% 44%78%

E-LEARNING COURSES APPS THATCONNECT WOMEN TO

THE WORKPLACE

Maternity Leave engegement methods (% distribution)



OTHER NEW-PARENTAL BENEFITS - 100 BEST

OTHER NEW-PARENTAL BENEFITS - TOP 10

The 2017 BCWI have some of the best-in class parental provisions – inclusive of fathers and adoptive parents. With the revised mandate on maternity bene�ts, these o�erings are bound to expand.

Fully paid paternity leave

Fully paid adoption leave

Unpaid job guaranted maternity leave

Maternity phase back programs

Pre-natal programs

Maternity coaching

Unpaid job guaranteed Adoption leave

Unpaid job guaranteed Paternity leave

Other types of pay for Maternity

Partially paid Maternity leave

Lactation consulting

25 50 75 100

94%

87%

77%

66%

56%

51%

49%

47%

30%

25%

13%

Fully paid paternity leave

Fully paid adoption leave

Unpaid job guaranted maternity leave

Maternity phase back programs

Pre-natal programs

Maternity coaching

Unpaid job guaranteed Adoption leave

Unpaid job guaranteed Paternity leave

Other types of pay for Maternity

Partially paid Maternity leave

Lactation consulting

25 50 75 100

90%

100%

100%

80%

100%

80%

90%

80%

60%

50%

40%



6. CAREER ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

OVERALL BENEFITS OFFERED - 100 BEST

OVERALL BENEFITS OFFERED - TOP 10

For career sustenance and growth, it is important that organisations have initiatives in place to enable careers of employees. In the context of women’s careers, such career enablers are indispensable. This sections draws focus on the various career enablers instantiated by 2017 BCWI.

PERSONAL HEALTH INSURANCE

FAMILY HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE

TUITION REIMBURSEMENT

SUPPORT FOR POST PARTUM DEPRESSION

ON-SITE CHILD CARE

NEAR-SITE CHILD CARE

AUTISTIC CHILDREN CARE

ADOPTION ASSISTANCE

98%

98%

62%

38%

34%

31%

20%

10%

PERSONAL HEALTH INSURANCE

FAMILY HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE

TUITION REIMBURSEMENT

SUPPORT FOR POST PARTUM DEPRESSION

ON-SITE CHILD CARE

NEAR-SITE CHILD CARE

AUTISTIC CHILDREN CARE

ADOPTION ASSISTANCE

100%

100%

80%

80%

40%

90%

40%

20%


40% of all 2017 BCWI which extend this bene�t o�ersubsidized day care centers. 26% provide it free of cost.

CHILD CARE BENEFITS OFFERED - 100 BEST

SPONSORSHIP OF INFERTILITY TREATMENTS

100 BEST

CHILD CARE BENEFITS OFFERED - TOP 10

50% of all 2017 Top 10 BCWI which extend this bene�t free of cost. 17% provide it on subsidised rates.

The 2017 BCWI take responsibility for the personal and professional enrichment of their employee base. Ensuring that the beyond-work commitments of employees are met is important to them.

TOP 10

IVF, EGG FREEZING ANDOTHER INFERTILITY PROCEDURES

IVF, EGG FREEZING ANDOTHER INFERTILITY PROCEDURES

44%16%


7. COMPANY CULTURE & LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT

INITIATIVES TO ENSURE INCLUSION AND PARITY - 100 BEST

INITIATIVES TO ENSURE INCLUSION AND PARITY - TOP 10

Leadership commitment to the cause of gender diversity is a welcome commonality amongst the 2017 BCWI. They invest in creating inclusive work cultures where male allies act as catalysts for the career growths of women and where women can rise to the fullest of their potentials.

EMPLOYEE SURVEYSON WORK LIFE ISSUES

PROCEDURES FOREMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES

SURVEYS ONGENDER PAY EQUITY

PROGRAMS FORMANAGER TRAINING

ON ADVANCING WOMEN

PROGRAMES FORMANAGER TRAINING

ON WORK LIFE ISSUES


ON FLEXIBLE WORKING

92%

83%

68%

59%

59%

46%

EMPLOYEE SURVEYSON WORK LIFE ISSUES

PROCEDURES FOREMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES

SURVEYS ONGENDER PAY EQUITY

PROGRAMS FORMANAGER TRAINING

ON ADVANCING WOMEN


ON WORK LIFE ISSUES


ON FLEXIBLE WORKING

100%

100%

100%

80%

100%

80%


METHODS THROUGH WHICH LEADERSHIP SHOWS COMMITMENT - 100 BEST

METHODS THROUGH WHICH LEADERSHIP SHOWS COMMITMENT - TOP 10

The 2017 BCWI are intent on creating a culture of gender parity and inclusion. Led by the 2017 BCWI Indian Inc. is moving to a new norm of gender balanced workforces.

Meets regularly with executive responsiblefor women's advancement to review

metrics and goals

Includes an update on women's advancement during annual updates with employees

Makes CEO women's advancementstatement available on corporate

website and in other corporate materials

Chairs or oversees women'sadvancement council

Oversees or approves mangementcompensation plans that are tied to

women's advancement

Provides annual update on women'sadvancement to board of directors

‘Others’like e-mails from the leadership team, company

blogs on work-life concerns etc.

25%

49%

51%

56%

57%

69%

87%

Meets regularly with executive responsiblefor women's advancement to review

metrics and goals

Includes an update on women's advancement during annual updates with employees

Makes CEO women's advancementstatement available on corporate

website and in other corporate materials

Chairs or oversees women'sadvancement council

Oversees or approves mangementcompensation plans that are tied to

women's advancement

Provides annual update on women'sadvancement to board of directors

‘Others’like e-mails from the leadership team, company

blogs on work-life concerns etc.

40%

90%

90%

100%

90%

100%

100%


BCWI: THE GROWTH CHART


SL.NO. METRIC 2017 - 100 BEST

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

4,67, 883

30.55%

36%

33%

18%

17%

40%

30 weeks

94%

56 days

87%

67%

51%

62%

68%

59%

59%

88%

2016 - 100 BEST

2,05,236

25.25%

21%

22%

15%

14%

30%

26 weeks

86%

20 days

70%

52%

26%

42%

44%

34%

37%

42%

Total no. of women employees

Overall representation of women

Women Hires

Women at entry level

Women in the Board Room

Women as direct reports to CEO

Companies with formal programmesfor second career women

Best in class maternity leave

Companies with fully paid paternity leave

Best in class paternity leave

Companies with adoption leave

Companies with maternityphase back programs

Companies with maternity coaching

Companies sponsoring employees’professional enhancement programs

Companies who train managers tochampion gender diversity

Companies who train managers tounderstand work life concerns of employees

Companies that conduct surveys ongender pay equity

Companies with formal programmes toencourage men as allies


2017 MALE ALLY LEGACY AWARD10

MALE ALLIES TOWARDS GENDER INCLUSION

India’s high corporate and economic growth is not seeing signi�cant women’s contribution – women contribute only 17% of the country’s GDP. The most recent workforce participation rate for urban women in white-collared jobs is at 20.5%, a shockingly low number compared to countries at the same level of economic activity. The gender gap in many organizations thus represent a signi�cant missed opportunity for businesses in India. One reason for this could be the one-sided focus on women without engaging men as partners and champions in the journey towards inclusion. Increasing women’s participation and involvement at the workplace is not just a women’s issue or men’s issue. It is a business issue. Diversity and inclusivity are both business issues, and human issues. It has been established that businesses pro�t in several ways from the immense bene�ts that diverse perspectives bring, particularly when it comes to innovation and competitive edge. Reality is that men currently (and natively) hold a majority of formal and informal positions of power across organizations in various sectors. And they have a great deal of in�uence on the organizational set-up - in subtle everyday interactions and in inspiring change in larger systems and processes. In fact, in a conventional organizational set-up, men are often in a better position to in�uence organizational dynamics by using their formal or informal power compared to most women across various levels or hierarchies. And so, for the success of every gender-balance agenda and goal, it is imperative that organizations bring men into the conversations related to gender diversity. Being a Male Ally entails working towards changing the culture in the organization, by being a role-model, by creating more role-models. It is

not limited to men advocating for or helping certain, speci�c women. While advocacy e�orts might sometimes involve supporting speci�c women, it involves much more than that. Male advocacy is all about bringing in systemic change. Male allies relentlessly work towards changing the prevailing mindsets and attitudes. This involves eliminating subtle biases – both conscious and unconscious in job descriptions, interview practices, performance evaluation criteria and task or project assignment patterns. This also involves structuring �exible work policies and practices, mentoring, coaching and sponsoring. Typically, the processes in organizations are developed over time around the needs of the majority group and hence subtly disadvantage employees for whom those systems were never really intended for. And ushering in change can be challenging. But despite these challenges, many successful male allies have had the courage, conviction and a solid game plan to invest their time, energy and resources to work towards bringing forth this change. They were never overwhelmed or intimidated by enormity of the task. Rather, they looked at it as a business and human imperative which needed execution with utmost focus and commitment. Male allies had the desire and commitment to dream and make gender inclusion a reality in their respective organizations. Most importantly, they listened to the issues of women employees and understood their professional challenges at grass-root levels. They understood how it feels for a lot of women to feel like a minority in a majority environment. The male allies realized that while it can be exhausting to work towards bringing forth systemic change, negative reactions could be converted as opportunities to drive understanding and empathy about gender related issues. Despite the threat of being subjected to negative stereotypes, they approached this whole challenge with a growth mindset. And that is precisely why it is important to recognize the e�orts of these exemplary individuals who are spearheading this movement across organizations; their vision and execution driving forth change in the gender landscape in corporate India!

In recognition of the unparalleled commitment of such male allies, AVTAR partnered with Working Mother to bring yet another �rst to India this year – the 2017 Working Mother & AVTAR Male Ally Legacy Award. The inaugural edition of the ‘Male Ally Legacy Award’, the �rst and the only one of its kind, recognized three such senior male leaders who have mentored women professionals into leadership. From over 100 nominations we received for this award through the 360 registrations we received for the 2017 BCWI, an expert jury panel chose the winners after a very rigorous review process. The recipient of the Male Ally Legacy Award along with the two ‘Choice of Jury’ awardees were publicly announced and felicitated at the Best of the Best Conference on November 16, 2017 at ITC Grand Chola, Chennai. And the winners are….



2017MALE ALLY LEGACY

AWARD

WINNER

MR. KRISHNA MURTHY SVSR. DIRECTOR & INDIA LEADER FORINDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, PEGA INDIA

Believing in the core value that diversity primes high performance & creativity and that all the threads are equal and important in an organisation - for about two decades now, Krishna Murthy SV, has successfully led large IT transformational initiatives that helped Pega achieve better results. One of these key initiatives is sponsoring & promoting mentoring for the Women Talent within his team. He believes that a gender diverse workplace is the key to creating a great organization & hence has always promoted hiring a more diverse workforce in his team. Pega started out with a 22% diversity ratio, which stands at almost 28% now and Mr. Kris ambitions this at around 30% by end of the year. He mentors & coaches the potential women leaders in his team on a very regular & structured basis and monitors their progress frequently. With equal pay parity, continuously increasing number of women leaders in his team & focus on more diverse hiring, his team is an epitome of inclusive and entrepreneurial culture. Krishna Murthy and his team are on a mission to build a strong diverse organisation at all levels that empower enterprises to dream big and prepare for the future!.

“It has been quite an exciting journey for me last few years because of being a working mother, to say the least. Thanks to Kris, it turned out to be a journey �lled with experiences to cherish. He has been in�uential in changing my perspective to start to treat these as opportunities. I can’t thank Kris enough for standing by me, & guiding me as I walked what is purportedly a di�cult path for a working mother”

Rajitha PatlolaManager – Financial Services, Industry Applications

To me, mentoring means giving back. I was fortunate to grow in the shadow of great leaders who taught me what’s right. I see many talented women in Pega grappling between personal and professional worlds. I believe that little guidance and support will help unleash their professional talent.


MR. S.V. NATHAN PARTNER AND CHIEF TALENT OFFICERDELOITTE INDIA

Mr. S.V. Nathan is a strong advocate of diversity and believes that women bring in unique strengths to the workplace which must be ampli�ed and unlocked to their fullest potential. Right through his illustrious career, he mentored young women managers who are successful senior leaders today. Through inspired leadership, Nathan established a framework to view and support women professionals in a holistic manner. This involved understanding the unique needs of women professionals at the various stages of their careers and supporting them with relevant tools, programs and bene�ts. Nathan also plays an in�uencing role in social media by sparking conversations and contributing across virtual panels as a thought leader on the subject of issues faced by women in the workforce.

“Nathan has been a strong anchor for me in my career growth and transitions. I have seen and learnt from him on being consciously inclusive in meetings, ensuring all voices are heard. His personal investment, commitment and attention to people despite the busy schedule he keeps, is inspiring.”

Director – Total Rewards leader, Deloitte U.S. India

2017CHOICE OF JURY

AWARD

WINNER

2017CHOICE OF JURY

AWARD

WINNER

Each one ofus has a story on how we need to foster gender advancement and of inclusion. It is in the support of this experience that is distinctly by Deloitte.

In today’s rapidly changing world, embracing gender diversity is a critical step to progress a winning culture in any organization. This certainly helps to bring in the optimal balance in organizational thinking, outlook, strategies and actions for it to be truly an Employer of Choice.

MR. SUSHOBHAN DASGUPTAMANAGING DIRECTOR, JOHNSON & JOHNSON MEDICAL INDIAAND VICE PRESIDENT ORTHOPAEDICS ASIA PACIFIC,JOHNSON & JOHNSON MEDICAL

Sushobhan Dasgupta is a longtime advocate of diversity and inclusion and is one of the key sponsors of the Diversity & Inclusion Council and Women Leadership Initiative at Johnson & Johnson India. Putting his passion to work, he has taken a lead in identifying women leaders internally and mentored them to take on leadership roles within the organization. Under his leadership, the company has embarked upon various initiatives to champion women and give them the resources, and opportunities to build a Career Identity and become leaders of tomorrow. Under his guidance the women employee base at leadership levels has signi�cantly grown in the organization.

“Sushobhan believes in getting diverse perspective in the organization which would challenge the status quo and enable the organization to move ahead in its leadership journey. His guidance and mentorship have been crucial for me in my journey as a Strategy & Business development head to currently leading a Franchise as a Commercial head at J&J.”

Payal AgrawalBusiness Leader – Middle India business, Johnson & Johnson Medical India


WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A BCWI(‘BEST COMPANY FOR WOMEN IN INDIA’)?11

There is renewed focus in gender diversity in corporate India. It is heartening to see the increased earnestness with which companies have been chartering their roadmaps to gender balance. With the launch of India’s most comprehensive gender analytics exercise in 2016 - the Working Mother & AVTAR Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI), the country has also been witness to reenergized e�orts among several corporate houses over the past year! Against this backdrop, one question that discerning organizations at the threshold of the gender diversity journey have is – ‘What does it take to be a Best Company for Women in India?’

Making it to the prestigious 100 Best List or the hallowed portals of Top 10 - the two widely celebrated alphabetical lists, is de�nitely one of the goals that such gender-inclusive organizations are pursuing. Beyond positive publicity and brand enhancement, there is also genuine intent in building workplaces inclusive of women; about making the journey to gender balance around ‘being smart’and beyond ‘being right’!

And so before this question is speci�cally addressed, let us look into how BCWI functionally works. At its core, BCWI is a policy assessment exercise. The application form towards participation has 400+ questions that essentially drills down the length and breadth of policy expanse of a company towards women’s career enablement. Data is sought across areas like workforce pro�le (representation of women at various organizational

levels), policies for recruitment, retention and advancement, for safety & security, for �exible work, for bene�ts like day care services et al!

What does this also mean? 1. With scores of companies from across every industry vertical applying to participate, the oppor tunity that the BCWI creates for an organization to understand industry challenges in gender inclusion and the corresponding solutions is humungous.

2. The BCWI is spearheading a movement that ener-gizes organizations to set practical, realistic, yet work-in-progress agendas, which are grounded in solid logic. No longer is Diversity a �avor of the season – it is a business principle that leads to better performance by the organization.

3. The collective discipline which companies bring to Gender Diversity, results in greater retention and advancement of women and therefore an impact on India’s GDP. In a nutshell, how can the BCWI initiative be described?

• It is India’s largest gender analytics exercise!

• It is a robust tracking tool for your gender diversity initiatives.

• It is the country’s most comprehensive gender diversity best practices benchmarking platform.

• And surely, it is an amazing branding opportunity for a best employer for women.

And do you know what the BCWI is NOT?

• It is not an employee perception survey. No sampling of employees’ likes and dislikes taking up precious time and involving subjectivity.

• It is not a pay-to-participate study. There is no application fees, no processing charges.

• It is not a ranking. You get a personalized scorecard with your individual score, but zero public announcements of rankings.

So how, one may ask, is policy e�ectiveness captured through mere data? The secret lies in a systematically curated multi-pronged approach that was developed through the 30+ years of evolution of this study by the Working Mother Group in the U.S. One that can signify policy impact through gender speci�c data points!

And so against the backdrop of the big data revolution, this is what it takes to be a BCWI:

> The �rst step is to have a well thought out policy framework towards women’s career advancement.

> The second is to ensure e�ective policy implementation.

> The third is to systematically track policy impact and build data corpus of policy related metrics.

> The fourth step - a derivative of the third - is to leverage the power of the data thus created • By monitoring progress over the years. • By benchmarking oneself with industry peers and Best-in-class.

> The �fth, and perhaps a very important strategy going forward with a surging millennial population, is to ensure that workplaces stay inclusive of men – that there is gender neutrality in policy implementation. In fact, the application form towards participation encourages you to do just that – keep a tab on policy reach on both your women and men folks!

And step zero that precedes it all (and completes the loop) is annual participation in the BCWI study! But most importantly, thought leaders spearheading the gender diversity movement in organizations should remember that this is a journey. That it should not be looked at as an urgent outcome to be handled, but more as a discipline to be created – like a �tness regime to create a gender-�t and healthy workplace!



LOOKING AHEADUSING 100 BEST COMPANIES RESULTS TO PLAN THE FUTURE12

Every year, Working Mother Media recognizes and celebrates the 100 companies that are named to the 100 Best Companies list, and well we should. These companies work hard to create the most competitive employee value proposition possible for one of their premier sources of talent – working mothers. Being a 100 Best Company is not only an accolade and reward, but an opportunity to demonstrate the company’s commitment to bettering the working lives of employees and recruits.

However, the annual results of 100 Best companies is more than a reason for celebration – it is a guide toward the future in the very important areas of paid time o�, employee bene�ts, �exible work arrangements, women’s advancement and inclusive company culture. Any company that values the contribution of working mothers in their workforce and who hopes to recruit this all-important constituency, should carefully study the results of the 100 Best. And, more and more the results are telling us that this constituency is much bigger than just working mothers – that it includes all working parents and caregivers.

For example, we are seeing the continued expansion of paid paternity leave for the spouses and partners of new mothers, and of paid adoption leave in the 2017 Working Mother 100 Best companies (US Listing). The use of �exibility is ubiquitous at these companies with 80% of women and 78% of men working �exibly, and 57% of women and 56% of men telecommuting. At the 100 Best, 70% of CEOs told us they take personal advantage of the ability to work �exibly!

Any company, by assessing their own position versus the 100 Best in the �ve areas listed above, could build a suite of bene�ts and services to make themselves truly competitive in the talent marketplace. The goal would not be to become all things to all employees, but within the context on their individual market, to use the information to inform decision making and resource allocation in order to put their best foot forward.

So, I encourage you to recognize and celebrate this group of 100 Best Companies who have demonstrated their committed to maintaining a robust, supportive and inclusive environment for working parents and caregivers, but to also use the learning from this annual exercise to not only stay on the list, but guide your own future planning and decision-making.

Suzanne RichardsDirector, Working Mother Research Institute


THE POWER OF BENCHMARKINGLEARN FROM THE BEST13

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Detailed data comparison for each response against the 100 Best Companies and Top 10 Companies

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BCWI: 2018 TIMELINES14COME! BE A PART OF

HERE ARE THE IMPORTANT DATES FOR BCWI 2018

FEBRUARY

20181 2018 BCWI LAUNCH

SEPTEMBER

20184 PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF 2018 BCWI

AUGUST

201832018 Working Mother & AVTAR TOP 10 and 100 Best Companies

FEBRUARY- MAY

20182THE APPLICATION WINDOW• Companies with over 500 employees in its Indian operations are eligible to apply.• All applicant companies will go through a mandatory 3-step process of application, namely:

NOTIFICATIONS• The 100 Best Companies for Women in India will be noti�ed of their selection to the listing.

1. Registration 2. Con�rmation of Participation 3. Application Filing

OCTOBER

20185CELEBRATING THE WINNERS at the Best Practices of the 100 Best Conference• The 100 Best list, along with the Top 10 Best Companies, will be announced at the “Best Practices of 100 Best Conference”.

• The 2018 Best Companies for Women in India Yearbook will be launched.



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Documents

· PDF fileled by Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, to honor the Best Companies for Women in India and celebrate the forward-thinking