Are Affirmative Actions enough to build inclusiveness and belongingness in the Indian Workplaces?

President Kennedy incorporated the concept of “affirmative action” in year 1961. The concept is number oriented and aimed at changing the demographics within the organization. It was like inviting/allowing people from diverse backgrounds for work opportunities.

The world has witnessed a series of changes since then, while the results achieved by implementing affirmative actions in are undeniably amazing, but the question is “Is this all?”

With some organizations realizing the need of having a diverse workforce and starting a journey, numbers seem to be of a primary importance. Yes, the board needs to see impacts of the actions, but it is important to understand that principles of affirmative actions may only give opportunities for diverse talent to join you. What happens once this workforce join? Does the affirmative action practices help? No.

For India, many organizations continue to focus on looking at the cis gender parity in the organization and honestly, the focus is hiring more Women than Man and maintain the gender ratio. But does this help? Let’s look at some numbers

• Representation of women on Boards has increased from 6% in 2013 to 18% in 2022.
• Almost 95% of NIFTY500 companies have at least one-woman Board member, compared to 69% in 2017.
• Women in senior and managerial positions in India remain low at only 14.6%, highlighting the need to build the pipeline to Boards position.

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While there is an improvement in the women representation in the workforce, there is a widening gap b/w women at entry levels vs senior positions. My understanding is, that we see a improvised gender ratio as organizations are taking affirmative actions and doing target based hiring, however a progressive thought of inclusiveness and understanding of DEI would help retain, engage and bridge this widening gap.

Managing diversity is behavioral, aimed at changing the organizational culture, and developing skills and policies that get the best from everyone. Affirmative action and managing diversity go hand-in-hand, each reinforcing the gains of the other. Without affirmative action’s commitment to hiring and promoting diverse employees, organizations would rarely have the diversity of staff to reach a stage where differences are valued and diversity is effectively managed.

Affirmative action is adopted to give organization a chance to correct an imbalance. Once there is an improvement, I don’t think affirmative action alone can cope with the remaining long-term task of creating an inclusive environment that promotes growth and development for all. Affirmative actions opens doors in the organization while managing diversity opens the culture and the system. Managing diversity does not replace affirmative action; rather, it builds on the critical foundation laid by workplace equity programs.