Embrace Equity on Women’s Day: How?

In the past months, I listened to three distinguished women invited by ReNew to talk on diversity, equity and inclusion (#DEI). These women were Ms. Manjari Jarohar, Ms. Archana Ramasundaram and Dr Niru Kumar.?

Ms Manjari Jaruhar is the first woman from Bihar and one of the first five women in India to join the Indian Police Service (IPS). Ms Jarohar retired as Special Director General of the Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) and is known as Madam Sir, the title of the book she authored. Ms Archana Ramasundaram is the IPS officer who made history by becoming the first woman to lead a central paramilitary force in India. Dr Niru Kumar is the founder and CEO of Ask Insights. She is a medical doctor, NLP Master Practitioner and D&I consultant.?

It is a positive sign for investors worldwide that most of the Indian renewable energy (RE) companies are not stopping only at capacity addition year after year but also broadening their view and activities in different themes of ESG. These Indian RE companies are becoming global in their mindset. It has not been very long for me at ReNew though I have observed already ongoing concerted efforts on the agenda of D&I. I noticed an improvement in diversity from 7.5% to 12% within a year without any invisible glass ceiling. I learnt that the target is to reach 30% diversity by 2030.?

I understand that diversity is an inorganic aspect of the D&I subject. At the same time, inclusion is something organic and more about the culture that needs a time-consuming concerted effort, beyond the sole responsibility of HR, in an organisation which is not confined only to metro cities for its operations in India. RE companies are not IT companies limited to metros and more WFH. RE companies operate in remote areas, away from metros and even B-class cities. Hence, a concerted effort is required to improve the inclusion side by the side of diversity. A board-level ESG committee with representation of members with expertise in the social aspects and governance, a D&I council of senior management, direct responsibility and measurable indices for diversity-owned by CHRO, an overall D&I flag held by the company CSO, women employees group as Power-of-W, training and sensitisation of senior to provide not only equal chances but an equitable environment to women employees at the shop floor, infrastructure facilities and safe working environment for women employees are a few instruments of this concerted effort on D&I at ReNew.

But, what is difficult for RE companies is to initially take a calculated approach while hiring female employees for the type of jobs where the skill set is not readily available but needs to be developed after hiring. Here comes the equity aspect initially. You take female employees, train them and bring them to par to compete on a level playing field. I witnessed at ReNew that only initial equity is enough to get different genders into equal levels to gain a healthier environment on the shop floor and in the field. And many Indian companies are putting more RE capacities and bringing more people on an equal level every year. This is one of the signs of a global mindset. So, do not be surprised if we see some Indian RE companies expanding geographically also and starting operations in other developed and developing countries shortly.?

The area where companies need the most incremental efforts, be it an IT or RE sector company, is to?#EmbraceEquity?sensitise the young male employees about some inherent and naturally wired biases in the subconscious mind. For example, a PowerPoint presentation with a pink background is also ok if the content is correct.?