Diversity & Inclusion

Achieving more diverse and inclusive workplaces is an important priority as the spatial sector prepares for new opportunities and challenges as reflected in the 2026 Spatial Industry Transformation and Growth Agenda (2026Agenda).
The Indian IT-BPM industry has always been favourable for women, even more so now. Women represent 51 per cent of entry level hiring, and have a 50 per cent higher chance of getting job offers. Most encouragingly, women are seen to be moving away from support specific roles to higher positions in operations including leadership. The headroom for further improvement requires a sustained focus on training and development.
Gender Diversity is of course the big piece, beyond which there are also generational and cultural diversities, including the entire paradigm of recruiting and enabling a career path for differently abled people and LGBTs.

A few highlights are provided below:

Achieving more diverse and inclusive workplaces is an important priority as the spatial sector prepares for new opportunities and challenges as reflected in the 2026 Spatial Industry Transformation and Growth Agenda (2026Agenda).
The Indian IT-BPM industry has always been favourable for women, even more so now.
Women represent 51 per cent of entry level hiring, and have a 50 per cent higher chance of getting job offers. Most encouragingly, women are seen to be moving away from support specific roles to higher positions in operations including leadership. The headroom for further improvement requires a sustained focus on training and development.
Gender Diversity is of course the big piece, beyond which there are also generational and cultural diversities, including the entire paradigm of recruiting and enabling a career path for differently abled people and LGBTs.

DIVERSITY VS INCLUSION

Diversity means existence of differences among employees at workplace based upon their colour, ethnicity, gender, age, social class, physical attributes, nationality, education, personality, skills and knowledge. While both the terms ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ are commonly used interchangeable, there exists a huge difference between the two concepts. Inclusion is different from diversity as it is a more active concept (Fresh Thinking Labs, 2017) and considered as a vehicle for embracing the difference that exists as a consequence of workforce diversity (Young, 2018). Arruda (2016) asserted

that diversity is about who and what (e.g., who is to be recruited, promoted, transferred and so on) but, on the other hand, inclusion revolves around how (e.g., how to embrace and energize diversity in an effective manner). Jordan (2011) stated that “diversity means all the ways we 

differ. Some of these differences we are born with and cannot change. Anything that makes us unique is the part of this definition of diversity”. “Inclusion involves bringing together and harnessing these diverse forces and resources, in a way that is beneficial. Inclusion puts the  concept and practice of diversity into action by creating an environment of involvement, respect and connection – where the richness of ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are harnessed to create business value” (Jordan, 2011). Hence, inclusion is like a rainbow of different colors, as it galvanizes diversity. While diversity talks about the differences, inclusion talks about synergizing those difference to bring more meaning and collaboration.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION: A COLLABORATION

one hand, while diversity and inclusion represent different phenomenon, on the other hand, both the concepts are interrelated to each other as diversity focuses on acknowledging the different type of people working in an organization based on age, gender, ethnicity, nationality etc., while inclusion stresses upon leveraging the workforce diversity for organizational growth (Jordan, 2011; Arruda, 2016). However, it has been brought to the light through research that the influence of diversity and inclusion upon organizations are collaborative and inconclusive in nature (Wright et al, 2014; Rohwerdr, 2017) as diversity alone is not 

sufficient for the holistic improvement of the organization (Arruda, 2016; Young, 2018). Bourke & Dillon (2018) asserted that as per the  Deloitte’s research, diversity without inclusion is not fruitful. According to Deloitte’s review, diversity and inclusion both in collaboration are effective in achieving two times more financial targets, three times higher performance, six times more innovativeness and eight times better organizational outcomes (Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP, 2017; Deloitte Development LLC, 2018). The collaboration between the two is absolutely essential for the overall organizational growth and development. As diversity is a broader concept, we work at how gender diversity and inclusion can be seen collaboratively. Infact, bringing together both the concepts together essentially leads to more promising outcomes for the organizations.

STATUS OF GENDER DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN INDIAN ORGANIZATIONS

Low representation of women at the workplace is a global predicament but in India the picture of women at workplace is gloomy as gender inequality at workplace in India is highly prevalent (Bhardwaj, 2018). In Indian organizations, the status of encouraging gender diversity is at its 

initial stages emphasizing upon equality in hiring, remuneration and representation in leadership positions (Das, 2018). Gender diversity and inclusion in Indian organizations reveals alarming statistics as top- listed companies have only 20% female workforce out of their entire permanent workforce (Bothra, 2019). According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report (2017) India ranked 108 out of 144 countries on the gender  equality scale which has slipped from 87 in 2016 (Bhardwaj, 2018). In 2018, this gap has become more glaring as India ranked 142 among 149 nations (WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report, 2018). Despite the adoption of numerous initiatives and affirmative actions for boosting gender diversity and inclusiveness in Indian organizations, India has not achieved success to raise the status of women in top and middle level positions (Verma & Basu, 2019). Women constitute only 27% of the total workforce, 17% of them are in senior management positions and only 3% women are CEO’s in India (The Economic Times, 2017). Since 2014, out of every 100 CEO’s and MD’s of companies listed in NSE, only 3 are women and out of 1814 chief executives of NSE-listed companies only 67 are women (Verma & Basu, 2019). Table 3 throws the light upon annual status of women in leadership position in India from 2014 – 2019.

REASONS FOR BOOSTING GENDER DIVERSITY – THE TOP MOST PRIORITY OF THE ORGANIZATIONS

Healthy gender diversity at workplaces is not only a moral and social issue but it also has a critical and economic significance for the organizations in the present world. Currently, companies cannot expect to acquire competitive advantage in the global business landscape by ignoring 50% competitive and potential workforce (Gant, 2019) as better business require better leadership. Table 4 demonstrates the reasons extracted from the literature that why healthy gender diversity have become the top most priority of the organization.

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

 Gender diversity and inclusion at workplace have become a top priority for overall organizational
growth.
• Gender diversity and inclusion have a positive influence upon creativity and innovation,
organizational reputation, productivity, decision-making, problem-solving, and organizational
performance.
• Diversity and inclusion together are extremely fruitful for turbulent and attention-seeking
business growth.
• Healthy gender diversity at workplaces is both a moral and social issue. Presently, no organization
can achieve competitive advantage by ignoring highly competent women workforce.
Consequently, it has become the top most priority for organizations worldwide.

• It has been found that in Indian organizations the status of gender diversity has slightly improved. However, Indian organizations have to cover a long way with the speedy adoption and implementation of policies and strategies focusing on the creation of gender friendly and inclusive workplaces.
• Also, the global trends in the domain reveal that gender diversity and inclusion have become the urgency for business success and growth in the present times as gender diversity and inclusion influence organizations holistically.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS

Existence of gender diversity and inclusiveness at all levels of managerial hierarchy in organizations results in 30% better performance (Das, 2018). Currently, organizations must focus on gender diversity and inclusion as a core of their growth strategy as both help in developing vibrant, thriving, creative and innovative workplaces. Gender friendly and inclusive workplaces
can be developed by facilitating working mothers, protecting their employment, removing unconscious biasness, offering flexible working hours, fostering an inclusive and respectful working culture, fixing and achieving gender diversity goals.

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