The perceived gender pay gap at a pan-India level was 23 per cent among salaried women, while felt gender bias was at 16 per cent.
In the effort of gender equality, the workplace plays a crucial part in breaking down barriers to professional growth and equality.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is necessary to draw awareness to the persistent problem of gender wage disparities in many industries.
According to research published by DBS Bank India in collaboration with CRISIL, the industry views on persistent gender disparities in the workplace, the perceived gender pay gap at a pan-India level was 23 per cent among salaried women, while felt gender bias was at 16 per cent.
However, some companies around the globe are trying to change the narratives.
“Tata Starbucks is to enhance and build a culture where our partners feel empowered to bring their authentic selves to work, contributing to a collective sense of belonging and shared purpose. We enable an equal workforce with 100 per cent gender pay equity,” said Nabamita Banerjee, Head of Human Resources, TATA Starbucks.
Starbucks aims to achieve 40 per cent women representation in the workforce by 2028.
According to a checkout platform, Simpl, women-led direct-to-customer (D2C) brands are increasingly witnessing robust growth in business, posting a healthy 54x growth in transactions.
The ecommerce platform Flipkart has also taken several initiatives and states that the company does not discriminate in pay grade on the basis of gender.
“We recognise the importance of creating a workplace where women have equal opportunities to thrive in their careers. Through a multitude of initiatives and programmes, we are actively working to foster an environment where every woman feels empowered to excel, regardless of background or location,” Eric James, Director, Flipkart emphasised.
Vidur Kapur, Director, O3+ explained that for his company gender doesn’t matter as long as the candidate is talented.
“We treat everyone the same, whether men or women. We make sure everyone gets paid fairly for their work, depending on how good they are at their job. We also welcome LGBT people. We give everyone a fair chance to grow in their careers based on what they can do, not because of their gender,” Kapur emphasised.
Shaily Mehrotra, Co-founder and Ceo FixDerma stated that her company offers growth, salary, increments as well and accolades based the merit, the performance. “We never bring gender into any account,” she said.
The gifting platform, FNP has implemented transparent compensation policies and criteria that clearly delineate the factors influencing salary determinations.
“This approach has proved instrumental in building a sense of trust among our employees and ensuring that they understand the basis on which their pay is determined,” Gautam Saraf, CHRO at FNP.
Additionally, he said that the company regularly conducts pay audits to scrutinise compensation data and ensure equitable remuneration for individuals performing comparable roles.
Pooja Sharma Goyal, CEO, of The Udaiti Foundation says, “Our organisation ensures equal opportunities for professional growth regardless of gender. We maintain pay equity with hiring bands, eliminating any gender pay gaps. This approach reflects our commitment to providing fair and equal opportunities for all employees.”
Initiatives Taken by Companies
The companies have taken several initiatives to empower women and acknowledge their potential.
Britannia Marie Gold, one of India’s leading biscuit brands on Thursday introduced HerStore, a unique digital ecosystem for women entrepreneurs. HerStore is designed to give a platform to all women entrepreneurs in India for constant support in their journey.
“Based on the learnings from four successful chapters of MyStartup contest, we realised the ecosystem needs a platform for constant guidance to prosper and hence this women’s day – we are proud to take the first step towards that with HerStore,” Amit Doshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Britannia Industries said.
Furthermore, Amazon India has implemented a range of policies, programs and initiatives aimed at enhancing women’s representation and facilitating their professional growth within and outside the organisation.
Its key programs include the ‘rekindle’ offering a launchpad for women re-entering the workforce; Ramp Back, facilitating a gradual return to work after maternity or parental leave; AmVoice listening sessions, providing a platform for senior leadership to address the concerns of women employees and Women in Night Shifts (WINS), ensuring a safe and supportive work environment for women across all shifts.
Additionally, Flipkart introduced initiatives like ‘Girls Wanna Code’ and ‘Flipkart Runway’ are designed to identify and nurture female talent from diverse backgrounds, by tapping into talent pools from tier 2 cities and beyond.
“These programmes have shown significant growth over the years, with the last edition of ‘Girls Wanna Code’ witnessing a remarkable 2X increase in registrations,” said James.
FNP has more than 50 per cent of its customers are women and to attract diverse talent, it has implemented various strategies such as using gender-neutral language in job descriptions and ensuring diverse interview selection panels.
“We also offer flexible work policies that enable women to balance their professional and personal responsibilities more effectively, including options such as flexible working hours, work from home and pink leave,” Saraf highlighted.
