International Women’s Day is an annual commemoration of women’s achievements and celebrates the strength and poise that womankind brings to the society, to the world at large. It is also the day that gives us a chance to reflect upon the progress made on various initiatives that appeal for change; change required for equity, for parity.
While 2016 focused on furthering Gender Parity at workplace, 2017 boasts of change – Disruption – a mandate to march ahead in the digital world, with PEOPLE leading the charter; and people thrive when they invest in each other’s success and prosperity. In these changing times, power centers and drivers of business success have shifted from profit to people and purpose, first.
A Business Case One Can’t Ignore
As per the Global Empathy Index of the 20 Most (and Least) Empathetic Companies, 2016 released by Harvard Business Review – top 10 companies increased in value more than twice as much as the bottom 10, and generated 50% more earnings (defined by market capitalization). These are staggering statistics making empathy a cultural imperative for organizations to invest in their future growth.
Gender equality is a strong measure for driving the cultural competence of empathy relying on ‘understanding without judging’. As more and more women recognize their power to change the stereotypes, more and more men need to come forward and collaboratively steer the conversation and efforts to increase transparency and care for each other. This will bring us closer to an inclusive work environment.
The business case for promoting Gender Equality is stronger for companies in the customer service business, wherein almost all of us lie in today. We don’t require Gender Equality because it is good to have, but because there are compelling business reasons to do so.
It is about leading commitment to bold action.
Early last year, Teleperformance India took the #PledgeforParity for equal representation of women and men across spheres in the company, aligned with policies that make us an even better place to work. Through the #GenderSmart campaign in March 2016, we acknowledged and explicitly professed the agenda of Gender Parity in the workplace; that it is core to business success and that it is time to get beyond work-life balance.
“Purpose of business is more than merely making profit. Business flourishes with a balanced approach and Gender Balance is close to our hearts, as a team.
#GenderSmart strengthens our business as a #SmartBusiness, future-ready, offering #SmartServices to our clients. More than 50% of world consumers are women and having them equally represented on the customer service side aligns us with the rich behavioral sensitivity and empathy as a service provider.”-shares Sanjay Mehta, Managing Director and CEO (Chief Experience Officer) at Teleperformance India.
Aligned to this vision, the idea was to create an inclusive workplace with balanced gender ratios at a time when 50% women representation in BPOs was unimaginable.
The good news was that our voice reverberated through the business community and brought forth reactions — Over a 100 companies came forward to support our efforts and recognized them in the digital space, with a lot of them personally congratulating and joining this mission with us.
Challenging our own beliefs for paving the way forward
In 2016, our team saw a 76% growth in the headcount along with adding two new centers in Jaipur and Indore and expanding capacity in Gurgaon. As the business grew, we added more and more females across our processes, combating the outdated beliefs about gender roles and norms, leading us to improve many business metrics across the organization.
#GenderSmart campaign commands 99% authority and share of voice on the internet for Teleperformance India.
All this amalgamates into creating a future-ready #SmartBusiness which has an inclusive culture and promotes innovation. We salute our people’s passion and commitment who made this happen and live this every day as their DNA.
This year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) theme – Be Bold For Change, is a celebration of many such efforts and momentum that reverberates the spirit womanhood. At Teleperformance, we are boldly and wholeheartedly committed to this goal. This year will you also #BeBoldForChange?
Contributor: Neha Sethi @nehacsethi
Image source: www.internationalwomensday.com