At Indeed, Inclusion & Belonging is just not a trend — it is one of our core values and central to our mission to help all people get jobs. It is who we are, embedded in how we operate and here to stay. It is how we work toward the ultimate goal of equality, within both our organisation and society.
Tech companies today are priortising diversity and inclusion and corporate diversity and inclusion efforts in India have been gaining prominence across industries. We at Indeed are continuing to invest in and maintain our commitment to continuous learning, operationalising equity into our policies and processes and being an exemplar in a space that is constantly evolving.
Recognising the value in a name, we recently retitled our Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DI&B) organisation Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB+), a team I lead as Indeed’s vice president of DEIB+. Equity has always been embedded in our practices, but we have never formally called it out before. On our journey to evaluate and enhance our policies and processes for equity, we recognised it was time to take things a step further and explicitly share how we approach the work.
The plus symbol is a special commitment: It acknowledges that there is more to this work than meets the eye, and it is our reminder to remain agile and consider the various perspectives and lived experiences that inform our approach.
Why do this now? In today’s labour market, platitudes and performative behaviours from companies are no longer enough (not that they ever were). Companies are under an increased level of scrutiny given the rise of commitments during 2020.If an organisation does not have a diversity and inclusion policy, 83% of young employees will leave. For Generation Z and millennials, inclusion, diversity, and equity are crucial. According to ADP Research Institute’s People at Work 2022 report, 82% of young workers in India between the ages of 18 and 24 believe that there is an unfair gender wage gap and that there aren't enough regulations to promote diversity and inclusion.
“In India, the percentage of women working in technology is currently at around 25%. Although there will be a slight increase in the number of women in technical areas, the process for hiring, keeping, and promoting them will go slowly. Also, there is a shockingly low proportion of workers from various societal groups, such as LGBTQ+ populations and persons with physical disabilities.
Companies are working to close this talent gap in the workforce by continuously seeking out talent to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion at work, but technological advancements in DEI still have a long way to go.”
To successfully attract, retain and develop talent in this environment — as well as to improve representation in workforces — it is vital to show how you ae taking meaningful action on these issues. Here is a little more insight into what DEIB+ means and how to develop a holistic DEIB+ strategy that will drive business transformation.
What DEIB+ Means and How It Supports Better Work for All
Indeed’s DEIB+ organisation sits under the umbrella of Environmental, Social & Governance, rather than under Human Resources (HR), as it does in many companies. This is an intentional decision that allows us to continually prioritise diversity work, operationalise it across the business and work hand in hand with HR as a centre for excellence with subject-matter expertise.
As per a survey by Indeed, 77% of Indian employers believe that Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging are crucial for organisational performance.
In the report, Sashi Kumar, Head of Sales, Indeed India said, “Greater acceptance of a diverse workforce has been gaining ground among Indian employers for more than a decade now. The new configurations of work due to the pandemic and the ongoing talent war have accelerated the journey towards Diversity, Inclusivity and Belonging. Companies understand that these initiatives are valuable in attracting and retaining talent, boosting innovation and productivity, enhancing employee engagement, and responsible for overall growth of the company. With nearly half of all employers surveyed (49%) having implemented DI&B initiatives over the past 18 months or more, we can see that prioritizing DI&B is at the forefront for organisations. ”
Employers have implemented a variety of measures to address discrimination concerns and be receptive to inclusivity. The most prevalent of these measures are sensitisation workshops and communication initiatives (68%), Employee Resource Groups and similar measures (41%), and promoting LGBTIQ+ rights in the workplace (37%). This highlights that DI&B measures are critical in countering unconscious biases in the long run.
Here’s how we describe Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging:
- Diversity - Hiring for all aspects of representation — from age, gender and ethnicity to less tangible factors like perspectives and work styles — allows your workforce to better reflect the global communities in which we operate.
- Equity - Giving everyone the resources needed to thrive and succeed, effectively moving everyone closer to success by “levelling the playing field.”
- Inclusion - Actions and behaviours that create a culture in which employees feel valued, trusted and safe to be authentic.
- Belonging - A feeling or sense of community with others and the work environment that makes people feel connected.
With equity, each individual or group is given the tools and resources they need to thrive — as opposed to equality, an end state that means everyone receives the same thing. A widely circulated image offers one of the clearest explanations of the difference between equity and equality: If three people of unequal height were trying to see over a fence, you would not give them all the same size stool. The shortest person would need the tallest stool, the taller person might need a moderately sized stool and the tallest might not need a stool to see clearly over the fence at all.
Because not everyone requires the same support to have an equal experience, equity can seem unfair to some. In the workplace, it might look like building a leadership program that is tailored to the needs of marginalised groups.
The shift to DEIB+ is significant because, for the first time, it clearly expresses how we have always approached the work of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Indeed: by assessing our policies and processes for equity.
However, it is easy to get hung up on the acronym itself. What matters most is how you are actually doing the work. Here are five ways to operationalise DEIB+ in your organisation:
Five Ways to Drive DEIB+
1. Study the Quantitative & Qualitative Data to Guide Your Strategy
Conduct a landscape analysis to understand your company’s current situation so you can determine what areas need improving — and measure progress along the way. This involves taking a granular look at your organisation’s composition, policies and processes, including:
- Analysing your talent attraction process and philosophy. Where are you sourcing talent? What levels are people being hired into, and what is the rate of promotion across your organisation? Break it down by gender, race, generation (age) or other demographics.
- If you have a globally distributed company, asking yourself: Are we making opportunities available to everyone, including outside of India?
- Looking at the distribution of performance ratings and bonus payouts. What populations are receiving the highest and lowest ratings? What is their tenure at the company? Are these employees in-office, remote or flex? Inspect for recency and proximity biases that can contribute to higher ratings, which play a huge role in compensation.
Look at all of these data points and more on a regular basis, then conduct a quarterly organisational “health update” to monitor your progress and set new goals.
2. Listen to Your People
Employee engagement surveys are a valuable source of data, but they are often reactive. To keep a finger on the pulse of your workforce, conduct proactive “stay interviews” with segments of your population chosen based on the diversity goals you are trying to accomplish. Implement upward feedback surveys that allow employees to share about their experiences with managers.
According to a study by Catalyst, with a median age of 28.7 years old, India has a large youth population (compared to 38.5 years old in the United States).
- Due to a lack of opportunities, 45% of women aged 15 to 29 in India are not enrolled in any education, employment, or training. This compares to only 6.5% of men.
- India's diverse languages, religions, ethnicities, cultures, and geography encourage diversity of thought rather than singular ideas.
- However, intersectional discrimination causes some women to fall further behind than others.
- Only 15% of Muslim women have a formal job.
- This figure is lower than Hindu women (27%), Buddhist women (33%), and Christian women (31%).
- By 2030, automation may displace 12 million women. This is equivalent to approximately 10% of women's employment in India.
Engage in open conversations with people from backgrounds that are not well represented in your company. Stay updated on global current events to understand additional barriers or sentiments that may prevent them from showing up as their authentic selves. Ask them, “What are your experiences, and where could you use more support to thrive in the workplace?”
Then, act on the feedback and make changes. Collecting information without taking action can quickly erode trust and compromise psychological safety if you do not close the loop by making action plans accessible and measuring progress.
3. Embed Equity in Your Policies and Processes
The first step in addressing your policies is understanding historical context. Why were certain policies written, and do they still support your goals? Do they make sense for the current environment, or could they be creating barriers to DEIB+? For example, paid family leave has been found to boost workforce participation for working women, so improving these benefits by making them accessible for all gender identities could result in improved diversity and inclusion.
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act of 2016 was praised by many as a significant development. The Amendment increases all women working in businesses with more than 10 workers' right to paid maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks. Additionally, it requires that childcare facilities be available within a certain radius and that women be permitted up to four daily trips to the childcare facility.
Additionally, processes created during a company’s initial phase may not have been built to scale or may unintentionally exclude some populations through unconscious bias. Who might be unintentionally excluded today because they historically have not had a seat at the table? Hiring and interview processes in particular can pose barriers to employment and opportunities for promotion.
4. Establish Programs and Partnerships
Once you have determined your representation goals, design programs that provide employees with differentiated experiences and resources, such as apprenticeships, mentorships and boot camps. Either develop programs in-house or consider partnering with other organisations that might have additional resources and expertise.
Partnering is a signal to jobseekers and current employees that we are doing the work, we are doing it in a meaningful way and we are doing it well — but we don not have all the answers.
5. Encourage Allyship and Action
On the road to equality and doing things equitably, do not play into the narrative that we have to “fix” women or people in marginalised groups in order to get there. If a group is known to carry an extra burden, why should they alone take on the additional work of a training program? They are not the problem. We need to look at structural factors that create barriers and build leadership accountability into all DEIB+ efforts.
The success of Indeed’s DEIB+ strategy is due in large part to significant executive-level engagement, especially from CEO Chris Hyams. Because it is not the responsibility of one group or even just the DEIB+ leader, and it’s no longer enough just to be an ally — you also have to be an activist and accomplice. It takes everyone working together, from the top down, to create a future of better work for all.
In a report titled “Women's representation on Indian Boards” by Ernst and Young, KV Kamath, Chairperson, NaBFID and former Chairman, ICICI Bank stated
“As we strive to achieve gender diversity in the boardroom, the key question that needs to be addressed is whether we are creating a slate of women leaders who could take their place in the boardroom. To me this can only be addressed by creating a gender-neutral workplace in which, recruitment, job opportunities and promotions are all done in a gender-neutral manner. Once this slate is in place, women leaders bring an innate capacity to lead and multitask. Multitasking is a unique skill which is natural to women leaders. This itself adds enormous value to the board. Further, women leaders also bring a whole set of different perspectives to the table. Most importantly, they help break male-centred views which over a long period of time became embedded at the board. These then brings fresh approaches to the way the Board functions.”
One of the key findings of the report mentioned - While India's performance has improved, other nations are seeing a tremendous push from a variety of stakeholders to promote gender diversity on their boards. Similar to this, the mandate of Indian corporate law is largely to blame for the current 18% female representation on Indian boards.
Over 95% of the NIFTY 500 companies now have women on their boards of directors, according to an EY analysis. There is possibility for progress, however less than 5% of corporations have female chairpersons. The International Labour Organization (ILO) conducted research that found that doubling the proportion of women in the workforce would increase India's GDP to US$700 billion by 2025 and enhance its growth rate from 7.5% to 9%.
For more details about DEIB+ in Indian workplaces, including workforce data and perspectives, download our 2023 Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Report.
