The representation of women in the 100 Best Companies continues to increase, and the pandemic has not interfered even mildly with this trend. As per the latest report released by Working Mother and Avtar Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI), women constitute 34.5%, which is a 0.5% rise from 2020. In 2016, when the study was initiated, women’s representation stood at 25%. Over the intervening years, the increase has been gradual but steady.
Representation of women at managerial levels witnessed a similar increase, from 19% in 2016 to 25.4% in the sixth edition.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Saundarya Rajesh, founder-president, Avtar, said COVID-19 had been hard on women in particular with many facing retrenchments, but our results showed that there were companies that continuously raised their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) bar. More than 70% of the Best Companies had reported an increase in their DEI spend, with many increasing representation of women and other under represented groups in senior leadership and executive positions, she added.
In terms of leadership roles in the IT/ITeS sectors, women’s representation rose from 14% in 2020 to 18% in 2021. A similar trend was seen in FMCG and manufacturing companies moving from 15% and 5% in 2020 to 19% and 9% in 2021 respectively.
Saundarya noted that BFSI (15%) and Pharma (18%) noticed a dip in the representation of women in leadership roles when compared to the previous edition when they stood at 18% and 22% respectively.
Emphasising the need for inclusive leadership and a history of DEI journey, Saundarya said that 95% of companies had built their KPIs/KRAs on diversity, equity and inclusion for their people managers across levels.
Support offered by companies for the mental well-being of employees topped the charts on novel initiatives amongst the 2021-100 Best Companies.
The findings reveal that with the objective of creating a gender-diverse leadership pipeline, 88% of the Best Companies offer executive coaching programmes as compared to 81% in 2020; 100% provide professional development programmes, up from 98% in 2020; 75% of them advocate and promote a culture of male allyship, up from 73% in 2020.
The maternity retention rate amongst women employees have also been steadily increasing in the 100 Best companies, which is at 96% in 2021 from 91% in 2020.
Responding to a question on what will help more Indian companies to get to the top 100, Saundarya said the government had to offer some kind of incentive for those in the MSME space; and top leaders should be role models for others to emulate.
The 2021 Top 10 Best Companies listed in the alphabetical order include: Accenture Solutions Pvt Ltd, Citi India, Deloitte in India, Deutsche Bank Group, EY, Genpact India Pvt. Ltd., IBM India Private Limited, Infosys Limited, Mastercard Incorporated and ZS Associates India Pvt. Ltd.
The 2021 Most Inclusive Companies Index, for which had 174 companies applied, showcasing their inclusion efforts related to gender, culture, people with disabilities and LGBTQ community, has the following companies: Accenture Solutions Private Ltd., Citi India, Cushman & Wakefield India Pvt. Ltd., Deloitte in India, EY, IBM India Pvt Ltd, Mastercard Incorporated, Pegasystems Worldwide India Pvt. Ltd, Target Corporation India Pvt Ltd and Tech Mahindra.
A total of 334 companies covering major industries were amongst the applicants for BCWI.
For more information, visit: https://avtarinc.com/what-we-do/enrich-diversity/best-companies-for-women
