THE MOST POWERFUL WOMEN LEAD ESSAY - India Inc.'s Diversity Agenda

AS WORK FROM HOME AND EVEN WORK FROM ANYWHERE IS BECOMING THE NORM, COMPANIES ARE GOING ALL OUT TO BECOME MORE DIVERSE

- AJITA SHASHIDHAR

In August this year, Axis Bank launched a new hiring initiative, Gig-A-Opportunities, under which it offered full-time job seekers a hybrid workplace. Employees can largely work from home and will have to come to office twice a week. Gig-A-Opportunities does not cover consumer-facing roles but has openings in mainstream functions such as audit, compliance, marketing and human resources.

Given the job losses over the past few months due to the pandemic, it’s not surprising that it got 30,000 applications in a week. Interestingly, 46 per cent applicants were women who have taken a career break. “The hybrid workplace model encouraged women to get back to professional life. We have got applications from women who were in corporate roles and had to quit because of motherhood. The initiative is helping us accelerate our diversity agenda,” says Rajkamal Vempati, Chief Human Resources Officer, Axis Bank.

The bank also has an initiative, Gigas, offering short-term assignments. The oldest applicant is a 60-year-old woman. “She told us that after retirement, she has been pursuing art for her soul and now needs a job to soothe her mind,” says Vempati.