WIDENING DIVERSITY

As job description and roles across sectors transform based on digital goals of companies, diversity and inclusion have become more holistic

- RUKMINI RAO

Last November, e-commerce giant Flipkart launched ‘FlipMarch’, an initiative to recruit ex-Army personnel across its workforce. Long before, around three years ago, Infosys had announced partnerships with Trinity College and Rhode Island School of Design to create new educational programmes to prepare liberal arts students for digital workplaces. Much of PhonePe’s 1600-plus offline sales team currently consists of talent from Tier-II and III towns, hired because they knew that market well. ‘Abilities Unleashed’, Accenture’s initiative driven accessibility council, on the other hand, helps people within the organisation with disabilities to build leadership skills. Amazon’s ATLAS, helps employees move to tech roles through learning programmes and internships in tech teams.

These instances not just reflect the changing face of the workforce, but also how conversations around diversity and inclusion are taking shape and form. Till recently, having a diverse workforce generally meant hiring women. That is no longer considered a benchmark. Today, companies are looking to address a number of factors as part of their diversity and inclusion ethos, including sexual orientation, mental and physical abilities, language, location (rural and urban), socio-economic status and appearance. Nurturing diversity is no more just a legal or moral imperative, it is critical for companies' success in the ‘new normal’ and for a favourable economic shift in the long term.