By Ms. Gagan
Singh, JLL
There has been a growing buzz about promoting
diversity, in particular gender diversity, in the corporate world and in the
media, over the last 3 to 4 years. Companies are sharing their best practices,
and even new start-ups are taking big steps in formulating policies designed to
attract diverse talent to join them.
At the same time, governance in the corporate world
is getting increasing focus and importance.
The laws are being tightened, and the enforcement
of compliance has also improved. This is obviously a good thing.
For diversity to grow, a strong ethics
program is an absolute must. Women need safe working environments, but the need
for ethics everywhere is much larger than just for
taking care of gender diversity.
Minorities & differently-abled people also need
working environments where they are not harassed and treated badly.
It is imperative that organisations go beyond an
attractive ethics policy on paper.
They must be seen to be actually implementing it;
transparently, and with a zero-tolerance approach to violations, especially
when it comes to the women workforce.
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| Ms. Gagan Singh, JLL |
This is easier said than done for many reasons:
·
Women - and in fact members of any minority group - are usually hesitant
to speak up because of possible repercussions. Though this should in no way
reflect the ground realities of their position, they are often so grateful to
have a job that they do not want to upset the apple cart, attract attention to
themselves and risk being misunderstood, blamed in any way risk losing their
jobs.
·
With high attrition rates and growth, a large part of the work force is
sometimes not even aware of their company’s ethics policy, and doubt that they
will actually be heard if they speak up.
·
Often, women employees caught in unacceptable situations at work tend to
think that this how things work, and that they probably need to ‘adjust’ and
‘accept’.
If a company is indeed committed to diversity and
ethics, the following steps will definitely go a long way in delivering
results:
1. The Ethics & Diversity policies should be transparently and visibly
supported and demonstrated from the top downward. The leadership has to
demonstrate a ‘bought-in’ attitude, and complete commitment to the policies.
2. The ethics policy must be constantly communicated in all possible
contexts, so that employees are aware of exactly
what their rights are.
3. During the induction of fresh employees, a full session on ethics by a
senior leader or the ethics officer demonstrates seriousness up front.
4. A calendar of ethics trainings and town-hall sessions across offices are
a must.
5. The most impactful communication of seriousness is achieved if the CEO
includes a slide on ethics while conducting town-hall meetings in the company
offices.
6. Several channels for communicating ethics cases must be in operation at
all times. An ethics officer, HR, specially appointed counsellors and guides
for women employees, a hotline and an email address to send ethics cases to are
some examples.
7. The company’s ethics officer must be given the responsibility of
treating all ethics cases with utmost seriousness. No complaint should be put
aside as frivolous or just a grievance without at least some amount of
investigation
8. A tracker of all cases giving details from the date of receipt from the
complaint to the process of investigation, the result and action taken/closure
of the case must be maintained
9. Strict compliance with cases where the treatment is stipulated by law is
also essential.
10. It is very important that justice
should be seen to have been done without discrimination
11. Protecting an honest
victim/complainant is absolutely critical for employees to raise issues without
fear
12. False and vindictive complaints
should also be handled strongly, and such complainants should not be seen to be
let off easily.
As already mentioned, a strong and effective ethics
policy that goes beyond the paper it is written on is not an easy mandate.
Especially in a country like India, women employees tend not to trust an ethics
policy, and are not convinced that it protects them or represents their
interests. In fact, a company can only demonstrate its dedication to its ethics
policy with a lot of hard work – namely by
acting on it. However, the payoff for such an approach is profound and
unequivocal.
A company with a reputation for taking ethics
seriously attracts the very best of employees, experiences low attrition and is
able to build a wholesomely diverse workforce much more efficiently than others.
The effect that a workforce which is confident of its rights and the company’s
leadership and management has on business is already a well-researched and
documented subject. In other words, a strong and visibly enforced ethics policy
is a company’s ultimate business tool, and also insurance for future-readiness
in a world which is rapidly moving towards higher and more
equal workplace standards.
About the
author..
Ms. Gagan Singh is CEO (Business, India &
Chairperson Sri Lanka Operations) JLL
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