With current unprecedented developments in the business & corporate world, the global economy is entering a new league of diversity fostered by innovation and technological advancement. Across industries, organizations impeding all differences, have significantly stressed on improving the bottom line, and healthcare industry seems to be the prepotent one. Making a clarion call on diversity and inclusion, the industry has been found stealing on the march through the contribution and addition of more women healthcare leaders & workers. Smit.fit- people's digital health companion is one such rising company that has been adding to the statistics by becoming an august gender-egalitarian healthcare organization.

Promoting gender diversity and inclusive culture- not only as a moral obligation but also as a business peremptory, Smit.fit strives to be an employer that provides a safe, enjoyable, and encouraging work environment to all, especially women. Implementing thoughtful policies in this regard, it also endeavours to present progressive career development opportunities to its employees.

Rinku Basu, Head of Business Operations & HR, Smit.fit, has shared some insights regarding the company's forte, work culture, and many more aspects in her interview with the Women Entrepreneur Team. Kindly pursue the excerpts below:

Give us a brief overview of Smit.Fit highlighting on the major facets about the company's work environment?

Smit.fit is a holistic healthcare platform catering to the wellness needs of people via a convenient app. Incorporated in 2020 by Sujit Chakrabarty, the organization helps users achieve their health goals with reference to chronic lifestyle disorders (like diabetes, hypertension, etc.) or general health & wellness. Combining the best of technology with human touch & care of our health expert team we help users move from a constrained life to a fuller one.

As an organisation, Smit.fit stands out because of its non-hierarchical work system. There is always room for new ideas and these can come from anyone. We review each idea or question with equal respect, curiosity, and credit. Smit.fit also espouses extending the same respect & empathy to its employees that it delivers to its clientele. This creates an approachable environment that fosters collaboration & synergy between colleagues and help in building a healthy team. The leadership team is just as keen to learn new things from younger employees as the latter are from the seniors.

Take us through the various areas of specialisation that Smit.Fit is known for? How has the organisation's growth been since its inception?

Smit.fit is a young company that was founded last year during the pandemic times. However, with people joining the team from different backgrounds, we've already reached over 4000 customers with our holistic, human-centered approach. We are working on our solution & technology every day, and have some exciting partnerships lined up too.

The organization specializes in diabetes management but also caters to the needs of people with work stress, obesity, mental health hiccups, hypertension, and other chronic conditions. Smit.fit supports users via a team of health coaches, doctors, nutritionists, and psychologists who specialize in varied domains of their fields. A strong tech team works around the clock on app functionality to ensure that the user experience is always seamless. The current clientele includes 2000+ retail users and two large corporate companies. Smit.fit health experts extend the sense that “You're not just another number." While working with customers, our empathy means more than just fitness goals; we want our customers' lives to be transformed.

Our most popular offering, yet is the `Health Discovery Program' in association with Abbott. It is an intensive glucose monitoring experience with guidance from experts and uses continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices to obtain detailed sugar patterns; using which we craft a personalized and sustainable care plan to counter-control the health issues.

Tell us about the total work force part of the Smit.Fit team. How diverse and inclusive is the team? What is the gender ratio maintained within the organisation currently?

Our workforce is about 60 percent women. We are determined to keep it going forward as we increase in size. This is not just about having women in the customer-facing, HR or communication roles, as the norms are changing. We have a good deal of diversity across all functions. The right mix of genders has helped us greatly in building our tech & offerings. We enjoy a variety of perspectives in any discussion or problem-solving meeting.

“While working with customers- our empathy means more than just fitness goals; we want our customers' lives transformed”

In your opinion how does having a diverse, inclusive and gender balanced workforce impact the organization? What steps does Smit.Fit take to empower its women employees?

A diverse workplace promotes creativity. A sense of mutual respect among employees is fostered when they all have different perspectives to bring into discussions. Thereby, at Smit.fit we imply a multidisciplinary approach at the heart of our praxis and perspective towards healthcare, and achieve it through the contributions of a team that comes from varied academic, professional, and personal backgrounds. This kind of environment leads to happier staff and an improved company as a whole.

Smit.fit is a workplace that prioritizes women's safety & growth. Though we work remotely, Smit.fit has a unique & organic way of empowering women. It's the environment that has been fostered since the beginning. So if you really ask me, we don't have to do anything about it on an everyday basis. We have policies to ensure that women are safe on the job and have an enjoyable experience at work every day. We have several women who have taken up cross-functional roles within the company, coming from professional backgrounds that may not match their current roles, conventionally. We open up that space for them to experiment with their current skills & build new ones, to learn about subjects their experimentation requires, and cultivate their professional praxis in a way that benefits them and also helps the company grow. As an organization, we enjoy a distinct space in the market because of our health coaching & empathy towards customers. Without having a gender bar at the stage of hiring, by default all our health coaches are females.

What is your vision for Smit.Fit's growth journey going forward? Is the organization looking to implement any new strategies or policies to strengthen its female workforce?

Our purpose is to transform constrained lives into fuller ones. We will achieve this by dispensing our holistic solution at greater momentum, acquiring the right talent, forging suitable partnerships, improving and upgrading our services regularly, and delivering clear health impact to our users.

We will strengthen our female workforce by implementing new strategies to promote the growth of women in business.

Rinku Basu, Head Of Business Operations & HR

An Alumnus of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune, and INSEAD, Fontainebleau & Singapore, she is a global business leader beholding a cross-functional experience of 20 years in leading several functions like HR, Organisation Development, Business Operations, P&L, Finance, Enterprise Applications, IT, Procurement, Infrastructure, and more.