Geetha Ramamoorthi is an accomplished leader in the fields of business growth, leadership, digital transformation, and sustainability. A champion for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, she is also a member of the National Non-Executive Think Tank for BIM and Digital Twin, with notable certifications from MIT Sloan, UCL, and Imperial College Business School.
In a recent interaction with Women Entrepreneurs Review, Geetha shares her insights on the future of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) and women empowerment, exploring workforce trends, strategies for fostering leadership in tech, leveraging technology for diversity, empowering persons with disabilities, and innovative metrics to measure long-term impact and empowerment beyond representation.
Given the rapid shifts in the global business landscape, especially with AI and automation impacting traditional roles, how do you see D&I and women empowerment evolving in the next five years?
Organizations are transforming as they adopt AI and digital technologies to succeed in a rapidly digitalizing era. This can open the doors for more opportunities for women to upskill themselves in new technologies and get ready for more job opportunities. The use of AI to reduce gender bias in hiring and enable easy access to training through virtual modes are some of the positive aspects one can expect from this shift. At the same time, leaders must consciously prioritize training women in AI, GenAI, and other emerging technologies so they are equipped to take up new roles as and when they arise. By doing this, we can expect to see more women in the workplace, resulting in improved business performance and help accelerate innovation.
How can D&I strategies be leveraged to ensure women not only thrive but lead in tech and innovation spaces? How do you envision a future where technology amplifies rather than hinders diversity?
Digital technology can be leveraged to increase women’s representation in the workplace and as a tool for their progress.
- Offering flexible remote work options through digital technology can help companies attract talented women.
- Organizations have a valuable opportunity to enhance the skills of junior and mid-level employees by implementing online training courses that focus on both technical and non-technical areas. Additionally, providing online executive education for experienced women can effectively prepare them for senior leadership roles, fostering a more diverse and capable management team.
- We live in a data-driven world where biases shape our data. To achieve gender parity, training data for machine learning must be free from prejudices against women. Companies must actively eliminate these biases to ensure that future AI solutions are ethical and equitable, fostering a more just society.
What strategy can leaders adopt to foster a culture of inclusion to empower persons with disabilities (PWDs) to join the workforce and thrive in their careers?
Including PWDs in the workforce calls for a multi-pronged approach.
- First, organizations must review and identify roles that can be handled by PWDs, whether this has to do with speech, hearing, eyesight impairment, or other forms of disabilities.
- Secondly, sensitizing the workforce to the challenges and biases that PWDs face in their lives and workplaces is essential to make sure that organizations make workplaces welcoming and truly inclusive.
- Thirdly, the on boarding process which includes medical fitness certification needs a complete overhaul to curb discrimination against PWDs andgive them access to employment opportunities.
- Lastly, make reasonable accommodations, viz; incorporating elements that facilitate inclusion in the office infrastructure such as ramps, wheelchair access, height-adjustable chairs, screen readers, etc will make the integration more seamless.
How can leaders ensure their companies move beyond symbolic gestures and foster a true cultural shift towards gender equity and empowerment in the workplace?
Fostering Allyship at the workplace is a wonderful way to promote DEI. Allyship is the practice of supporting and advocating for underrepresented colleagues. It's a commitment to creating an inclusive and equitable work environment. There are a few things companies can do to propagate allyship;
- Listen and empathize with colleagues who face discrimination or feel suppressed
- Take action when there are incidents related to discrimination based on gender, age, educational background, appearance, region or community.
- Use inclusive language in conversations and operational procedures such as gender-neutral language
- Influence peer groups to provide equitable opportunities for career advancement and promotion to underrepresented / marginalized groups
- Seek feedback for their efforts and try to continuously improve.
How should companies measure the real impact of DEI programs beyond representation? Are there specific, innovative metrics or practices that could help assess long-term change and empowerment for women?
As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets done”. In addition to pushing for greater women’s representation, I would recommend the following metrics be tracked in core operations:(ie business/ operations)
- Percentage of female promotions to senior management
- Percentage of women leading large projects
- Percentage of women in the succession plan for Regional, Business, Country, Department and Functional Heads
- predictive analytics to forecast attrition of women– where the findings can be leveraged to drive proactive interventions to stem the attrition
Some of the best practices include –
- Setting up Employee Resource Groups = (ERGs) focused on women’s development – These ERGs provide a platform for women to come together, share notes, learn from each other, coach and counsel and promote a sense of sisterhood. The impact of these ERGs has been significant in building self-confidence in women and can pave the way for more women to develop as leaders.
- Having a well-structured mentoring program for women – Considering there are relatively fewer role models for women to look up to in certain industries, external stimuli such as mentoring and coaching will serve as catalysts for their development and give them a sense of direction as they look for steer and support.
- Welcoming women with career breaks and having segue programs to get them up to speed rapidly – typically women tend to have career breaks with marriage and maternity, and they struggle to reenter the workforce after a break. Stereotyping and biases inhibit their growth and opportunities. It is here that organizations must lean in and open the doors to returnees. They must roll out programs that enable quick integration of returning women into the business and help them segue to the next level seamlessly.
- Provide opportunities for women employees to participate in external forums – External forums on business, industry, women empowerment, leadership, Technology, AI and the like bring corporates, SMEs and leaders under one roof; by including women in those forums you will not only provide them exposure to critical areas for business success but also give them access to learning opportunities
- Continue to train the workforce on unconscious biases and foster allyship – The road to gender equity is long and arduous; while its not all gloom and doom, we are still far away from complete equity and inclusion. Biases are blockers to women’s success; lets continue to sensitize our teams and build more allies for women to succeed
- Tackling it at a grassroots level to motivate more girls to pursue higher education and sponsor their professional courses. – Societal conditioning and biases are deep-rooted and can’t be removed overnight; businesses have to work with governments and non-government organizations to embark on an engagement drive with parents of girl children to demystify their assumptions, allay their fears, and encourage them to support their children’s higher education and employment/ entrepreneurship. Sponsoring the education of girls and young women as part of CSR is also a great way to directly contribute towards the empowerment and upliftment of women.
