Firms need to drive the eradication of unconscious bias at the workplace

1. Firms Need to Drive the
Eradication of Unconscious Bias
at the Workplace
Organisations need to ensure women do not lose the authenticity of their
voice, that it is validated and they learn how to present their ideas again if they
are not heard, says Ana Duarte McCarthy, chief diversity officer, Citi. On her
first visit to India in conjunction with Diversity Week, a global programme at
the financial group that brings in awareness among employees, McCarthy
spoke to Rica Bhattacharyya on how companies could leverage diversity.

2. The number of women in senior
management roles is limited.
What are the challenges?
Women aren't necessarily leaving the organisation, but they sometimes
do not want to put up their hand since they are making it work at a
specific level. Research shows they are not opting out of the workplace,
but are opting out of corporations to work somewhere that feels
different to them because of not having sponsorship.
Through the leadership programme, we identify high-potential women
and give them a set of experiences, coaches and buddies so they see
they can be successful at higher levels. We have started to focus on
creating sponsorship for high-potential women employees and are
reviewing how it works. So, there are the `not putting the hand up' and
`not pulling up' phenomena.

3. Do you think women's voices are heard on
the company's board?
When you become a board member, you come in with responsibilities
and a set of experiences and at c that level, individuals are fairly
successful in what they have done. But yes, one of the things in the s
workplace is to ensure women do not lose the authenticity of their
voice, that it is validated and i they learn how to present their ideas
again, if t they are not heard.

4. What more can corporations do to facilitate
women?
We need to communicate all the time.
What we hear in research is what women
do not do well and yet t they have so
many strengths. Communicating that c we
see their strengths as high-potential talent
and that the company wants to support
them and has polticies and practices in
place, does help. Also, if an organisation
has a certain set of values around
inclusion, it is important to reiterate them.

5. What are the top things you would like to
see changing?
One is that people continue to understand and eradicate unconscious
bias. Getting people to change their mindset is very tricky.
Preconceived notions are validated at home and school, then in the
workplace you are expected to change this mindset because it does not
build equity and fairness.
Also, as corporate global citizens we have an opportunity to help drive
change. That is important because the experiences of a company in one
country may be different in another just because of the culture or
legislation.

6. For details and bookings contact:-
Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother )
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India Postal Code-110015