The conversation about diversity and inclusion has grown louder over the years. The business case for diversity is now firmly established and we see many organizations creating lengthy policies to achieve the same.
enreap is a forward-thinking organization with diversity at the heart of our culture. However, diversity, for us, is not a condition that we try to impose but is the way we operate from our inception. It is not a number game where we look at getting the right diverse numbers or creating team compositions with the perfect diversity ratio.
Diversity for us has been to create an equal-opportunity work environment where every individual has the opportunity to create a thriving life. We have seen how adding more women to our teams have helped us create more diversity of ideas and thoughts.
With approximately a 30% women workforce, today, we know the value that diverse ideas, thoughts, and approaches bring to the table. However, you won’t find us publishing policy documents on diversity. This is because we believe that more than policies it is the intention that makes diversity work.
Intent without action, however, is of no use. So, here’s a look at how we work and champion diversity in the workplace.
Hiring for success
We have never been focused on homogeneity. And we recognize that diversity not only impacts retention but also impacts hiring as well. In today’s market, you are less likely to attract and retain top talent in a completely homogeneous environment.
As an organization, we are driven to expand our talent pool and get the best minds working with us. We identify that a diverse team gives us access to a wider talent pool which means greater selection.
As such, our robust recruitment process is focused on qualifications and skills and hiring people who are culturally aligned with us – this includes having an open mindset, being empathetic towards the challenges of others, being helpful, and being a team player.
Support for Success
There are enough examples where enterprises hire to meet their diversity numbers, but what’s also important is to make sure that these hires get the right support to succeed and thrive in the workplace. Delivering support is the second most crucial thing needed to support diversity initiatives.
At enreap, we have robust training and mentorship processes to comprehensively support our workforce. Irrespective of who needs it, we make sure that our employees get the tools they need to thrive, do well in their job roles, and move ahead in their professional careers.
From internal job postings, or access to external training or learning programs or mentoring from our organizational leaders – we deliver enablement to our employees when they need it most. Our objective is to help our employees feel successful every day. For that, instead of solely relying on policies, we ensure that the everyday actions of our organization, our leaders, managers, and teammates are focused on being supportive, enabling, and empathetic.
Creating opportunities for success
enreap is an equal opportunities employer and we align all our intentions towards creating a workplace that reflects the same. This, however, involves taking into account the unique challenges of a diverse workforce and then delivering help while creating opportunities for success for the right people.
One of our women employees, for example, showed exemplary promise in her job role in sales. She was soon given more responsibilities to fast-track her career. Leadership support along with manager mentoring allowed her to take on these new responsibilities, fulfill them with confidence, and deliver better outcomes. This individual, for example, was given everyday help and guidance from her manager and was enrolled in our Emerging Leadership Program. She was then given a small team and the list of complex and larger responsibilities expanded incrementally as her confidence and skill level increased.
Read: Your Professional (And Personal) Growth at enreap
Integration to Balance it All
Diversity also thrives when we create a workplace that allows people to balance their professional and personal lives. This means that organizations have to truly empathize with the challenges of the people they hire and allow them to manage their work and personal lives – minus the guilt.
Read: Why We Don’t Talk About Work-Life Balance at enreap
We realize that today’s world needs more ‘integration’ than ‘balance.’ This is mainly because the term ‘balance’ suggests that work and life are opposing goals. But they are not. However, to integrate work and life successfully so that none of the two suffer takes intentional effort and cultivating a deep empathy with others.
Hence, we ensure that our leaders, managers, and teams are sensitive to the needs of others around them and are deeply aware of their belief systems.
Our leadership is deeply aware of the inequities present in our society that make success harder for some, despite their skills or knowledge. As such, we endeavor to be mindful of our everyday actions and ensure that our diverse intent is reflected in them.
Over the years we have realized the intrinsic value of having a diverse workforce. We have seen our women employees deliver exceptional performance with just a little support from our end. We truly believe that organizations are complex ecosystems and that there is no ‘silver bullet’ to get diversity right. However, we have seen that while intent without a policy can help diversity thrive, having a diversity policy without being intentionally invested in it, can’t.
We have seen our diversity component expanding and are happy to say that we want to add more seats to our table for women and people from diverse backgrounds in leadership and strategic roles. So, if you are looking to grow and thrive in a professional environment, let’s talk.
