Our last blog post on DEI highlighted that India ranks 129th among the 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2024. We also discussed that gender is not the only criterion — there are numerous other standards to gauge diversity in a workplace. We also discussed why diversity is important for a business, and how HR leaders can improve it in their organizations. If you haven’t read it yet, you can check it out here: Understanding Diversity at workplace and its Importance for the business.
Diversity in Corporate India takes on a unique character due to the country’s rich cultural heritage and socio-economic landscape. This blog post will discuss five diversity goals for Indian HR leaders and their relevance in the Indian workplace.
Gender Diversity
Gender diversity in a workplace showcases how much the organization is inclined toward providing an equitable and fair representation of people from different genders.
As a country, India recognizes male, female, and non-binary genders. In 2014, the Supreme Court provided legal recognition to the “Third Gender”, and suggested the states to provide educational and employment reservations to the people in this category.
Leading organizations in India are committing to promoting gender diversity in their workplace. For instance, Accenture is trying to build a 50:50 workforce and a stronger representation of women in leadership. Women currently represent 45% of its workforce in India.
Organizations that emphasize on gender diversity:
- Provide a safe working environment to people of all genders.
- Ensure that equal opportunities are provided to the employees, irrespective of their gender.
- Promote a balance of all genders in the workforce.
- Establish affirmative action measures to increase the presence of marginalized gender groups.
People with Disabilities
In India, the workforce participation rate for persons with disabilities is about 36%, significantly lower than the 60% for those without disabilities. The disparity widens when considering gender: 47% of men with disabilities are employed, compared to just 23% of women with disabilities.
India’s Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, requires establishments, including private sector companies, to avoid discrimination against persons with disabilities. While there has been some progress — only 50% of Indian corporates are reportedly implementing inclusion policies.
The lack of proper accessibility, attitudinal barriers, and a limited pool of candidates with the right qualifications, are some of the major challenges in increasing the number of PwDs in the workforce. Making the workplace more accessible to PwDs is the key to success.
Age Diversity
Age diversity in the workplace refers to the inclusion of employees from a wide range of age groups, from early-career professionals to seasoned veterans. It emphasizes leveraging the unique strengths of each generation—such as the experience and mentorship of older employees and the fresh perspectives and tech-savviness of younger ones—to create a more dynamic and innovative work environment.
Age diversity has its benefits, but maintaining it without friction can be challenging for CHROs. For instance, a report by Michael Page reveals that 40% of employees who experience workplace discrimination identify age as the primary factor behind it. This is also the reason why preventing age discrimination is one of the top 10 DEI priorities in Indian workplaces.
The age demography of India is changing rapidly. It’ll soon be one of the youngest major economies in the world with the median age ranging from 28 to 38 years between 2025 to 2050. The workforce will largely consist of Gen-Z. In such a dynamic environment, CHROs in India need to build a culture that accommodates the values of employees from every generation.
Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity at the workplace refers to the inclusion and collaboration of employees from various cultural, ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds. It involves creating an environment where people with different traditions, beliefs, and perspectives feel valued and respected. A culturally diverse workplace promotes inclusivity, strengthens teamwork, and helps organizations connect with a broader customer base
Given our country’s pluralistic nature, workplaces in India often bring together individuals who differ in traditions, festivals, dietary preferences, and communication styles. This diversity enriches the work environment.
Culturally inclusive recruitment practices, offering flexible holiday leaves for different religious observations, creating employee resource groups, mitigating unconscious bias, conducting DEI training sessions, etc are some of the ways to promote cultural diversity at your workplace.
Linguistic Diversity
India is a land of languages. It has the second-highest number of languages in the world (780), and the number of official languages stands at 23. It is common for companies to have employees with different native languages like Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Bodo, etc. Employees overcome the language barrier by communicating in a common language — English in most cases.
Employing people from different linguistic backgrounds is advantageous because multilingual employees are better equipped to work with clients and stakeholders from varying backgrounds. However, organizations should ensure that proficiency in the common language is not seen as a yardstick for performance. Often, employees who speak confidently and fluently are seen as high performers whereas people with lower proficiency are mistaken for a lack of technical and professional ability.
At the same, it is important to prevent the imposition of a single language on everyone. Forcing people to use a single language is disrespectful to their culture and background.
What’s Next
HR leaders can choose any or all of the above goals to make their workplace more diverse and inclusive. However, it is important to keep the Indian social and demographic landscape in mind to create effective DEI policies. This country is already very diverse in terms of culture, linguistics, and the age of its workforce.