Women leaders are more flexible and empowering’

Women leaders are more flexible and empowering’

Bhuvaneshwar Naik, VP-HR, SAP India talks to TimesJobs.com on what makes SAP India the ‘Best Organisation in Women Development’ and the best place to work… 

Women constitute a sizable 33 per cent of the workforce at SAP Labs India. What are the initiatives you have taken to empower women employees?

Women in leadership positions at SAP Labs India have grown significantly from 15 per cent to 20 per cent in the last one year. At SAP, we lay a strong emphasis on nurturing early talent, inspiring young women employees to build their careers and also invest in specific confidence building measures and skills. We have an outreach program for all women who have exited the company since 2011 to help understand reasons for exit and to see if we can provide opportunities for them to return. We also launched a pilot ‘Stay in Touch & Maternity Return’ program aimed at minimising post maternity exits.

Your company has been awarded the ‘Best Organisation in Women Development’. What did you do right to win this award?

CMO Asia’s recognition validates our commitment to empowerment of SAP’s women employees. SAP has several initiatives to help women employees in their career and personal life. These include:

Experiential learning – an initiative where eminent women speakers from all walks of life address women employees
Mentorship for Women in Leadership – a platform for women in the mid-management level to connect with successful leaders of the organisation
Business Women’s Network – for building relationships and career development support
SAPlings – an on-premise child care center.

What are the biggest advantages of having women employees in the system? Why ‘gender inclusivity’ is important especially in case of IT/IT Software companies?

Women are epitomes of risk taking. An excellent example is their journey to motherhood, which in itself is an expedition to embrace the unknown and emerge victorious. It is the mother who nurtures, inculcates values, listens and learns through her failures. She knows when to discipline, when to be a friend, when to hold hands, when to allow her child to fall and grow. She builds her network of support, celebrates the success of her children and teaches them to learn from failures. In summary, a mother has all the qualities of a leader – teaching, problem solving, mentoring and the ability to multi-task. Therefore, in an organisational structure a woman leader displays more empathy towards her team, is willing to take calculated risks and is more open to learning from failures. Women leaders are known to provide more flexibility and empowerment to their teams. The emphasis on collaboration and people development is a key strength for female leadership.

How do you help your women employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance?

It is an open secret that engaged and motivated employees are the most productive. Employees will be motivated if they believe that an organisation truly cares for them and that is possible when policies are employee-friendly. The policies should help employees in doing their job better and increase their longevity in the organisation.

Some benefits:

• Sabbatical policy – We rolled out a sabbatical policy, which allows any employee who has completed five years of service to take a two years’ break and come back to work – female employees can take this option if they want to take a break due to motherhood.
• Flexi-time – We also allow employees to work part-time. Employees can work for 50, 60 or 80 per cent time. For example, an employee can choose to work for just four hours a day for all five days of the week or for eight hours for just three days in a week, etc. They will be paid according to the option they choose. Female employees who take maternity leave can choose this option till they feel comfortable to get back to office.
• Maternity Transport – We provide cab services to women employees for their home-office commute during the final stage of their pregnancy.
• SAP Child care center – SAPlings, an employee driven initiative, is an on-premise child care center that caters to children in the age group of 9 months to 12 years that benefits working mothers who might have intended to discontinue their careers in order to take care of their children.

You Need any soft-skills Training with placement just contact us Contact number : 8904762432. Website: www.moxiestars.com. Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/moxiestarssolutions. LinkedIn : Moxiestars. Email: info@moxiestrars.com.

Hi guys If u like this post please leave a comment in comment box... comment box will top right of every post and bottom of every post. its useful for me give a better information.. check top of the blog there is menu bar in that go to comments i replied for u r comments because there is no direct option for reply for u r comments. if u want to give any suggestion in bottom of blog there is contact information option please leave a msgs with u r mail id sure i will get u.