INDIA – Nestlé India, a leading food manufacturer known for its Maggi noodles and Nescafe coffee brand, is increasing the number of its women employees as part of its gender diversity efforts.
According to company Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan, around 23 per cent of Nestle India’s workforce are women, a major improvement from only 16% in 2015.
“That is not the end, we would like to do much better than this. And in fact last year in 2020, 42 per cent of all the recruitment that we did within the company were women candidates and it is a trend that is continuing this year as well,” Narayanan said.
Nestle India, which currently operates eight plants in the country and will soon commission the ninth, employs over 7,700 people.
The new plant is thus an opportunity for Nestlé to double down on its women employment initiative, and from the look of things, it plans to do just that.
“One of the epitomes of diversity for the company would be getting commissioned in the next few weeks. Our factory in Sanand is almost near completion. 62 per cent of the Sanand factory workforce would be women,” Narayanan said.
Inclusivity and Diversity take center stage at Grofers
As Nestlé doubles down on women employment, Online grocery ordering platform Grofers is taking a more proactive approach to managing its workforce.
In a statement, the company revealed that it is taking multiple steps towards building a more “inclusive and diverse” organization.
This includes offering an endowment of Rs 50,000 (US$679) per child for new parents and up to 10 days of period leave in a year.
The company also plans to allocate ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans) to employees, so that they can share in the wealth and value they create for the organization.
Grofers co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa said the company is “ashamed to admit that only 16 per cent” of its workforce is women.
He however noted that the company was working on its policies to give women and other underrepresented groups the best chance to thrive.
Women and transgender employees at Grofers can, for instance, avail up to 10 days of period leave in a year, Dhindsa revealed.
“We offer 26 weeks of paid maternity leave and two weeks of paid paternity leaves to parents of newborns, including in cases of surrogacy and adoption, and for non-birthing same-sex partners,” The Grofers CEO added.
Dhindsa concluded by saying that the company “still has a long way to go” but it has taken some steps towards building a “more supportive, inclusive and diverse organisation”.
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