The representation of women in the workforce is poor in every sector of every country, and India’s facility management sector is no exception. At the corporate level, institutional resistance to women in leadership positions has been a longstanding issue. At the blue-collar level, apprehensions about workplace safety and working hours continue to plague female recruitment. In both brackets, concurrent family responsibilities, absence of scope for career growth, lack of flexibility and other obstacles come in the way of women seeking jobs in FM, and organisations managing to retain them for an extended period
of time.
Every responsible FM company has identified these problems, and has formulated gender equality and workplace safety policies that percolate down to ground-level employees. Concrete, practical measures have also been put in place to earn the tag of ‘India’s Best Place to Work for Women’, not just in name but also in practice.
What are these policies and what makes them work? How well are women represented in FM today, and what targets do organisations have to improve their gender ratio at all levels? How do companies support female employees both internally and at a client’s facility? From the hiring process to the exit interview, how do they ensure that an employee’s journey is gender-agnostic?
Five women leaders from five leading service providers organisations have all the answers.
1) Reverse trend: Clients are demanding workforce diversity
2) More women will be placed in technical roles
3) Some FM clients actually request a female workforce