thoughts

Friday, June 24, 2016

Gender Parity



Economists usually do not pay much attention to gender. A new official White House report shows that men have been dropping out of the US labour force at an alarming rate. This is particularly true of those with few skills. The most likely reason is vanishing factory jobs. It’s quite likely that the change in gender composition of the US labour force will eventually alter the balance of power between men and women there. 

India has the opposite problem. Too few women are part of the formal labour force. Millions of Indian women have actually exited the Indian labour force since the turn of the century. The most likely reason in this case is that higher family incomes are pushing women back into their homes. The one big exception to this rule could be agriculture. It has seen a gradual process of feminization. 

India needs more women in the formal workforce—not just for the economic benefits but also for financial independence. 

Source: Mint 22nd June,2016


Stock market and Leadership



Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging markets and chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, wrote in his latest book, The Rise and Fall of Nations.

Q: Leaders begin on a promising note but do not do well later...
A: That circle of life is very applicable not only to the emerging world, but also to the developed world. You look at Margaret Thatcher or even Angela Merkel today.
I say in the book that the (Vladimir) Putin I met in 2003 for the first time was very different from the Putin of 2010. Same thing with (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan. The most fascinating piece of research that I found in that thing that we did was that when a new leader is elected, 90% of the time, the stock market does really well in the first couple of years and if that same leader does well in the first term is reelected, the stock market does not outperform in the second term. Even if he or she does good work in the first term, by the second term and especially by the third term, they all become jaded, authoritarian, or just arrogant. 


Source: http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31815&articlexml=If-Fed-Increases-Rates-China-Will-be-the-22062016011044

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Women Executive Board….Zensar Technologies



Zensar Technologies is looking to double the proportion of women in middle management and above to 50% in 4 years.

The company’s women executive Board (WEB) is focused on identifying and raising women leaders from within existing associates.

The WEB derives organizational initiative for attracting diverse women talents and nurturing their growth at every step of their respective career. Zensar is in the process of identifying:
……200-300 female executives/potential leaders in the company;
……Mentoring these women;
…..Designing an in-house learning and development program  for networing, business leadership.

At Zensar, women make 50% of the staff at the entry level now the company plans to increase it to 60%.

In the middle management women account for 29% of the work force, which Zensar plans to increase to 50% by 2020. The company has 13% women at Vice-President level and 10% at the top management level.

Zensar offers paid maternity leave of 3 months with an option of extending it by up to another 12 months under a time of scheme without pay.

It offers in-house managed daycare centre for workers with children in the age group from 4 months to 10 years.

It partners with audit firms to do a gender audit to assess the existing growth opportunities of women, pay parity and identify the blind spots.

Prameela kaliva, Executive VP., Zensar Technologies says: “Our gender diversity strategy aims to deliver balanced leadership through balanced gender distribution across all levels.”

In the last few years the company claims to have moved mid-level women managers’ retention from 85% to 94%, reduced voluntary attrition of women form 17% to 10%.

Source: Economic Times, 10th June 2016, p.8

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Source : TOI Women Job 18-2-2016

Cross – Company Mentoring Programe

TataGroup – India’s largest conglomerate is putting in place a cross – company mentoring programme. This project will have 300 high potential women executives mentored by 180 CXO’s and 35 CEO’s for 45 group companies.

Tata the country’s biggest employer of women at 1.45 lakh, has limited number of women in CXO’s position.

The aim of the project is: To have more women in leadership position and it forms a gender diversity vision. At present the current gender diversity ratio is merely 10 % at the top level.

The features of the project are:
·      A women executive will not be restricted to the leaders in the company she operates in;
·         She gets wider network of leaders to choose from.
·         Acts as a retention tool, shielding women managers from dropping out.

The project has 2 phases: to elicit support for the programme; and to map mentors with mentees as well as logistics and technology framework.

This project provides an opportunity for Tata women employees to fulfill their potential and move up the ladder. Mentoring programme reinforces the grownups commitment to women and encourages them to stay and be an integral part of future leadership post.

 Source:  Jun 11 2016 : The Times of India (Chennai)
               In a first, Tatas to groom 300 women leaders for top posts across group cos