The Battle for Female Talent in Brazil - Center for Work-Life Policy

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42 THIS IS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL have a late meeting. Indian labor law precludes women working after 8 p.m., but most states exempt info-tech and outsourcing firms from the restrictions as long as they follow certain mandated safety measures. For example, if a woman leaves work alone after 8 p.m., she must be accompanied by a security guard as well as a driver. If she leaves with other employees, the male employee gets dropped off last, no matter whether his home is first on the route. “The woman is never alone in the car with the driver,” says Mohan. In addition, both she and the transport supervisor have the driver’s identification number and the supervisor knows what time she plans to leave, so she is always tracked. The shared cab service extends to Google’s Hyderabad employees using the company-subsidized childcare facility. The taxi picks up the parent and child (sometimes there will be more than one pair, depending on the route), waits while the child is dropped off, then takes the parent to work. The route is reversed with the same driver at the end of the day. Almost all IT firms provide after-hours transportation for free, but many have employees pay a discounted rate for the service during ordinary work hours. Google, however, subsidizes the entire service. “The employee doesn’t have to pay at all,” says Mohan. “It’s so convenient, not to have to drive to work each day,” she adds. “And it’s fuel efficient, too.” Pfizer India: Creating a High-Performance Community India’s rich talent pool of high-performing professional women are a key element in almost every organization’s plans to succeed in this enormous, dynamic and rapidly expanding economy. Yet despite their advanced education and soaring ambitions, many of India’s high-potential women struggle with work-life balance issues that choke their capabilities, thwart their careers and, in too many cases, cause them to drop out of the workforce. With the world’s 12th-largest economy targeted as a top growth market, Pfizer initiated a special effort to recognize and engage its high-potential female talent in India. The program has three goals, explained Amy Schulman, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, and executive sponsor of the company’s Global Women’s Council: • Help Pfizer develop and retain top female talent by ensuring that they feel valued and supported. • Strengthen the connections among and between Pfizer’s high-performing women and their women customers, creating a virtuous circle of support and loyalty. • Put together a pilot program that can be used in both developed and other emerging markets. In a pioneering integration of two sets of needs, Pfizer India identified 10 of its top women in sales and marketing, as well as 10 of their most important female customers: Physicians in private practices, high-profile hospitals, medical technology and other fields running the gamut of Pfizer’s markets. Each was interviewed individually as well as invited to participate in a focus group in which the women discussed their career goals and the challenges and opportunities they face in fulfilling them. There was a common narrative of blazing ambition often blocked by cultural barriers. In addition to the usual issues of work-life balance, professional Indian women have to perform a complicated balancing act that pits their career
THIS IS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL aspirations against societal expectations. While an extended family network usually nullifies the childcare issues facing so many of their counterparts in developed economies, Indian women are disproportionately responsible for eldercare. The demands of sales jobs are often not understood by family members, so women come under a lot of pressure to give up their careers to take care of aging relatives. Safety and security issues that hamper women’s ability to travel or work at night also make it difficult for them to do their jobs. By providing the opportunity to share their experiences, the debut discussion group encouraged Pfizer’s rising stars and their customers to connect, celebrate each others’ successes and discuss difficulties, with the underlying recognition that they aren’t toiling on their own but are part of a larger community, one whose efforts are valuable and worth supporting. Pfizer’s next step was a one-day workshop in April 2010 to address these cultural issues, as well as to teach both career women and their customers the leadership skills that will help them raise their careers to the next level. The workshop was supported by Kewal Handa, Managing Director of Pfizer India, as well as Pfizer board members and senior women in India. Workshops were held in Mumbai and Delhi. “It’s not about Pfizer,” says Schulman, “It’s about leadership.” 43
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