Hero Image

LGBTQIA+ inclusion picks up speed in India Inc

Bengaluru: Last month, in a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, ecommerce major Flipkart inaugurated a delivery hub in Delhi-NCR run completely by employees belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community.

In June, Wells Fargo launched ‘Transgender Persons Hiring Program’ in the country to attract and train transgender talent across business lines, while Axis Bank rolled out the ARISE ComeAsYouAre programme for the LGBTQIA+ community, urging individuals across colleges to apply and build a banking career with the private lender.

Godrej Consumer Products, Future Generali India Insurance, IBM, Fidelity International and Fiserv, too, are among organisations contributing to a small but growing wave of LBGTQIA inclusion in India Inc.

This is significant as workplace discrimination in the country’s overall ecosystem continues to pose a challenge for many people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.

“At Flipkart, building an inclusive and supportive environment for LGBTQIA+ talent is central to our mission of creating a workplace where every individual feels valued and empowered,” said Varadharaju Janardhanan, vice-president – HR at Flipkart.

Alongside its women-run fulfilment centres and persons with disabilities (PwD) hubs, this new LGBTQIA+ hub symbolises Flipkart’s approach to creating a truly inclusive workplace, he said.

The company’s recruitment policies are designed to eliminate bias and ensure a fair and inclusive selection process, Janardhanan said, adding that it offers specialised training for hiring managers to address unconscious biases.

Axis Bank’s new talent acquisition program for the LGBTQIA+ community was launched at the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival and focused on skills-based hiring that prioritises skillset and potential of an individual over traditional factors such as a specific degree or college pedigree.

Harish Iyer, head of diversity, equity and Inclusion, Axis Bank says the bank is committed to ensuring equity in all its policies. Apart from overall diversity numbers, it emphasises on diversity representation in every decision.

“We assess every manager for diversity in their teams. All our job posts come with a call out to the LGBTQIA+ community to apply. Our policies are grounded on the principle of equity, adding a value to the struggle that LGBTQIA+ persons have to take to reach the same place as cis-heterosexual persons,” Iyer said.

Multipronged strategy

Besides focused hiring initiatives often by partnering with specialised firms, companies are working on gender-neutral inclusive policies and raising awareness and understanding of relevant issues among their employees for LGBTQIA+ inclusion.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) actively seeks out LGBTQIA+ professionals with relevant experience as lateral hires besides developing a future pipeline of such talent via internship models and campus collaborations.

“Hiring is happening in both white collar and blue-collar roles,” said Sandhya Ramesh, general manager – DEI at GCPL. She said the firm will hire 15 LGBTQ employees and five interns in FY25. It also runs an initiative for integration of trans individuals at new greenfield sites in Tamil Nadu.

IBM said besides hiring a significant number of LGBTQ+ individuals, it also strives to ensure their advancement into senior and managerial positions. “To advance LGBTQ+ talent, we provide a wide variety of development and career acceleration programmes including career coaching, and mentoring by senior leaders,” said Prachi Rastogi, diversity & inclusion leader at IBM Asia Pacific.

Fidelity International’s India HR head Upasna Nischal said it takes a data-driven approach to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion in the organisation. “DEI is everybody’s responsibility…starting at the board level, to our operating committee, to business and functions across leadership, managers and employees,” she said.

Fiserv’s vice-president, HR global services, Kanisha Raina said the US fintech company focuses on creating a diverse talent pool that include partnerships with specialised vendors to engage LGBTQIA+ talent.

Future Generali India Insurance Company said it has in place LGBTQIA+ friendly employee policies and inclusive infrastructure like gender neutral washrooms.

READ ON APP