BWI: Flexibility Readiness Key to Efficiency and Diversity: A Panel Discussion by Fleximoms

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: Fleximoms
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 05:40 PM IST (12:10 PM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment, People; Business: Accounting & management consultancy services, Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Education & training, Information technology, Media & entertainment; Technology
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Flexibility Readiness Key to Efficiency and Diversity: A Panel Discussion by Fleximoms


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Wednesday, June 17, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- The Fleximoms (www.fleximoms.in) Panel Discussion on 'The Flexibility Curve - How Women Professionals affect business Bottomlines' threw up some rather interesting pointers on flexibility and diversity in organizations. It drew a large and vocal audience, underlining how important an issue flexible work is in today's changing professional and social landscape.

The discussion was moderated by Prasanto Kumar Roy, President ICT Group and Chief Editor, Cyber-Media. The panelists included: Urvashi Butalia, Founder Director, Zubaan Publishing, Ruvina Singh, Head HR and Resourcing, India, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Mohinish Sinha, President iDiscoveri, Enterprises, Smriti Lamech, Journalist, Blogger and a Fleximom and Manish Vij, Co-founder & Chief Business Officer, Smile Group.

Urvashi Butalia, Founder Director, Zubaan Publishing, a political and socially aware company of her own admission, was of the opinion that companies need to respect the uniqe needs and conditions of different kinds of employees, This would lead to strengthening the sense of ownership and committment. She added that the conditions of life have changed today, we are moving at a crazy pace and unless you are a flexible employer you will not get the best out of people. As an employer it's not easy to always work flexibly, but you know that the time a flexible employee gives you is quality time.

Mohinish Sinha, President iDiscoveri Enterprises highlighted the perspective on diversity by adding that in India the difference lies in how we treat diversity. We don't recognize the issue of diversity. We dislike anything that's different from the accepted norm. Most management teams and committees are still Old Boys Club. Most organizations lay down stringent criterion. Very few judge a person by his capability. With this new trend an individual contributes specialist skills in diverse roles. There is an opportunity in organizations to introduce effective and productive policies that determine individual contributions on regular and flexible basis.

Manish Vij, Co-founder & Chief Business Officer, Smile Group added that in technology companies one can see marked improvemets after a higher percentage of women were hired. He explained, "When we started we were an all men team and there was a lot of chaos in the office. Now with more women being in the team, the environment is balanced there is more order and efficiency. Women have shown higher efficiency in the creative side and back-end roles. We have 4% women with flexi timings in our office and one person from the senior management team works on a flexible arrangement."

Smriti Lamech, Journalist, Blogger and a Fleximom said that at the end of the day your commitment gets you through. Both the employee and employer need to work to find a balance.

Ruvina Singh, Head HR and Resourcing, India, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), highlighted the fact that there is a lot of structure in flexibility. She had a number of inputs from the employer side of the table and confirmed that there is a lot of structural change that needs to come in, besides a policy and attitude change. A revealing example she said was that while in the West, no employer is allowed to ask personal questions that may affect diversity in employment, in India, very personal questions are the norm - culturally and professionally.

Sanjay Balasundaram, Vice President, NDTV Convergence added that in the flexible work arena there three key players - the employer, manager and employee. There has to be a careful balance between all three levels. We have to decide how we balance our lives. A manager can tailor the flexibility that an employee needs. It is the approach to flexibility that is important.

One of the underlying thoughts that the panel agreed to was the fact that one cannot separate a person's home life from their personal life and the best results come by when these two converge. The discussion broadly highlighted that flexibility and diversity in the workforce is a very appealing idea but needs to be put in practice effectively. The approach to flexibility is the deciding factor for making flexibility work for employees and businesses. There are several factors in the flexibility value chain, which include getting employees and professionals geared for flexible and independent work and companies who need to create systems and processes, which make flexible work an advantageous proposition.

Fleximoms

Fleximoms is a diversity solutions provider. Fleximoms enhances opportunities for talented, qualified but least accessed professionals. It provides employers with access to untapped islands of professional excellence as a means to strengthen corporate competitiveness. Fleximoms is a unit of SAITA Consulting Private Limited and is based out of Delhi, with presence in Bangalore, Bhopal, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh and Lucknow.



CONTACT DETAILS
Sairee Chahal, Fleximoms, +911146566958, +919810105861, sairee@fleximoms.in
Anita Vasudeva, Fleximoms, +911146566958, +919810276077, anita@fleximoms.in

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, PEOPLE, CONSULTANCY SERVICES, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, EDUCATION, IT, MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY

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