Champion Of Change Award
At the BW People D&I Awards, Fujitsu India GDC got the Best Diversity Employer Award, as well as Champion of Change Award. Brijesh Yashpal Deshmukh, who won the latter award, has been working relentlessly to make the workplace truly inclusive. He describes the effort that has gone into it, and how the organsisation perseveres, moving forward.
Proud to be a driving force behind enabling policies:
I’ve been working with Fujitsu - India as an HR Adviser and Diversity & Inclusion Evangelist to align Fujitsu’s values and strategic purpose of allowing a workplace where all employees can be entirely themselves and achieve through encouraging inclusion. In the presence of John Lucas, Human Resources Director, Fujitsu Global, I was presented with the ‘Fujitsu HR Excellence Award’ in 2020 for my outstanding efforts. At Fujitsu India GDC, I was a significant player in the implementation of policies such as the diversity & inclusion policy, sabbatical policy, transitioning leave, and adoption leave.
On overcoming challenges:
We at Fujitsu, have addressed every challenge with a holistic approach and a strategic methodology of interventions. Our core methodology has been minimising gender inequality, hiring employees irrespective of gender, inclusive of infrastructure and policies. We can find talent in every corner of the world. The only thing that we lack is identifying and giving an opportunity to the same. As we focus on building a sustainable society by building trust and introducing innovations around it, our approach would be equal to all.
Sensitisation programmes and policies:
Fujitsu’ policies are evolving with the times and we conduct regular sensitisation programmes to raise awareness around the concerns and plights of the LGBTQIA+ community. Our efforts are towards creating a workplace which provides equal opportunities for all and enables one to be truly themselves. As a DEI ally, I am responsible for conducting internal sessions as well as organise external speakers with our DEI and wellbeing partners.
Ways to deal with sexual harassment or other misconduct:
We have very strict policies to eliminate bias or any misappropriation. In Fujitsu, unethical situations are a rarity, but to mitigate any such situation, we have implemented the ‘whistleblowing policy’ where anyone can raise concerns and the information is kept strictly confidential. We have a strict ‘posh policy’ to empower our people as well as a non-negotiable ‘gift policy’ which guides our people on what can be considered as bribe to government authorities/ vendors/ partners/ clients/ fellow team members in lieu of favours/ business.”
Level of support/ resistance to these initiatives:
Fujitsu leadership and the employees across our teams work together to support our DEI vision and mission. It is but everybody’s responsibility to enlighten each other in doing the right thing. Fujitsu’s Diversity and Inclusion policies and framework and ingrained with us all and there is no resistance at any level.
Assessing impact of the initiatives:
Our initiatives at Fujitsu India GDC reflect our vision, principles, and support for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In FY21–22, a key component of our hiring and engagement strategy was to practise empathy and enable equality through our projects. In comparison to last year, we now have a gender diversity ratio of 37 per cent and have experienced a 9 per cent growth in overall India GDC gender diversity. Despite the fact that our aim for this financial year was 32 per cent, we exceeded it by 5 per cent. Our female hiring ratio has improved by 13 per cent year over year, with women accounting for 48 per cent of total hires this year. All 900+ female employees hired through the Diversity and Inclusion Hiring Programme are preparing for technical positions.”
Describing the way forward:
It’s no secret that diversity and inclusion (D&I) is on the mind these days. In an ideal society, workers would receive incentives and recognition based simply on their performance every time. However, evidence shows that this does not always occur. Fujitsu is developing reward and recognition systems to help entire workforce be more visible. This will have a more direct impact on D&I by providing workers with a platform that supports it, allowing executives to see who is genuinely following through on their D&I priorities.
(The article appeared August issue of BW People publication)
