Marico's‘Phoenix’ Program Welcomes Professional With Career-Breaks

Phoenix is a career transition program, that will offer opportunities to professionals who have taken a minimum 1-year career break and are keen to return to the corporate world. Marico strongly believes that the program will enable the company to access specialized skills, unique perspectives and will boost innovation at work. 

Speaking about the new initiative at depth with BW People, let's see what Amit Prakash, CHRO, Marico Limited has in store for us.

1. Can you talk about the gender-neutral Phoenix program that has been launched recently?

As a step ahead in our Inclusion & Diversity journey, we have launched Phoenix – A gender-neutral second career program. At Marico, we continuously re-evaluate our policies and programs to build a workforce of tomorrow. We have always had members with career breaks, learning from their stories and witnessing the need for it, we decided to design a dedicated second career program.

Most companies have their second career programs focused on only women, considering their primary role in childbirth and care. However, with changing times the responsibilities are equally divided between men and women. We recognised that the new-age workforce envisions their careers very differently

Therefore, we decided to break the stereotype and curate a second career program bearing in mind the needs of the new-age workforce of modern India. The program respects individuality and welcomes candidates that may have taken a break to support their family, to prioritise their health, fulfil their personal aspirations, or explore their passions. We strongly believe that these are equally valid reasons for career breaks.

2. What was the thought process that went behind making the program gender-neutral?

We have seen a paradigm shift in employee expectations recently. The current family dynamics also have seen a major transformation along with the evolving role of a caregiver. Recognizing this, we have consciously re-evaluated our policies and programs to reflect the modern norms and have taken cognizance of it while crafting the Phoenix program. We realized that an individual may choose to take a career break due to personal or professional reasons, irrespective of their gender, and thus we decided to make Phoenix gender neutral.

3. Do you think this program will further boost innovation in the organisation?

We strongly believe that the Phoenix program will enable the company to access specialized skills, unique perspectives and will boost innovation at work. We are confident that the program will strengthen our efforts to ensure a diverse talent pipeline.

We strive to cultivate a culture of transparency and openness, where members across levels are encouraged to share their views and valued equally. The gender-neutral program will further enhance collaboration and foster creativity in the organisation.

4. Can you share an experience where this program has been beneficial for a professional who had taken a career break?

Marico has always welcomed candidates with career breaks, but after listening to the experiences of some of our members, we were motivated to design a specific second career program. One such instance is Rekha Mathur (name changed on request) a Research & Development expert with over 14 years of experience. Rekha had multiple hiccups in her career due to several family emergencies and faced tough times in explaining her multiple significant career-breaks in the job interview. But she kept trying.

On her sheer merit and unstoppable attitude to life, we offered her a full-time consultant role with the flexibility required by her and today she is one of top performers in her role.

5. Amidst mass layoffs, do you think this program will be a boon for professionals? If yes, how?

The program invites candidates who are struggling to get back to the corporate world after a yearlong break. We aim to give them an opportunity to re-enter the corporate world and prove themselves.

6. How does this initiative align with the company’s D&I goals? Is the company doing anything else in terms of diversity and inclusivity?

The Phoenix initiative aligns with our decade-long action plan to increase our gender diversity ratio to 30%. In accordance with this, we have implemented a number of programs and activities, including sensitization training, policy and process rollouts, and infrastructure enablement, all of which are overseen by our Inclusion & Diversity Council. The I&D council was formed earlier this year to accelerate the organization's diversity agenda. From making all the policies gender-neutral to extending same-sex partner benefits, Marico has taken significant strides in terms of its D&I policies in the last few years.

7. What is the hiring policy and eligibility criteria under the Phoenix program?

The professionals must have a minimum one-year career break and at least two years of prior work experience in order to qualify for the Phoenix program. Professionals can be hired as consultants for 6 months, 9 months, or 12 months, with final absorption based on performance and role availability. Furthermore, we are offering lateral hiring, based on a person's experience and where they will be hired directly in lateral roles.

8. How will the remuneration look like for professionals who will be hired under this program?

The renumeration process will be the same as normal hiring. It will be decided basis the candidate’s years of experience, role, responsibilities, and the band that he/she will fall under accordingly.

9. What is your broader aim with this program? How many members do you aim to include under the programme in the coming 2 years?

The launch of Phoenix is in line with our diversity goals and will strengthen our efforts to ensure a diverse talent pipeline. It will also enable us to expand our talent pool and meet some of our short-term staffing requirements by providing meaningful projects to second career candidates who are keen to re-enter the workforce.