INTRODUCTION

Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) has been ranked number 7 in India’s Best
Companies To Work For - 2018 study conducted by the Great Place to Work Institute in
association with The Economic Times. GCPL has also been awarded a laureate for
consistently being recognised as a Great Workplace for the last 10 years. (Godrej Industries,
n.d.)

Firstly, the question arises - What is diversity? The short answer is Diversity and inclusive
practice includes gender, religious, race, age, disability, linguistic differences, socio-
economic status and cultural background. Workplace diversity has become increasingly more
important as business has become more global. (Leonard, 2018) The following are the
advantages of having a diverse organisation:

1) Expands the Talent Pool

2) Innovative Ideas
3) High Company Morale
4) Increased Productivity
The diversity that Godrej is focussing upon is the participation of Women employees and that
of the LGBTQ community since these sections of the society still face discrimation in India.
Advocacy group Mingle’s Indian LGBT Workplace Climate Survey 2016 found that one in
five LGBTs faced discrimination by their managers, and two-thirds reported facing
homophobic comments. (Pratap, 2018)

Though thousands of companies in India continue to discriminate against LGBTQ people by

not accepting same-sex or similar relationships while giving benefits to employees’ spouses,
some corporate entities are changing track -- and Godrej is one of them.

Not only is it about being inclusive, but it makes economic sense as well. India is home to
more than 55 million LGBTQ adults, according to OutNow Consulting, an LGBTQ
marketing agency — and Indian companies cannot afford to ignore them anymore, both as a
market and as a talent pool. A 2016 World Bank report pegged India’s GDP loss due to
homophobia (caused by factors such as lost wages and health costs) at nearly $32 billion, or
1.7 per cent. A UNAIDS study the following year estimated the annual global cost at $100
billion. (Pratap, 2018)

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Policies for inclusion of women

The Companies Act’s mandate to have at least one woman board director has forced firms to
take a hard look at the gender ratio in their firms and the number of women in senior
management. As many as 92 of the 99 companies have publicly shared information on the
number of women on their boards and also in their workforce.“The Companies Act has been
an impetus to increasing women in the workforce. When you have a policy in place, it puts the
issue on center stage. But unless it is driven by the leadership and they commit to it, the policy
will stay on paper,” said Saundarya Rajesh, founder-president, FLEXI Careers India, an HR
consultancy. (Ramanathan, 2015)

Godrej Women's Leadership Network

The Godrej Women's Leadership Network is a platform to help our women team members
better manage their professional development and address any concerns that they might have.
It offers mentoring, leadership development and regular networking opportunities. Through
this platform, we aim to make Godrej a workplace of choice for the best woman talent. (Godrej
Industries, n.d.)

Godrej has a worldwide total of 5640 employees working for them out of which 27% of the
employees are female which is quite a favorable gender ratio; but looking at the Indian side of
the same, out of a total of 2386 employees, only 10% are female. While trying to tackle this
lacking ratio, we observe that Godrej has implemented certain initiatives to promote the hiring
of female employees due to which out of 241 total employees hired in 2016, 25% were female.
(GCPL, 2017)

Some of the novel initiatives Godrej has in place for the women employees are as follows:
1. Careers 2.0: This is a unique opportunity for women who are willing to come back to
restart their corporate life after a break for whatever reasons may it be. This program
gives potential women a second career having a minimum of two years of experience
in any function of management. They are assigned for live business projects across
functions and sectors initially from 3 to 6 months. It can be a part-time or even full
time. During this project period, guide or the co-owner will support the project trainee

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 as well as the trainee will be under the mentorship of a senior leader. (Spirit of HR,
2017)
2. The company announced a Caregiver policy that enables women employees to bring
a caregiver and a child (or children) up to the age of 1 year for necessary official travel.
The policy is targeted towards women professionals in an attempt to ease their transition
back into the workforce post a break in their career. (PeopleMatters, 2018)
3. Godrej supported the initiative “Break The Ceiling Touch The Sky"- The Success and
Leadership Summit for Women Held in Mumbai, India On Feb 18, 2016, by providing
Gold sponsorship to the initiative. On the same, Sumit Mitra, Head, HR, Godrej
Industries commented: "Godrej has a long legacy and established evidence of the
positive impact of women leaders in the workplace. We are pleased to take a leadership
role at the India edition of Break the Ceiling Touch the Sky." (Newswire, 2016)
4. Six month fully paid maternity leave as well as flexible location and working hours:
Women face the dual strains of managing households and careers. “This is why you
usually see a drop in number of women at mid-management levels,” said Sumit Mitra,
Head - Human Resources and Corporate Services, Godrej Industries. To address this,
Godrej is offering the above benefits for women facing the issue. A testimony of Nupur
Gurbaxani, AVP - International Operations, GCPL states “The maternity policy at
Godrej helped me enjoy the most magical days of motherhood without any distractions.
Thanks to the 6-month leave, I could focus completely on my child's well-being as well
as recovering my own health. When I decided to resume work, policies like flexi time
and work from home made the challenge of balancing career with motherhood far more
manageable.
Careers 2.0 (as mentioned in point (1)) is also an initiative to counter this problem
(Pratap, 2018)
5. Rather than invest in traditional women-centric interventions, such as crèches and
women-leadership coaching, the company believes that it is equally important to
sensitize men in the enterprise. The company, thus, started a journey to bring a shift in
the mind-set and culture of the organization. (Choudhury, 2018)
a. Facilitated sessions- They included targeted initiatives which were aimed at
grooming men on gender-sensitive conduct and abolishment of biases. Besides
that special facilitated sessions were conducted to bring forth sub-conscious
biases that exist as a consequence of convention or culture.

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 b. Gender-agnostic initiatives to drive equality- The company offers policy-
level benefits that go beyond what large organizations in India generally offer-
such as a ten day paternity leave, 3 months of adoption leave for the primary
care-giver and a gender-neutral sexual harassment policy.
c. Open participation in women leadership network- The Godrej women
leadership network is open for participation both for men and women. The
network deals with gender issues, and they participate in meetings, workshops,
etc.
d. Stereotype abolishment- These initiatives are targeted at showcasing
stereotype roles that men and women play and how to break away from them.
They are done through events, movie screenings, and other special initiatives.
e. The centre involvement - Godrej created a 2-member diversity team
responsible solely for driving diversity initiatives across the organisation. The
team’s key objective is to identify and executive diversity programs. Besides
that, the company also created a diversity board comprising senior leaders to
sponsor and drive these initiatives both within the enterprise, and among the
leadership team.
6. Godrej has created a diversity council which comprises its business leaders and some
senior team members — most of them male — who champion diversity and
inclusiveness in the company. The council meets every quarter to strategise and discuss
the important initiatives planned for the company, to further inculcate the culture of
inclusiveness. The diversity and inclusion team conducts gender sensitisation
workshops across businesses. (Dasgupta, 2017)
7. Unconscious-bias workshops: “We are piloting unconscious-bias workshops to
sensitise our team members about all the stereotypes that exist at workplaces,” said
Mahnaz Shaikh, head-diversity and inclusion, Godrej Industries and associate
companies. (Dasgupta, 2017)
8. Safety first for Women in Field work: Godrej encourages women staff to team up
with male field officers or area sales managers during market visits for safety. “We look
beyond entitlements in our travel policies, rent cars via approved agencies only and
encourage women team members to team up with male field officers or area sales
managers during market visits in certain areas,” says Rahul Gama, head-HR at Godrej
Consumer Products. (Kably, 2015)

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With programmes to increase the number of women in specific business units and an intent to
make increases every year, the number of women in Godrej & Boyce’s workforce rose from
7% in fiscal 2012 to 10% in fiscal 2015. “In manufacturing companies, the number of women
has not been very favorable. But having a policy helps to state the management intent, and
align the mindset of people, irrespective of their biases,” said Harpreet Kaur, general manager
and head of HR at Godrej & Boyce. (Ramanathan, 2015)
Godrej also said that the group was working at improving gender diversity in senior
management positions within group companies. "At the group level, we have 38 per cent
women in our workforce, while in companies such as GCPL it is as high as 45 per cent. But
we still have a long way to go in terms of getting women into top leadership at the group. That
is something where we are focusing our attention," quoted Nisaba Godrej, Executive Chairman,
Godrej. (Pinto, 2014)

Policies for inclusion of LGBTQI community

Corporate India’s concern for the LGBTQI community has been dismal. This is evident by a
2015 report jointly published by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in association
with BD Foundation, a global think tank focussing on inclusive growth. The report revealed
that a whopping 98% of the 21 (includes 15 MNCs) surveyed companies did not take steps to
make the workplace LGBTQI-friendly. "Diversity in terms of LGBT was a language that only
2% of the organisations surveyed (only MNCs) seemed comfortable speaking about,” said the
report titled ‘Inclusion in India Inc’ (Laha, 2018).

Change by Leadership

Embracing the LGBTQI community employees at work has been relatively easier for startups
that are mostly run by millennials as compared to traditional firms. However, a lot depends on
the leadership, says Sarika Bhattacharyya, founder and CEO of BD Foundation.

The leadership of Godrej Industries is where this change and support begins. Nisaba Godrej,
executive chairperson at Godrej Consumer Products has been a strong proponent of LGBTQI
rights in the country, especially at the workplace. “Yesterday was a glorious, rainbow-filled
awakening for India, justice and civil rights. I feel so proud and hopeful for my country and

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grateful to our Supreme Court for taking the only decision it should take,” said Godrej, in a
LinkedIn post, the day after Supreme Court decriminalised section 377. (Laha, 2018).

On May 17, 2014, the international day against homophobia, Nisaba Godrej wrote an email to
all employees "At Godrej, we strongly believe that each one of us is unique and we can only
truly flourish when we can be our ‘whole self ’ at work... I would be proud if we create a culture
where our LGBT colleagues can be comfortable being ‘out’ at work and every single one of us
is inclusive and respectful of it." This mail opened doors for many of the Godrej employees
and helped them come out.

Layak (2015) mentions about one such employee’s story.

“Apekshit, 29, a graduate from the IIM-Kozikhode, hails from Bhopal and joined
the Godrej Group in 2010 straight out of Bschool. Through his life, Apekshit
discovered that being gay in India entails coming out of the closet several times.
He came out to himself during his first years in engineering college in Bhopal.
"First I thought I was a weirdo. Then by 2005 I was comfortable with the idea.
But only at IIM did I find a more cosmopolitan mix of people where I could freely
discuss these things.I came out to my friend, this girl who used to sit with me in
class," Apekshit says.

By 2012 Apekshit had found a partner and started living in with him. His
partner’s mother accepts their relationship and, like so many other Indian
families, also lives with them.

In 2013 Apekshit came out to his parents. "My father is still not accepting it but
my mother is okay with it," he says. Financial stability that his education and his
job with Godrej bring in of course helps in this debate, he adds. "Many of my
IIM classmates have also landed jobs in Mumbai and we often get together as a
gang."

The workplace was the last barrier of sorts. Apekshit did not participate in the
Bombay Pride parade for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals as he was
not sure of repercussions at the workplace. However, Nisaba Godrej's email
changed all that. When Godrej announced a change in policy so that people
could nominate their same sex partners in a committed relationship for benefits
like treatment at the group's hospital, Apekshit was the first one to take it up and

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 nominate his partner. He reached out to the HR department and sought out
details of the policies and asked if he could help.”

For the Bengaluru Pride parade 2015, even Milnd Apte, head of HR, GPL, sent out a mailer
encouraging colleagues to support and participate. "I could not go because of other work, but
it feels good that the top management is sending these signals," Apekshit says. As a result of
this openness, Apekshit, Udayan and others like them are now able to bring in their partners
for family events at the office. Both their colleagues and partners are comfortable interacting
in a social setting. (Layak, 2015)

Standards of Conduct

Godrej Industries is the first Indian company to take initiatives for supporting members of
LGBTI community at workplace. In 2017, it partnered with the office of UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights to release a report outlining the best practices for the
‘standards of conduct for business’ for corporates. Nisaba Godrej, executive chairperson at
Godrej Consumer Products, said, “We are optimistic that many other leading companies in
India will use this platform to encourage dialogue and discourse, and bring in more inclusivity
in their people processes and culture going forward. (Dasgupta, 2017)

Five standards were unveiled in the report, which included ‘Respect human rights, eliminate
discrimination, provide support, prevent other human rights violation and act in the public
sphere’. (Zee Business, 2017)

According to Zee Business (2017), “Indian conglomerate, Godrej Group along with Bharat
Hotels owned Lalit Hotels have been named among 32 other multinational companies
(MNCs) to endorse United Nations Human Rights LGBTI standards at work. Godrej with over
57,000 employees is the only Indian company to have adhered to these standards of the UN
Human Rights initiative.”

Over the years, Godrej has been reworking and modifying it’s people policies to make them
more inclusive. As Sumit Mitra, head, group HR and corporate Services, Godrej Industries
Limited, says, “Making and documenting these policy changes has been critical. Both, because
of the conversations they necessitated and because by institutionalising them, we sent across a

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very definite message. This was not just a nice thing to do and nor is it something that we see
as a one-off exception. It is very much par for the course.” (Laha, 2018)

Their people policy documents now include ‘other’ as an option to represent gender, the word
‘spouse’ has been replaced with ‘partner’; the adoption policy has been designed keeping in
mind a gender neutral primary caregiver; the medical scheme offers a choice to an employee
to choose a spouse/domestic partner as a dependent and covers same sex dependents, AIDS
patients and fertility treatments. (Laha, 2018)

Culture Lab

Over the years, Culture Lab has collaborated with the Godrej Diversity and Inclusion team and
other departments to have meaningful conversations and raise awareness about LGBT rights
in India. (Godrej India Culture Lab, n.d.)

As a part of it, occasionally an event is organised around the LGBT theme. The auditorium
being located inside the Godrej One building, the audience often has a large share of Godrej
employees. It adds to the sensitisation.

One such event in October where Radhika Piramal, managing director, VIP Industries,
recounted her own experience of coming out and Padma Iyer spoke about a mother's journey
in accepting the sexual orientation of her son. Iyer had put out an ad in papers, seeking a suitable
boy for her son Harish Iyer, who is an activist against child sexual abuse (Layak, 2015).

Another was where Joe Zachariah, who had spoken about how a survey done at his former
multinational investment banking employer in India (Joe now works for McKinsey in
Singapore). The survey threw up a surprising result. More than 60% of the respondents had
said they were bisexual, thinking the term meant heterosexual (Layak, 2015).

Such initiattives ensure a dialogue is created around inclusion and diversity, and is what makes
Godrej a pioneer in diversity. Godrej is setting an example for the rest of the companies in
India to follow as far as inclusion of the third gender goes. It seems to have made immense
progress in the past two years, and is still making continuos efforts to lead the businesses
towards a more inclusive culture.

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Conclusion
It has been a proven fact that Diversity at workplace is the need of the hour not just as a means
of fulfilling a company’s CSR but also to bring in diverse viewpoints into the decision making
and fulfilling the needs of all the groups. Those companies which don’t follow the same are
susceptible to getting beaten up by the competition. Thus, Godrej - a 120-year-old
organization’s philosophy to promote diversity is mandatory. While Godrej has taken many
initiatives in the field, they are yet to attain the Leadership in the Indian context. Thus, even
though Godrej has come a long way in its stride to inculcate the culture of inclusion, there still
a long way to go so as to achieve its mission.

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