case-study

Case Studies

Introduction

  • In 2012, the first session with PepsiCo started with a workshop with Direct Reports (N-1) of the Global CEO Indira Nooyi (from the USA Hq), which then was rolled out for the organization ahead.
  • PepsiCo was one of the few organizations which began the conversation around DEI in India. Today we can truly call PepsiCo as a model organization which other countries can emulate and get inspired from.
  • PepsiCo started their journey with Ask Insights in the year 2012, and has been consistently working with us since the past 12 years, year by year strengthening its commitment towards DEI.
  • As of today we have covered the entire AMENA region for R&D team at PepsiCo, making PepsiCo India a model organization viz-a-viz Diversity Equity and Inclusion, not only in India, but also in the Middle East, Gulf, North Africa, and African continent. Ask Insights teams personally travelled to PepsiCo head offices in India, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
  • PepsiCo team India, was also recognized and honoured with the Harvey C Russel Award by the then global CEO Ms Indira Nooyi, for this initiative which was rolled out globally.
  • PepsiCo India was among the first in Manufacturing Industry to start Gender Intelligence Initiatives in Plant Locations in 2014. Dr. Niru herself visited each and every PepsiCo plants in India, several times, to bring about a cultural and mindset shift.

PepsiCo

Countries Covered for PepsiCo by Ask Insights

  • India
  • UAE
  • Pakistan
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Egypt
  • South Africa
  • USA
  • Europe

Objectives

  • A notably limited women representation, especially in frontline, Sales & Supply Sector.
  • In 2019-20, women represented only 6%, 8% & 7% in Sales, Supply chain & frontline functions
  • Lack of right physical infrastructure & inclusive mindset
  • Rural & remote plant setups making it harder to draw women talent
  • No women role models in leadership roles for many functions.
  • Inclusion challenges for women in Finance, Research, and Development teams

 

Saudi Arabia Egypt UAE:

Challenge in building women pipeline and progression

Leadership Power distance

Women development and fearless communication

Egypt and South Africa:

Racial inequality, Power distance, Gender Inclusion

Challenges in Inter-cultural understanding, Women based Violence

Interventions

  • -Strategically we emphasized on a specific diversity theme every year, parallelly equipping the senior leaders with overarching Inclusive Leadership Competencies.

    -We also understood that challenges of every vertical and business unit was different and undertook a customized approach for every diversity hotspot.

    -Each vertical was understood and customized according to it’s unique challenges: PepsiCo Top Leadership, HR, Sales, Finance, Franchise, Supply chain, Research & Development, and Plants.

We then recommended a DEI Roadmap following our Top-Down model and our signature programs –

      • Gender Intelligence for entire organization over the years (Customized for separate sectors such as finance, sales an R&D)
      • Inter-organizationl Reach Out Program for high potential Women leaders to grow up to the ladder
      • Women Leadership Program conducted as inter-organization engagement with Microsoft, TATA, American Express & Reckitt.
      • Allyship Program in Plants & Frontline.
      • Policy, ERG Support and Sexual Harassment Committee Consultation
      • Assessments and Benchmarking to measure impact and progress

Star Programs for PepsiCo

2012 - 1st Global Leadership session (Dubai) & Gender Intelligence (India)
2013 to 2018 - Roll outs for entire PepsiCo India including plant regions
2018 to 2022 - Reach Out Programs for women in sales
2022 to2023 - entire roll out on Allyship
2024 – Entire roll out for   R & D teams (MESA region)
Wings on Dreams
Dedicated Program For Women in Sales
Reach Out
An Inter-organization Program to unlock potential in Women leaders
Gender Intelligence Workshops
For entire organization over the years (Customized for separate sectors such as finance, sales an R&D)

Key Results

  • Best in Industry Gender Diversity Ratio: PepsiCo is ahead of industry benchmarks with an average gender diversity ratio in FMCG industry as only 27% at mid management levels, where PepsiCo stands at 39%.
  • 3X increase in women representation at senior levels: More than 3X increase in women representation at senior executive levels, by 29.4% (2023) compared to 8.8% (2020). This is a dramatic 20%+ increase.
  • 50% women hiring: Equal women hiring by (50% women and 50% men hired)*
  • 2X increase in women in sales: More than double women representation in Sales across level, cohorts to 16% (2023) compared to 5.7% (2020).
  • 7X increase in women representation in Franchise: In Franchise, currently having a 47% women representation (2023) across level cohorts compared to 7% in 2020.
  • Shift in leadership commitment, employee mindset and policies: A noticeable shift in mindset, as well as leadership commitment and inclusive employee behavior is evidently felt as culture as a result of these workshops and journeys. Ask Insights also partnered with PepsiCo for curating effective policies supporting women such as: gender inclusive parental leave, parent room & support, menstrual leaves, supportive infrastructure, org wide sensitization training programs, women leadership journeys, inclusive leadership and allyship programs, supportive ERGs, inclusion tied with KPIs, inclusive vocabulary, Flexible schedules and work location to name some.
Dr. Niru, Thank you for another excellent session - this mentor - mentee training was a critical step to take our Athena mentoring program forward. As a continuation of our diversity and inclusion journey, the sessions on Gender Sensitization and Mentoring have been an invaluable input to the PepsiCo India finance team. Thank you once again for your support on this critical agenda.
Rajdeep Datta GuptaCFO and Vice President Finance, PepsiCo India Region
Rajdeep Datta Gupta
Dr. Niru has played a stellar role in our D&I journey. The deep and meaningful work that she has done on gender intekkigence and inclusive leadership has created a hung impact in the organization. I really value her partnership and her commitment to make a genuine different to this agenda and more importantly impacting people in different ways
Pavitra SinghCHRO-PepsiCo India Region
Pavitra Singh
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Case study Reckitt

Challenges

  • Lack of Career progression for Women employees
  • Need for Gender-Balanced Workforce
  • Need for conscious efforts to cultivate culture of inclusion
  • Need for LGBTQIA+ Inclusion & hiring

Interventions

Global Program with Top Leaders at Amsterdam Hq(2019)

Inclusive Leadership Session India CEO and Leadership Team at RB Hygiene

Roll Out to entire population of Managers at Global Hub 2024 and ongoing

LGBTQIA+ Sensitization session for all People Managers at Global Hub

6 Months Women Leadership Journey named - PowerFluent

Inclusive Leadership Workshop – For top management

Inter-organizational reachout program – Designed and executed by Ask Insights

Inter-organizational Reach Out Program (5 consecutive years) for high potential Women leaders to grow up to the ladder from Reckitt, PepsiCo, Microsoft, TATA, PwC, and American Express.

Diagnostics and FGDs

Workshop with CEO and top management

Gender Intelligence for Sales

RB Hygiene India

Diagnostics and assessments

Focus Group Discussions

PowerFluent Women Leadership Journeys – 2 consecutive years

Inclusive Leadership and Gender Intelligence for managers and leaders

LGBTQIA+ Sensitizations sessions

A Glimpse of Sessions

Dr. Niru Kumar’s session with Reckitt CEO Laxman Narasimhan and the Leadership team

LGBTQIA+ Sensitization Session

A session from Women Leadership Journey

Key Results

 

  • Gender Pay Equity: Reckitt implemented regular gender pay equity assessments, actively closing any gaps and promoting transparency.
  • Training Modules: Training modules on unconscious bias and diversity are now embedded into our onboarding processes, fostering an inclusive mindset from day one of joining.
  • 3000+ training hours: Have been successful in covering 80% of employees in Inclusion training programs and have touched 3000+ learning hours of leadership training in this year 2023 itself.
  • Great results: Scored 81% in the recommend workplace category of the Glint survey by their women staff at Global Hub, Hyderabad.
  • Celebrations: Have started a series celebrating unique career stories of women at global hub.
  • Recruitment – 47% Gender Diversity: Implementation of gender-inclusive recruitment strategies have resulted in a diverse talent pool, with intentional efforts to bridge historical gaps. Currently their gender diversity is 41% and Hiring Diversity at 47% at Global Hub.
This is an appreciation note to acknowledge the facilitation you and your organization have provided to us in terms of our stated goal to significantly strengthen our diversity and inclusion program in RB Hygiene Home South Asia. What my fellow leaders and I in RB Hygiene Home South Asia really appreciated was the way you took us through the fundamental reasons for diversity and inclusion gaps that may stem in organizations in India and around the world; this included case studies of good practices, a mind opening understanding of how the brains of different sexes are wired differently, the way issues and opportunities manifest themselves in organizations as a result and the potential methods of exploring solutions. Your subject matter expertise was excellent, the method followed was engaging and we ended with some really thoughtful strategies and practical ideas to implement going forward with respect to our diversity and inclusion program. We know this is a journey, not the end state and I thank you for your support in getting us off to what I am sure will be a memorable and inspiring end goal
Narasimhan Eswar(SVP and Managing Director, RB Hygiene & Home, South Asia)
Narasimhan Eswar

Hindalco

Number of Locations Covered in Person

  • Mumbai (Head office)
  • Muri in Jharkhand (bauxite mine and alumina plant)
  • Belur in West Bengal (rolling mill)
  • Hirakud in Orissa (bauxite mine and aluminium smelter)
  • Alupuram in Kerala (extrusion plant)
  • Taloja in Maharashtra (rolling mill)
  • Belagavi in Karnataka (alumina plant)
  • Dahej in Gujarat (aluminium smelter)
  • Mouda in Maharashtra (foil rolling facility)
  • Kollur in Telangana (foil rolling facility)
  • Bargawan in Madhya Pradesh
  • Utkal in Orrisa
  • Renukoot in Uttar Pradesh
  • Gare Palma Coal Mines in Chhattisgarh

Challenges

  • Low Women Representation in plants
  • Need for women role-models at senior levels
  • Need for establishing a Culture of Inclusion & Psychological Safety for women
  • Creating awareness for leader ownership for DEI
  • Prevalence of Unconscious Gender Biases for women in industries.
  • High Attrition rates of Women employees .

Interventions

  • We startedd our journey with HINDALCO by conducting audits, and assessments to plan the DEI strategy in 2017. This was followed by a workshop with Mr. Satish Pai (MD), and his team, after which the initiative was rolled out to the entire workforce.

We conducted –
      • Top Leadership Gender & Inclusive Intelligence Session with Mr. Satish Pai, MD Hindalco & his direct reports in Mumbai.
      • Audits, Assessments, and DEI Strategy
      • Sessions at plants:This was followed by sessions in All Plant locations for Managers & Frontline done in multiple rounds covering a total of 1500 people.
      • Women Conclave for all women employees Program in Hindalco in Mumbai.

Key Results

This roll-out at HINDALCO was a landmark initiative which saw which led an impressive culture and mindset shift. The initiative not only provided a new perspective to the employee base, but led to a tremendous increase in women employment in remote areas of the country. 

  • A complete Turnaround of Mindset.
  • Transformation of Work Culture where women were valued in factory shop floors.
  • Significantly overcoming Unconscious Gender Biases and greater acceptance promoting psychological safety
  • Significantly low attrition rates
  • Representation of women employees rose to a massive industry best 10% to 30% in 6 months for plant locations.
I would like to thank you for conducting a thought provoking and impactful session on gender intelligence for the senior management team of Hindalco on Monday, 07th August 2017, at Mumbai. Our senior management team really learned some new insights that should help understand gender intelligence and harness the full potential for both gender in our organization. I have attended many gender diversity forums but your session gave me a new perspective. Diversity and Inclusion are very important for every corporation today. I think that getting a work environment that’s diverse, and that promotes inclusivity has increasingly become very important, not only to become a high performing organization, but also to attract and retain good talent. We started this journey at HINDALCO 6 years ago. Right in the beginning she took a course senior leaders where I was also present. We then covered about 1500 managers in HINDALCO, going through a lot of case studies, using her own examples, tried to get people to understand the importance and what diversity and inclusion really means. She also heled us put together the Women in HINDALCO Conference. I Congratulate Dr Niru, and I wish Ask Insights continue to do the important work they are doing. I think Diversity and Inclusion is very important and we all have to get better at it. Congratulations to Dr Niru and Ask Insights.
Satish PaiManaging Director, Hindalco
Satish Pai

Case study Jubilant Ingrevia

Challenges

  • Low Women Representation
  • No Women Role models
  • Need to establish a Culture of Inclusion & Psychological Safety for women
  • Need for awareness of the role leaders have to play in creating an inclusive environment for women
  • Unconscious Gender Biases
  • High Attrition rates – Women employees
    .

Interventions

As Women were reluctant to work in plants due to a lack of inclusive infrastructure & facilities. We worked with leadership of Jubilant Ingrevia to deeply understand and uproot prevalent unconscious gender biases, policy gaps, lack of awareness & sensitization to cultivate culture of psychological safety & inclusion for women employees. This included:

  • Strategizing a specialized industry specific DEI strategy
  • Inclusive & Gender Intelligence Leadership Journey for Top Leaders: A 6 month intensive top leadership journey called “Inclusion Immersion”
  • Inclusive Leadership Index 360 (Based on 6Cs of Inclusion competencies) for top leadership.
  • Gender Intelligence Roll out to People Managers: Sensitization managers and equipping them with skills to leverage the strengths and diversity of thought of the opposite gender.
  • Gender Intelligence Roll out at all Plants: We personally visited every plang of Jubilant Ingrevia spread across the country to facilitate Inclusive Intelligence workshops ensuring deeper sensitization, and inclusive mindset.
  • Specifically Curated Programs: Dedicated Gender Intelligence and Inclusion Programs covering 285 People Managers.
  • External participation: Jubilant Ingrevia Participated in our Global DEI Summit & Awards
  • Infrastructural consultation, Policy restructuring, and guidance to increase women retention in plants. 

Key Results

  • A complete Turnaround of Mindset
  • Transformation of Work Culture to Equal Opportunity Inclusive Work Culture
  • Elimination of Unconscious Gender Biases and greater acceptance promoting psychological safety
  • Significantly low attrition rates.
  • Industry fastest increase in Women representation from 3% to 10% in 6 months
  • Infrastructural changes in plants to better support all genders
  • Inclusive policies
  • Significant increase in leadership commitment
I have realised that your sessions have touched me profoundly. You have a wonderful knack for gently nudging our biases and directing their course correction without rubbing it hard. This is the kind of wake-up call that is the need of the hour among all CEOs and CXOs. Me and my colleagues in Jubilant can vouch for the need and relevance of your sessions across the industry.
Chandan SinghCo CEO, Jubilant Ingrevia Ltd.
Chandan Singh

ABB

Introduction

Ask Insights began it’s journey with ABB in 2018, and has been engaged with them consistently till present. ABB is a leading Fortune 500 Swedish electric equipment manufacturing corporation with presence in 100 countries.

They approached Ask Insights in 2018, wanting to navigate challenges around unconscious biases, low women employee representation, and LGBTQIA+ employee inclusion. They were committed to formulate an authentic inclusive strategy framework, so as to create an authentic inclusive environment fostering women retention, and progression.

Challenges

  • Prevalence of Unconscious Gender Bias
  • Need for Sensitization & Hiring talent from the LGBTQIA+ community
  • Lack of inclusive culture
  • Lack of growth opportunities for Women workforce despite of favorable policies

Interventions

We partnered with leadership at ABB to first assess the unconscious biases, stereotypes, challenges & limiting beliefs. Understood the need to sensitize the managers & workforce to tackle with and remove the prevalent biases through continuous interventions and gradually build strong Allies & ERGs.

We conducted –
      • Unconscious Bias & Allyship Training for the workforce chunks .
      • High-Impact Women development Program called RISEfor 6 consecutive years to empower high-potential women employees to reach senior roles and create a career growth strategy
      • Participation inWomen’s day sessions and Global DEI Summit& Awards. ABB won the Times of India & Ask Insights DEI Award 2023 in the category BEST ALLYSHIP AND ERG PRACTICES.

Key Results

  • Unconscious Bias Sessions: Facilitated 16 Unconscious bias sessions covering 81% people leaders sensitized
  • Gamified Platform: We created a gamified platform to promote Allyship at ABB
  • Women Leadership Program: Successfully conducted flagship Women Leadership program – RISE with 92% participants completing the program
  • Mentorship Program: Launched Women Mentorship Program to facilitate career growth for women employees
  • 2X growth in gender diversity: Gender Diversity increased from 9% to 16.5 % (2018 to 2021)
  • ABB is now an equal-opportunity employer with focus on LGBTQIA+ talent: Emphasis on reasonable accommodation
Thank you Dr Niru Kumar for taking our women leaders through several batches of six month development journey. It means a lot to us and strengthens our organization’s backbone for taking future challenges. It has been delighting to hear very warm transformative feedback about the program from the participants. I also received equally revealing feedback from participants' supervisors who now observe high confidence, aspiration and willingness to take higher initiatives. Your passion and expertise through the program has helped the participants immensely in their journey of self discovery and in bringing their whole self to work and to give their best”
Sanjeev SharmaCountry Head & Managing Director ABB
Sanjeev Sharma
The RISE Women leadership Development Program from Ask Insights was very well customized and fits very well with our vision of developing Women Leaders. We've received very warm feedback from the participant who felt that this.
Raman Kumar SinghCountry Human Resource Officer ABB-India
Raman Kumar Singh
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