Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion are very critical in the context of winning the talent war and as a company we have taken a lot of positive steps in the past few months. We formed the MSD Women's Network(MWN) sometime back .It is and employee resource group that works for the professional and personal development of the target group and in this case here it is the women colleagues in MSD . We have worked around various parameters and dimensions ie improving representation of women in the sales force , encourage employees to give female referrals thru the employee referral scheme , focused initiatives for the career development of the women folk , participate in drives/ marathons etc related to business cause like cervical cancer (remember we are a pharmaceutical company ), life skills workshops etc . It is high time that organizations look at Women as an integral component of their overall Talent management strategy and many organizations are already doing that . The enlightening book Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Ripa Rashid wonderfully chronicles the journey of women in the BRIC countries and delineates the country specific triumphs and challenges . It is quite amazing to note that different countries with varied social , economic and political context have different challenges and opportunities for the working woman and the maze of tactics , adjustments , negotiations they and their families have to go thru to ensure that the personal and professional goals are achieved . Towards the end they have given multiple examples of women friendly practices and policies adopted by companies across varied industry verticals .In India we venerate woman as the Devi – the supreme multi tasker Goddess and that is the expectation that gets carried forward in this post modern age too . Women in India as the book mentions are expected to take care of their immediate and extended families and put in long hours of work – a typical characteristic of a buoyant economy .