New Delhi : Great Learning, one of India’s leading EdTech companies for higher and professional education, today announced its association with leading organisations including AGS Health, Diageo, Maersk, Nielsen, OCWEN Financial as their preferred diversity hiring partner. With this collaboration under their “Power Ahead” series, Great Learning aims to provide a platform for women in technology and help organizations achieve their ‘diversity at workforce’ goals.
Research has proven that a diverse workforce improves performance across enterprises but the industry has witnessed an acute underrepresentation of women in the Analytics and AI domain. While India ranked 108th in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index 2018, the latest version of the report for the year 2020 noted its fall to the 112th position. This calls for a conscious cultural shift for organizations to derive maximum outputs through diversity and inclusion.
Understanding the significance of addressing the gender disparity in technology roles, the edtech leader will collaborate with these organizations to host a series of engagement activities and provide a knowledge sharing platform to women learners at Great Learning in the form of webinars, panel discussions, hackathons and career fairs. As a part of this association, the company also hosted a panel discussion around ‘Diversity & Inclusion in Technology’ with AGS Health, Diageo, Maersk, Nielsen, OCWEN Financials, earlier this week. Broad topics covered during this discussion included the importance of diversity in driving business performance, how to build a network of diverse candidates, overcoming diversity-related challenges and so on.
Moderated by the company’s Chief Marketing Officer Aparna Mahesh, the panel included industry veterans like Jagadamba B- TA Head, Diageo, Ritika Sakhuja – Director HR, Nielsen, Austin Thomas – Director Recruiting and Corporate Training, OCWEN Financials, Lakshmi Sivakumar – GM Engineering, A.P. Moller Maersk and Srividya N – GM Corporate Communication, AGS Health who shared their thoughts on creating an inclusive and women friendly environment at the workplace.
Delighted with this association, Hari Krishnan Nair, Co-Founder, Great Learning said, “Diversity at the workplace is a prerequisite for innovative and cutting edge organisations.. As India’s leading professional learning company, our endeavour has always been to connect learners and enterprises to find the right kind of opportunities and talent. We are honoured that several of the leading organisations have chosen Great Learning as a preferred partner for their diversity initiatives and we are glad to play an instrumental role in bridging the gender gap that is existent in digital skills across industries.”
Speaking about the partnership with Great Learning Mr. Proneet Sharma, COO, AGS Health said, “We are committed and passionate about upholding a diverse and inclusive workplace. We believe true progress and responsible leadership lies in providing our people with an enabling, respectful and empowering environment where each of them feels valued, belonged and equal. Building a diverse workplace and nurturing relationships within the workplace is just not a top-down priority but is deeply woven into the social fabric of our Company. Our core values of MERIT – Meritocracy, Excellence, Respect, Innovation and Teamwork are a true testimony of Diversity and Inclusion being a way of life at AGS Health!
We are delighted to partner with an esteemed institution such as ‘Great Learning’ in our constant pursuit of good talent. We look forward to an active engagement with Great Learning and partnering with them to further strengthen our diversity goals”.
“We strive for a truly inclusive & diverse culture that fosters the best diverse talent with a range of background, skills & capabilities” said Ms. Jagadamba B, TA Head, Diageo
Speaking about diversity Mr. Gautam Shetty, APAC -Head of Talent Acquisition and Talent Attraction, A.P. Moller Maersk said, “At #Maersk, we believe collectively we can make change happen, we are on an endeavour to create a gender equal workplace. We engage in building diverse teams not because it’s a check in the box but because we want to outperform.
“Diversity and Inclusion to me is not a social agenda however it’s a personal commitment. Diversity brings in new ideas and experiences, and people can learn from each other. Bringing in different ideas and perspectives leads to better problem-solving. Working in diverse teams opens dialogue and promotes creativity.” said Ms. Ritikaa Sakhuja, Director HR, Nielsen.
“Every wise leader knows and understands that diversity and inclusion is not something that is just ‘good to do’, but is an integral part and a key driver of innovation in business. At Ocwen, we value and respect the aspirations of a globally diverse workforce and continually strive to create an environment that allows for our diverse workforce to thrive and realize its full potential.” said Mr. Austin Thomas, Director, Recruiting and Corporate Training, OCWEN Financials.
With a mission to enable women to achieve their potential this association fosters diversity in all its dimensions and equally elevates voices from different backgrounds and perspectives.
