An initiative to cut off the attrition rate of women in the sales workforce
Challenge
IBM, on its latest endeavor of empowering women, is all set to train two lakh women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills across India.
Action
Signed agreements with several Indian states and expects more sign ups in future. Other initiatives include 2-year Advanced Diploma Programme in emerging tech, supporting math teachers with Teacher Advisor With Watson, and making TryScience resoruces available for teachers.
Results
Worked with the government to better equip the workforce with a new generation of skills, so that the positive impact of AI and other technology can be experienced in a larger scale
PepsiCo wanted to cut off attrition of women employees in their sales-force owing to safety issues for women who had to travel for work, fix the issue of unclean, unkempt washrooms in the distributors locations, and generate awareness about gender diversity and its importance.
Challenge
Action
Using an extensive survey, PepsiCo was able to segregate zones which are relatively safer, relevant for women to travel to. On the other hand, they built nearly 40 new washrooms in the distributor locations in those safe zones. Arranged small plays, dramas to sensitize gender diversity among employees and also created a gender intelligence workshop.
Results
The number of sales women in PepsiCo India went up from 8% in 2013 to 18% in 2017 as a result.
Goal
From a general perception, one can always find a sales team with a scant number of women employees. Typically, sales roles often need extensive travel which makes it seemingly challenging for women, given the fact of safety concerns. PepsiCo, in its endeavour to solidify the gender diversity initiative, realized that women in the sales-force who travel face lot of issues and as an outcome, attrition follows. For them, the main issue was safety related to travelling into several places. Second, was unclean, dingy washrooms in distributor locations. And last but not the least, PepsiCo also wanted to spark gender sensitization amongst its employees to make any business process which involved both men, women smoother.
Action
An extensive survey was implemented to best understand the women who had quit their sales job to hit the root-cause of this problem. Analysing the data from Tata Safety Index and input from local HR personnel, they mapped India into Red, Yellow, and Green zones. Thereafter, women sales personnel were only assigned to the green zones.
Looking at the sanitary problems, PepsiCo constructed nearly 40 washrooms in the distributor locations marked safe for women in green zones. Along with the distributors, PepsiCo shoulder the responsibility for regular maintenance.
To sensitize gender diversity amongst its employees, PepsiCo devised unique strategy and created ‘Mindbugs’, a nukkad-natak that used small plays, dramas to instil awareness into men about women’s needs. Also, a gender intelligence workshop was created to educate men, women about each other’s expertise at handling things differently which makes a teamwork possible and raises the team spirit.
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Impact
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The number of sales women in PepsiCo India went up from 8% in 2013 to 18% in 2017 as a result.
Takeaway
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Surveys, analysis or any kind of revision techniques buys your company a new angle to tackle with prevailing challenges, and also a chance to devise new strategies to deal with them. In this case, PepsiCo took advantage of a detailed survey, analysis to mark zones, know their challenges and also evoke a sense of gender awareness. Companies with extensive focus on sales; owner of beverages, foods; or an impressive number of women employees in the sales-force can adapt to this model. Easy-to-implement and logical, this program will of course give an edge to these companies to travel deep down inside the root-cause of their problems.