Divya Dang

How To Normalize Gender Equality At Workplace

Divya Dang — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 12:28:00 +0000

In today’s fast-paced business world, attaining gender equality is a critical component of any company’s competitiveness and growth. It must be ensured that everyone has an equal chance to grow to develop an inclusive and vibrant economy. Unfortunately, gender inequality in the workplace has defaced the global economy for decades. It has reduced the skills, ideas, improved decision-making, and perspectives required to address global issues and harness new scopes.

Well, we must admit that excellence does not distinguish between genders. Instead, it embraces good management and talent. And, that’s why every organization needs to be open to a balanced and diverse work environment, wherein both men and women are supported and accepted equally.

Before jumping on the ways to promote gender equality at the workplace, first, let’s understand what gender equality is.

Gender equality at the office refers to all employees in a company having equal access to the same benefits, opportunities, and resources, such as:

Equal compensation and benefits for equivalent roles with equivalent duties.
Equal possibilities for promotions and career advancement.
Equal consideration of everyone’s needs.

Now, let’s get acquainted with five ways to encourage equality among men and women at the workplace and why a change is required.

1. Embrace Diverse Hiring

To encourage gender equality, start by changing your job descriptions. Consider the terminology you use in your job advertisements. Specific terms, such as “assertive” and “dominant,” may appeal to men more than women. If you have a recruiting panel, ensure it is unbiased in terms of gender. Make sure you have equitable compensation systems. Further, you can conduct employee exit interviews to receive direct input on how employees feel about gender equality in the workplace.

2. Transparent Gender Pay

A new transparent culture must be established, requiring an organization to explore the pay discrepancy between men and women. Do not ask candidates how much they were paid in their previous employment. Instead, each job should have a pay bracket that specifies the salary range for that position. Make a note of any areas in your business where you can improve equal pay for equal work, and mention your similar pay policy in your code of conduct.

3. Maintain Work-Life Balance

The absence of affordable childcare support is one of the most significant barriers preventing women from reaching the pinnacle of their careers. Companies should consider assisting to pay for child and eldercare. To help working mothers, parental leave for fathers should be encouraged, as it will not only allow moms to devote more time to their careers, but men will be more actively involved in childcare tasks.

4. Effective Policies Against Harassment

It is critical to establish a stringent policy against workplace offenses such as sexual harassment, racism, bullying, and other forms of discrimination. One out of every four women or even men has been physically or mentally harassed at any given workplace. It is the employer’s job to keep a close watch on these issues and prevent harassment of their employees. The lack of awareness of such actions at work is a strong indicator of gender inequality.

5. Create An Open-Minded Environment

Gender equality at the workplace is a combined effort of employers, managers, and team leads. They must have a broad and open mindset. If the majority of the company’s departments are gender-biased, the company’s long-term growth will undoubtedly be hampered. Regardless of gender or background, get to know your team members on a personal level. This will increase your understanding of diversity and foster a friendly, inclusive workplace. Employees should be praised for their abilities and accomplishments, not for the employer’s personal favorites.

Wrapping Up

Although not all workplaces provide equal opportunity to men and women, everyone should make an effort. A workplace devoid of gender equality can become toxic and negatively impact a company’s financial line in various ways. Furthermore, employers should see achieving gender equality as a step toward corporate success rather than just a legal or moral obligation. After all, both men and women aspire to work for prestigious companies. So, make it a comfortable workplace for all of your employees, and you won’t have to worry about gender issues at work.

Divya Dang

HR Head at Cloud Analogy | LearNowx | Propel Guru | ForceBolt

Divya Dang is the Chief People Officer at Cloud Analogy and the Founder Director at LearNowX. With a strong background in leadership and people management, she is dedicated to driving organizational growth and fostering a positive work environment. At Cloud Analogy, she oversees human resources strategies and employee engagement, while at LearNowX, she focuses on delivering innovative learning solutions. Divya is passionate about empowering teams, promoting diversity, and creating impactful professional development opportunities. Her leadership approach blends strategic insight with a deep commitment to nurturing talent and fostering a culture of continuous learning.

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Top Tips To Nurture Inclusivity And Diversity At Workplace

Divya Dang — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 12:27:00 +0000

Creating an inclusive work environment at the office is more than hiring candidates with diverse cultures, lifestyles, and backgrounds. Also, making an inclusive workplace requires extra effort from team leaders. But before we jump into creating an inclusive workplace, it is essential to understand what inclusion means.

Many times, inclusion seems synonymous with diversity, but both concepts are different from each other. For creating a positive working environment, both diversity and inclusion are required. However, diversity refers to the similarities and differences between people, whereas inclusion embraces and celebrates differences.

In terms of a professional space, an office with employees from different cultures, religions, sexual orientations, countries can be termed diverse workplaces. But, on the other hand, an organization that welcomes those differences and makes the employees feel accepted for who they are is termed an inclusive workplace.

So, here, in this guide, I will be providing you with some essential tips on how to enhance your leadership skills and create an inclusive workplace environment. Keep reading!

How To Nurture Inclusivity And Diversity

1. Make A Strong Connection

Does the way you interact with your employees make them feel comfortable? It is a no-brainer that the only way to create an inclusive workspace is to make everyone think they can speak to you without any hesitation. For an employee, it is essential to ensure that they are not being judged for delivering their opinions. So, it is the first step of inclusion. Next, make an extra effort to connect with your teammates authentically and in a personalized way.

2. Facilitate Open-Mindedness

Being unprejudiced is another crucial aspect of making an inclusive work environment and connecting with your team. Keep stereotypes and assumptions aside. As humans, we have a habit of judging the book by its cover, but this approach will not help make the team members feel comfortable. Do not make assumptions about their lifestyle as it would lead to difficult conversations. Also, the more you are open to hearing their opinions, the more seamlessly you will be on your way to creating an inclusive workplace.

3. Celebrate Employees’ Differences

For embracing differences among your employees, you can first begin with identifying and accepting their pronouns. Often used to communicate a person’s gender, pronouns are an integral part of a person’s identity. Next, ensure that whenever you hire a new candidate, they know that your organization is a safe place for every race, gender, disability, and culture. Also, you can conduct potluck lunches where people can bring in food and showcase their culture. Apart from this, for welcoming employees’ differences, recognize and celebrate significant days like Pride Month.

4. Round Robin Meeting

During meetings, you can comprehend whether your male employees are more likely to offer their opinions. Do employees cut each other while talking, or are your team members hesitant to express their ideas. So, for adding inclusivity to your company, a round-robin meeting can be helpful. It is a technique where individuals are provided equal chances to speak, demonstrate without anyone interrupting, and share what they think. Such practice will ensure that every employee gets an equivalent field level to participate in the discussion.

5. Inclusion Is Everyone’s Responsibility

It is not the only responsibility of HR to initiate inclusion at the workplace. An organization is a blend of its people, managers, and different departments. Therefore, each individual of the company must ensure that they are practicing inclusivity. Everyone from top to middle management must be actively involved in providing inclusive behavior. For this, you can form an inclusion committee that will take care of any bias or uncommon events occurring on the premises. Employees can find such committees approachable for placing any complaints.

Inclusivity Has More In-Store

When practicing inclusivity, small changes can make a huge difference. The strategies I have shared are easy-to-implement and will help you make your workplace more inclusive within a short period. Inclusion isn’t a task with a start and finish date. It will always be a moving target, significantly when your workforce’s demographics change and various other circumstances impact your personnel. Regardless of who makes up your organization, it’s always worth considering whether the people who work there believe they can be accepted, appreciated, and successful.

Divya Dang

HR Head at Cloud Analogy | LearNowx | Propel Guru | ForceBolt

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Hard Skills vs Soft Skills: What’s the difference?

Divya Dang — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 05:28:58 +0000

For years, there has been an ongoing debate about hard and soft skills. Everyone is keen to know the difference between them, more precisely trying to prove how hard skills are better than soft skills.

This, at many times, worries me, as I see myself more as a “people person” than an “academic person”. Today, I’m going to talk about the difference between the two and what makes each better than the other.

In 2018, LinkedIn published a report that said that the four most in-demand soft skills are leadership, communication, collaboration, and time management. Now, talking about my own experience as a corporate coach, I have found that soft skills are usually hard to master.

But wait…. What exactly are soft skills and hard skills that everyone talks about?

To put it simply, hard skills are teachable, physically acquirable, and most often fall under the category of technical skills, such as user interface designing, analysis, data mining, project management, and writing. Soft skills, on the other hand, are more about the interpersonal realm and are mostly inclusive of team-building, leadership development, communication, and listening skills. Soft skills are not physically acquirable but can be cultivated over time.

No wonder interpersonal skills are where we see the biggest imbalance; let me prove my statement with some facts.

LinkedIn, indeed, has more access to data than just anyone about:

a) the top-ranking skill sets of retaining top talent and,

b) the highest skill sets companies are seeking.

Thus, there are some hard numbers that give a winning edge to soft skills.

Research over competency conducted in over 200 companies and organizations across the globe found that the top performers had twice the emotional intelligence as technical and cognitive ability as compared to average performers. Whereas in senior leadership positions, it was four times as prominent. However, it’s quite apparent that while IQ and technical skills are very important aspects, emotional intelligence accounts for 90% of what makes people move up the success ladder.

Now that we have understood the importance of having soft skills, let’s understand how we can showcase both hard and soft skills on our resumes.

Hard Skills vs Soft Skills on a Resume

As tempting as it may sound to bombard your resume with the skillsets you have obtained, industry stalwarts share a different opinion on this. Mass distribution of your resume, like a one-size-fits-all, may not fit in today’s diverse workplace; It requires some tailored sets of skills.

The skills section in your resume is an excellent place for customization because that is where the opportunity lies to showcase yourself as an attractive candidate, highlighting your caliber on how well you will fit into the role.

Now, both soft and hard skills can enhance your resume, but figuring out which one you should go with can be a daunting task.
Let me help you in finding the right set of skills for you.
To begin with, hunt for the keywords that are required for the company/job role you applied for. For example- “project management”, “fluent in Mandarin”, or “proficient in HTML/CSS”.

For soft skills, do your research by going through the company’s website and social media and looking at what the company’s culture depicts. Knowing the cultural values and beliefs that the company holds, you’ll find out the qualities that are most valued as well as required from the employees. A great place to start would be the “Careers”, “Mission” or “About Sections” on the company website.

Thus, I believe that it is safe to conclude that soft skills are as important as hard skills to sustain in the workplace.
This is why we built LearNowx, a corporate training platform that transforms High potential aspirants into Industry ready professionals through highly engaged Hands-on training and industry use cases.

LearNowx provides a wide array of work experience programs for students/college professionals to build genuine and successful careers and thrive in their desired technological careers.

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7 Work Challenges You’re Most Likely to Face as a Fresher

Divya Dang — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 14:05:45 +0000

Imagine a scenario where you have just started your job and are so excited. The first day at your first job and so full of energy. Fully dressed up in formal clothes and already dreaming about a successful corporate career. There’s just one catch; you’re clearly the least experienced person in a room full of professionals. Simply put- you’re a fresher who’s going to face a hard time settling into the chaos. While the experience is not the most comforting and enjoyable, the fact is that this will also be a time where you will be facing a lot of challenges as an employee with minimal or no work experience.

But what will those challenges be, and how to tackle them?
I’m going to discuss these with you all today. Here’s my handbook on seven challenges you’re most likely to encounter as a fresher and how to tackle them smartly.

Not being able to turn your JOB MODE ON.

Well, this may sound as cliche as it is. Not being able to adapt to the job mode is not a hidden challenge. Youngsters feel a hard time settling down in the environment of waking up daily and going to work. There are several things that are missed by freshers when they don’t accept the sudden change. They don’t focus on their jobs and avoid taking initiative; they avoid being efficient and refuse to accept the procedures and protocols. There is of course no denying the fact that freshers tend to remain in their la-la land even after completion of their college.
In such cases where you feel resistance to your work schedule, try dividing your work into smaller blocks and fix achievable targets and deadlines for yourself. It is okay to work slowly and have a buffer as you surely want to avoid the needless anxiety in your initial days at work.

Tricky office Jargons

As soon as your first day kicks off, you’ll start noticing your teammates and managers using their own lingo, which will be far from your understanding. These kinds of acronyms are usually hard to understand and can intimidate the freshers. In such scenarios, freshers should begin talking to their peers in order to start adapting their thinking process. This way, they’ll not feel lost when the duftar jargon is brought up in front of them.

Probation period

Many Indian companies are more likely to have a probationary period for freshers across the organization, duration of which depends upon the Job description of the employee. Usually, it ranges from 3 months to 6 months. In this case, during the probationary period, the employee is expected to work to the best of their capabilities and sometimes, as fresher, employees find it difficult to step out of their comfort zone and work to their full potential.
Here, you, as a fresher, need to understand that you are not alone in this. All employees have to go through this process, and you just need to try and make yourself stand out from the crowd.
Definitely make a proactive decision to avoid those chatty colleagues of yours.

The first Quarter

The first quarter of your first job can be quite intimidating. You are more likely to work under the supervision of your reporting manager, and she/he will guide you and define the KRAs (key responsibility areas) for you to take on later. Now, most employees tend to work solely to fulfil their KRAs and forget to contribute to the company’s goals. What most fail to understand is that this is a time where the employees need to work to their maximum potential, bring in new ideas, and align their vision with the company. The first impression of any employee is extended up to the first quarter of their tenure in the organization. Thus, knowing what you want to do and how it is contributing to your growth and the company’s growth will really make up for your excellent first impression. This will also reflect your enthusiasm towards your job as a fresher.

The Bland Office Desk

When you enter a company, you might get stuck at your desk for hours as the pressure and workload keeps building up. A bonus tip (coming from a global HR) is to always take breaks while you work- leave your desk and chat up with your colleagues or maybe step out for a stroll. If not these, try decorating your desk. It helps in many ways. Firstly, you’ll not feel anxious seeing the workload, and secondly, your mood will always be joyous.

Lacking in presentation skills

Not being able to present your work is indeed the biggest nightmare for any fresher in an organization. All professionals are expected to give presentations as a part of their job. For some, fear of people can be a really big deal, and for others, the lack of confidence. In any case, the performance of employees suffers. Here, what can be worked upon is the soft skills. While not being shy, freshers should learn to present themselves with confidence with a little help from colleagues or peers.
LearNowX is one such platform that helps you in polishing your presentation skills and key business skills to help ace your corporate career.
Their all-inclusive courses are designed especially to help people with low confidence and weak communication skills. Explore all the courses here.

Skill enhancement because you “need more time.”

When you join a company as a fresher, you need to get used to phrases like “fasten up” and “get up to speed”. You need to get better with your time management. Well, everyone knows that one gets better and becomes more efficient at a task the 50th time you do it. So, to avoid getting into the perpetual state of scrambling, it’s better to keep clicking in and out and keeping yourself updated with the latest trends and skills. You can try asking your manager to help you with skill enhancement, or you can even upgrade your skills at LearNowX with the easy skill enhancement courses.

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How To Create A Successful Internship Program

Divya Dang — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 01:23:26 +0000

Gone are the days when employers used to follow stereotypical ways to select an intern for their organization. Instead, today’s internship market has become competitive and consists of high-caliber candidates looking for professional experiences to excel in their careers. And, for an HR professional, this means a pool of highly proficient students eager to contribute to an organization’s goals with their talent.

Internship programs are beneficial for companies because they pave the way for inviting fresh perspectives, creating a pipeline for new members, and offering mentorship opportunities for the existing employees. However, creating a robust internship program that helps develop and groom great talent is easier said than done. So, let’s look at some effective measures that are required for creating a successful internship program.

1. Look For The Right Fit:

When setting out an internship program, HR professionals must assess the organization’s employment needs. It is essential to find the core areas that can help and offer meaningful work opportunities for interns. Therefore, employers should examine whether their area of expertise resonates with their internship role program. Apart from this, one must foresee whether the skilled interns can transform themselves into potential candidates for full-time employment.

2. Establish Goals And Responsibilities:

A comprehensive internship program for students should be inclusive enough. It must consist of all the essential information that is the learning objectives of the internship program. At the same time, designing the programs set clear agendas, such as the process of orientation, day-to-day responsibilities, types of projects, evaluation processes, introduction with mentors, and lastly, off-boarding.

3. Consistent Intern Development:

Once an intern gets used to the working procedure, the organization must follow a structured system for providing them constant feedback. It is an essential step because it helps in personalizing the entire process. The mentors can then track their work and assist them when required. Observation, reflection, and evaluation are the three main phases needed to be considered while creating a successful internship program.

4. Appoint Mentors For The Interns

Right mentors for the interns can act as a catalyst and motivate young individuals. Therefore, it is another successful component of an internship program. A mentor is a professional buddy for an intern who promotes growth and development. Also, having someone to assist them would offer them a collective learning experience. Also, a mentor plays a significant role in giving interns career guidance and helping them develop valuable skills.

5. Stay in Touch:

Once the internship programs conclude, don’t forget to maintain a professional relationship with former interns. And LinkedIn is the best platform to begin this practice. A good internship program is the foundation for an organization and can help employers filter out the best candidates. So, another good reason for staying in touch with former interns is opening doors by providing them with a full-time job at your company.

The Bottom Line

When done correctly, an internship program can be a future career growth path for inexperienced individuals. It can not only assist in filling up a post in your organization but even molds young, ambitious talent. Therefore, a successful internship program can help individuals foster their careers and nurture high-performing employees for the company.

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5 Alarming Signs That You Are A Terrible Boss

Divya Dang — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 12:24:59 +0000

Going to work every day and taking pleasure in what you regularly do can help beat the Monday blues. Also, people and the work environment play a huge role in making each day’s work exciting. Let’s admit the fact that we have heard stories about complex managers or have experienced one ourselves. An employee leaving the office because of a toxic manager has become common nowadays. It often leads to loss of talent, higher training or recruiting cost, and dissent from the employees left behind.

In my opinion, not everyone wants to set an example of a bad boss. Managing people can be a challenging task, even if you are a high performer. But, just because your employees have dodged, you doesn’t mean you don’t have room for improvement. However, it is worth recognizing the red flags of a toxic boss. Then, you can rectify your mistakes and create a healthy working environment for your team. It would lead to higher productivity of the employees and even ensure your growth as a leader.

So, start today and begin scanning the signs that I am going to share with you.

1. You Are A Helicopter Boss: Are you that kind of boss who always controls your employees’ small or big activities? If yes, then you are a micromanager, often known as a helicopter boss. Micromanagement is one of the biggest complaints that employees give about their bosses. Such managers hover over their employees and make all their decisions. This leads to the employees not finding room for development, learning, and growth. Also, micromanaging can lead to demotivation and disengagement among your team members.

2. You Are A Hypercritic Boss: Some bosses enjoy insulting and criticizing their employees. Instead of focusing on the loopholes where they require improvement, they keep on pointing out errors. If you are constantly shouting and giving aggressive criticism to your team members, you might not be liked by anyone. Belittling and bullying your team can not be accepted by a leader. So, ensure that constructive feedback is provided personally. It will help them improve in a better way and will be motivating at the same time.

3. You Are An Adamant Boss: If you are the type of a boss who believes in the theory of “my way or highway,” then a fallout is substantial. Rejecting or not considering your teammate’s opinions will slow down innovation. Such behavior might even discourage them from providing their feedback. As a boss, if you have always turned down your team’s ideas because you believe that things should be done only one way, you must be cautious. This kind of thinking will leave your team feeling frustrated and rejected in the long run.

4. You Are An AWOL Boss: Let me first tell you the full form of AWOL. It’s absent without leave. A manager or a boss can be synonymous with AWOL when an employee cannot reach out to them. Unfortunately, many times bosses focus more on their project rather than assisting their team. Whenever an employee has a question or a concern, the door is shut. After all, team members want their manager to be a motivator and a mover in their department. But, often, bosses are disinterested in guiding their employees, resulting in a high risk of attrition rate.

5. You Are A Credit Hungry Boss: Some managers don’t believe in sharing the spotlight with their employees and take all the credit for the task being done. Instead, such bosses put the team members in the frontline when it comes to challenging situations. Such a scenario demotivates the team, and they eventually lose respect for their seniors as well. Instead, be a good manager and make your teammates feel secure, and share the credit along with them as well. This kind of practice will provide them with recognition, consistency and will boost their productivity.

Is There A Way Ahead?

A boss or a manager is a person who can bring out the best in an employee and ensures that every team member reaches their full potential. But these alarming signs can sometimes stop you and your team from working together without any hassles. Leaders can change their negative behavior, but it is an exercise in maturity that requires practice. So, it’s worth giving it a try!

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Top 4 Reasons For Employee Turnover

Divya Dang — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 12:26:15 +0000

Employees leave their jobs for different reasons. They move across the country with their husbands or partners, remain at home with their children, change occupations, find work-from-home options, and more. These are some of the primary reasons why an employee leaves the job. However, in the majority of cases, employees quit the job because of the employer. Any element at the workplace can be responsible for urging the employee to come to such a decision.

But, have you come across a possible answer of what makes an employee seek new job opportunities?

With employee retention affecting the work environment and the organization, it’s important to start asking employees how they feel about their jobs regularly. However, before that, let’s dig deep into four primary reasons for employee turnover.

Relationship With The Boss

A senior or a boss is an integral part of an employee’s professional career. The boss provides direction and feedback, meets with the employee one-on-one, and connects the person to the company. However, employee engagement, confidence, and dedication are all harmed when they have a toxic connection with the person they report. Also, an imperfect boss is a top reason why employees leave their jobs.

Opportunities To Use Their Skills

Employees feel pride, accomplishment, and self-confidence when using their considerable skills and abilities on the job. Employees desire to learn new things and improve their skills. If they cannot do it in their job, the possibilities of searching for a new job increase. Make sure that you are conversing with them and you are aware of their ambitions and dreams. As a boss or a senior, you must assist them in laying out a well-defined route to success.

When Boredom Strikes At Work

Nobody indeed wants their job to be tedious and unchallenging. If you have an employee who acts as if they are no more interested in their work, you should assist them in discovering their true calling. Employees want to have fun at work. Work closely with individuals who report to you to ensure that each one is motivated to contribute, create, and perform. Otherwise, you will lose them to those who are willing to provide them with engagement and productivity.

Bond With Coworkers

Every email they send to the team to bid farewell contains a note about passionate teammates when an employee leaves the organization. The coworkers with whom an employee sits or communicates are crucial components of an employee’s work environment. An individual is more likely to stay if they have good relationships with their coworkers. If there are problems and the employees, don’t seem to address them on their own, intervene and assist them.

Conclusion

Paying attention to these four main reasons for employee turnover will allow you to retain your most desirable staff. But, if you ignore any of these, the chances are high that you will be doing exit interviews and farewell meals regularly. After all, we all know that recruiting a new employee is time taking and a tedious process. So, why not extend the required efforts to keep the employees you have already painstakingly chosen and hired.

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