‘Inclusion and diversity are critical’
Ongmu Gombu is executive vice president-HR, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. Gombu brings with her 21 years of rich and diverse experience in HR in organizations across manufacturing and commercial operations. A result oriented professional, she is an alumnus of Lady Shri Ram College and has an MBA in HR from
XLRI, Jamshedpur, India. At GSK, Gombu’s focus is on creating an environment inclusive for all its employees. Edited excerpts: months of fully paid leave. This is in recognition of the fact that the world around us is changing and we need to be conscious of always including diverse situations and perspectives.
In 2017, we launched training programs for employees on Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) with an aim to create awareness on issues of safe environment for all our employees including women. In less than a year 98% of our employees are POSH certified.
Policies apart, we also have a very strong mentoring programme at GSK. We have mentors assigned to our emerging talent both men and women and all our initiatives are aligned ensuring we provide equal opportunities to everyone and therefore give them a great career at GSK.
As an organisation, we make that extra effort in driving more women participation. Research shows that successful organisations should have a minimum 50% women participation in everything they do. We at GSK, therefore, partner with search firms and ensure returning mothers are provided flexibility and constantly have conversations around better women representation in the workforce.