Vedanta Aluminium paints shopfloor Rainbow
NEW DELHI: Every individual in an organisation brings with them diverse perspectives, work and life experiences, competencies, and a whole host of socio-cultural differences that add to the richness of workplace, in terms of skillsets and culture. The key to unleashing the potential of this diversity lies in inclusivity and belongingness. In other words, the benefits of diversity can be reaped by organizations that value these individual differences and strive to nurture a sense of belongingness within each individual for the team and company, so they align their strengths to pursue common goals.
India’s largest aluminium producer, Vedanta Aluminium, is one such organization leading the way in making the manufacturing industry gender inclusive. Earlier this year, the company welcomed transgender professionals into the workforce – a significant stride in its mission of fostering diversity & inclusion. This puts the company among the handful of manufacturing companies in India and the world to have LGBTQIA+ employees in core operations.
Globally, the manufacturing industry has long been a man’s world, with prevalent stereotypical notions of jobs being dull, rugged and low-skilled. For decades, regressive norms questioning women’s role in manufacturing shopfloors had deterred them from actively considering a meaningful career in manufacturing. This is despite the fact that women have successfully made their mark across various industry sectors, from banking to defence. Now take the case of LGBTQIA+ professionals, the world is yet to begin imagining a place for them in the manufacturing industry.
Even though manufacturing companies have leapfrogged into the future with extensive deployment of new age technologies, digital solutions and automations, which have made job roles smart, interesting and automated, the status quo has not changed a lot. The result being, a low gender diversity ratio, which is even more acute in the metals and mining sector, with the ratio being in low single digits.