Gayathri Vivekanandan, CEO of Ideas2IT, associates herself with the phoenix bird. And when you ask her why, the response is simple, “Perseverance is my strength.” Hailing from a small village called Keezhpennathur, the focus of her family was always on values like self-discipline, taking care of others, believing in goodness of people, giving back and focusing on one’s dream and working passionately.
While the village gave her an opportunity to learn all this, it denied exposure to opportunities. But in her case, like they say when the student is ready, the master comes, she always had a helping hand that pushed her further ahead. Every obstacle has made her stronger and she has indeed risen as a phoenix bird. Today she serves as that hand, to many.
Experiences that moulded you
I was posted as a senior project manager at Infosys. By nature, I talk very less but this job demanded me to interact with clients, stakeholders, global teams and the leadership. It was a completely different ball game altogether. But Infosys had a lot of programmes focused on women. There were excellent mentors to guide us. This helped me mould myself, to the person that I am now.
Have you been treated differently because you’re a woman?
I have been fortunate that I have not been on a negative side of things so far. IT is a little open minded. But in many board level meetings, I have been the only woman. So, the way others look and interact, is a bit different. As women, our work will eventually earn us the space.
What made you give 100 cars to your employees?
The simple reasoning is to give back to the employees (Ideas2IT family!). Primarily we recruit from Tier II and Tier III cities. Most of them are first time graduates. We choose sharp talent, train them rigorously and then deploy. They not only earn and uplift their families but also think as if Ideas2IT is their own! They take ownership to propel the company’s growth and other employees’ well being. As part of the wealth sharing initiative, the company was looking at ways to make employees and their families proud. Money makes only the employee happy, but a car brings an unexplainable pride to the family. So we went ahead with it.
What can be done to encourage women in STEM
The percentage of women in STEM is very less. The government has lot of policies which encourage them to pursue tech and scientific programmes, but awareness level is low. Young girls need to be made aware when they are in school itself. Apart from STEM, organisations also must do certain things to attract women employees. It must be two pronged: Top down and bottom-up.
In a top-down approach, organisations must fix a percentage for women employees to be appointed. A clear guideline should be set for each sector and progress must be monitored. Women bring in different perspectives and with their presence, improvement can be felt. In a bottom-up approach, office infrastructure must be made more inclusive, starting from clean rest rooms.
How to address gender-based pay disparity
Women in power need to fight for this and help make the change for all. A major break happens during child birth and child rearing. I am sure that a good work ethic will help one tide over this. A person that I know, has two small kids and has been working remotely for long. But due to her commitment and on-time delivery, managers vie with one another to have her in their projects. If one adds value, and is judicious of their rights and responsibilities, I think it would be easier.
Policy and support system for inclusivity
A research shows how our brains work. If a girl is always given barbie doll and the boy is given a car or Lego, the brain’s network automatically gets accustomed to that. From childhood, it should be ensured that both boys and girls are given equal opportunities. Their creativity and analytical skills must be nurtured equally. Also, before entering college, schools should counsel both students and their parents on the available avenues. This will bring lot of improvement and motivate girls to decide early on, their career paths.
At our company we provide a slew of measures. The most important is the mentoring session exclusively for women. At leadership, we take turns to talk to them. So even before they take a drastic decision of leaving the job, we give enough inputs to handle a situation. We are lucky to have many women leaders and many organisations are not that fortunate. Our next initiative is upskilling where we offer training on latest technologies. We keep reminding our employees that they are empowered and encourage them to take decisions and own it. This improves their confidence.
The role of men…
Every individual has a space in society. Women are blessed with great skills and can bring different perspectives to the table and help drive the organisation growth. If each one is mindful and open-minded, women will achieve what they deserve.
