Shriram Housing Finance aims to improve women’s representation at workplace

Shriram Housing Finance, the affordable housing company, has launched the ‘SHeFirst’ programme to improve the representation of women at the workplace. Under this programme, the organisation wants to hire more women within a year.

The programme aims to provide a conducive environment to women by offering them a host of new policies and initiatives via which they plan to recruit working mothers, single mothers and women from nuclear families.

Ravi Subramanian, MD & CEO, Shriram Housing Finance, said, “The ‘SHeFirst’ initiative will enable Shriram to be a gender-balanced organisation that will increase innovation, profitability, customer success and employee satisfaction”.

Shriram Housing Finance will also offer women flexible working hours and the facility to opt for a sabbatical.

In fact, the Company, which is part of the Shriram Group, had designated the month of June as ‘Diversity Month’, ensuring equal opportunities for women. One of the crucial pillars of these initiatives is the ‘Back to Work’ policy, which welcomes and supports women professionals who had taken a career break — because of personal or other reasons— and now wish to pursue their career goals by re-joining work.

“The ‘Back to Work’ policy, among other initiatives, is an attempt to bring back talented, hardworking and resourceful women professionals who may have had to step back from work, by offering equal and appropriate opportunities as per their personal and professional goals,” said Subramanian.

It is the Company’s endeavour to help women professionals who possess various skills at individual and supervisory levels, in the areas of sales, credit collection and operations. The hiring process also includes a structured onboarding process, focussed mentoring and reskilling, along with on-the-job training to help these women regain their confidence and face the world with a more women-friendly work environment.