Analysis: 'Mind ' The Career Gap

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p><p align="justify"><span class='dropthecap'>I</span>s it a sin to take a break?" asked a young mother of 27, at I-WIN, where we profile women just like Shipra, Sangati and Anu. <br /><br />Anu is a &#39;Profile C&#39; I-Winner. Starting with aspirations that go with good education, Anu invested the first 20 per cent of her life at home, since her family assumed that work and life did not mix. Returning to work at an age when most hit middle management, Anu brings generational diversity to the workplace — her peers are probably 15-18 years younger than her. She is also someone who will add a different perspective to a decision. Her employer can be assured of consistent productivity, and the only thing which matters to Anu is how far she can go now.<br /><br />Sangati, a ‘Profile B' I-Winner, is a resolute ‘career' woman — one who hopes to fly beneath the radar of full-time career focus and emerge an able balancer. She is keen on not just the intellectual stimulation, but also continuity. Her resume will probably have several short assignments before she reaches a stage of relative autonomy from her home care duties. Her employer can convert her into a life-time employee with a bit of tweaking of her role, for Sangati is one to relish the challenges of flexi-working.<br /><br />Shipra is a typical ‘Profile A' woman professional — a top-tier graduate, a fast-tracker, highly valued by her MD. She is capable of mentoring, talent transformation and leadership — respected by all her colleagues. Even at the verge of making the cut to top management, Shipra dares to take a break — confident that she will succeed in identifying the road back. She believes that her future is not entwined with Carre Hindustan (she could do as well in any arena), and leads with a dynamic mix of raw intellect, emotional intelligence and domain expertise.<br /><br />So, to answer the opening question, opting to work or not is an independent choice made by an informed adult. But, when a woman such as Shipra takes that decision to give attention to another facet of her life, it is received with ill concealed "I-told-you-so". Further, when a woman manager prefers flexible working, like Sangati, there is the lurking suspicion that all the while, when training and other investments were being made on her, she was a closet-housewife working only for a temporary tenure. <br /><br />Why do companies react like this? Let's face it: the policies which granted women entry into a predominantly male club, were designed for men by men. Ergo: they only ended up force-fitting women within the ‘clockwork of male careers' — a term coined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild. The truth is the road taking talented women to the top is often a non-linear one.<br /><br />Creating career paths for women who view professional pursuit as an essential part of their self-image is the organisational challenge. Analyze that as: a) creating career paths; and b) for women who view professional pursuits as essential to self-image. Now, let&#39;s dive deeper.<br /><br />How do companies create women-empowering career paths? First, by accepting that a woman views her career differently; and then enabling different routes to her career destination. This could be achieved with flexi-working arrangements for women like Sangati, a broad-based recruitment programme for women returnees like Anu, and a new job description which ensures managers like Shipra are retained.<br /><br />Companies that do not enable coping strategies often end up losing the time, effort and money invested in making experts out of their women managers. But do all companies need to enable all women all the time? This is where we come to the second part of my statement. Being able to identify those women managers, who view career advancement as fundamental to their own sense of completeness, becomes critical for organisations seeking to invest in them. It is important not to presume that every woman in your workplace is on the road to the pinnacle of career actualisation. It is equally crucial not to broad-brush all women as ‘Eve-The Uncertain'. Both are career women who will populate our workplace, but with very different expectations on their end point.<br /><br />It is indeed the rare woman professional who emerges from a break unscathed, her career growth opportunities still undamaged. This is the vital change which is required — customisation of career paths — based on a deep understanding of each woman employee's career anchors. This realisation combined with a far- thinking inclusion policy will ensure that a career woman's dreams and aspirations can be transformed into reality without her paying the penalty for also being an efficient partner and parent. This is surely not a luxury, but a dire necessity in times when productivity and employee engagement are the best form of investment.<br /><em><br />Saundarya Rajesh is founder-president, AVTAR Career Creators, and works at creating activitybased flexible careers.<br /><br />She can be reached at </em><a href="mailto:%20%3Cscript%20language=&#39;JavaScript&#39;%20type=&#39;text/javascript&#39;%3E%20%3C!--%20var%20prefix%20=%20&#39;ma&#39;%20+%20&#39;il&#39;%20+%20&#39;to&#39;;%20var%20path%20=%20&#39;hr&#39;%20+%20&#39;ef&#39;%20+%20&#39;=&#39;;%20var%20addy38155%20=%20&#39;sr&#39;%20+%20&#39;@&#39;;%20addy38155%20=%20addy38155%20+%20&#39;avtarcc&#39;%20+%20&#39;.&#39;%20+%20&#39;com&#39;;%20document.write(%20&#39;%3Ca%20&#39;%20+%20path%20+%20&#39;&#39;&#39;%20+%20prefix%20+%20&#39;:&#39;%20+%20addy38155%20+%20&#39;&#39;%3E&#39;%20);%20document.write(%20addy38155%20);%20document.write(%20&#39;%3C/a%3E&#39;%20);%20//--%3En%20%3C/script%3E%3Cscript%20language=&#39;JavaScript&#39;%20type=&#39;text/javascript&#39;%3E%20%3C!--%20document.write(%20&#39;%3Cspan%20style=&#39;display:%20none;&#39;%3E&#39;%20);%20//--%3E%20%3C/script%3EThis%20email%20address%20is%20being%20protected%20from%20spam%20bots,%20you%20need%20Javascript%20enabled%20to%20view%20it%20%3Cscript%20language=&#39;JavaScript&#39;%20type=&#39;text/javascript&#39;%3E%20%3C!--%20document.write(%20&#39;%3C/&#39;%20);%20document.write(%20&#39;span%3E&#39;%20);%20//--%3E%20%3C/script%3E"><em>sr at avtarcc dot com  </em></a></p> <script type="text/javascript"> var intro = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#commenth4').text()) var page = jQuery.trim(jQuery('#storyPage').text()) if (page.indexOf(intro) < 0) { jQuery('#commenth4').attr('style', 'display:block;') } </script> (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 20-07-2009)