By Taruka Srivastav
Amazon recently organised AmazeWIT – Amazon Women in Technology Conference 2017 in Bangalore, India which was geared towards women who were considering a profession in technology, or those already flourishing in the sector
Speaking from the conference and how the global online retail company aimed to help meet the aspirations of women who wanted to enter the tech environment was Raj Raghavan, director, human resources, APAC, Amazon.
“The objective of the conference was to inspire women to achieve their professional goals and be a guiding light for the ‘women of tomorrow’ through a host of talks, leadership sessions, panel discussions, and mentoring opportunities,” explained Raghavan.
“The event provided an opportunity to extend knowledge and insights from renowned women in technology to the community. It also revolved around networking and discussing the road-blocks that were more specific to women professionals and focused on being a mutually beneficial meeting where participants would learn and benefit from leaders and share their experience in the field,” he continued.
There is still a big gap when it comes to male female ratio in the technology sector, in India especially. According to Raghavan, the gender diversity ratio in the sector has been gradually improving but not as fast as one would like.
“At Amazon we are working to diversify our company from several different angles. We are seeking to recruit more varied employees across the company — from our entry level roles to our most senior positions. We are focused on retaining and developing diverse talent internally through training and leadership opportunities. Furthermore, we aim to ensure our work environment is inclusive — so we are looking for more ways to surface and listen to unique perspectives. We also have several initiatives that promote women empowerment and gender diversity amongst the local communities,” he continued.
“Gender diversity is not considered as a mere initiative at Amazon, but is critical to ensure growth of business. People from multiple backgrounds come together to share experiences, ideas and learnings which makes for a conducive environment where innovation thrives. When everyone feels included and motivated, together we can develop unique solutions for our diverse range of customers.”
Amazon as part of the diversity nurturing steps, especially for women in engineering earlier launched the Amazon Campus Mentoring Series (ACMS) to mentor students in engineering colleges especially women so as to ready for technical job families at Amazon.
Another initiative, Rekindle, has been designed to encourage women on a professional break to resume their corporate careers through structured on-boarding, focused mentoring and on the job training.
“Through this initiative Amazon provides opportunities to support women who intend to professionally re-integrate and recommence their job. Virtual Customer Service (VCS) is yet another initiative recently launched by Amazon to reach out to a wider talent pool and ensure a high rate of diversity. VCS aims to create cost efficient employment prospects for qualified and skilled candidates seeking the more flexible ‘Work From Home’ opportunities,” concluded Raghavan.
Source: The Drum
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