‘Respect for one another’ and ‘Fairness’ are two cornerstones of Volvo Group’s ways of working.

-Dimitrov Krishnan

President, ICEMA & Managing Director, Volvo CE India.

At Volvo Group & Volvo Construction Equipment India, we are proud of our inclusive work environment, which fosters supportive energy and encourages individual growth and strong teams. We truly value a diverse workforce and expect everyone to observe applicable laws against discrimination.

The Equal Opportunity Employer policy at Volvo Group India, also known as ‘Volvo for All’ plays a crucial role in strengthening our working environment by bringing out the best in people.

From ‘JD Decoder’, a platform that helps in highlighting gender bias content and suggests alternatives & making our job advertisements more attractive to competent candidates, to conducting a Gender-Pay equity analysis to close the pay gap with salary planning budget secured, Volvo Group has been striving to ensure pay parity, equal opportunity, and equal rewards & recognition.

Volvo Group India also launched Interviewing Skills workshops with modules incorporated on D&I, Non-discrimination etc. So far, over 100 interviewers have been certified. Through this, we see a deeper engagement of our leaders, managers, and people across the organization than before, and as a result a higher candidate experience and an increase in our gender diversity numbers from 19% to 23% including our IW and OW workforce.  

The DE&I team at Volvo Group India have also conducted a series of workshops with People Managers across the group On Unconscious bias – to create sensitivity around how unconscious bias can adversely affect our relationships with our colleagues and, thereby, the proper functioning of any organization.

We believe that ‘Respect for one another’ and ‘Fairness’ are two cornerstones of Volvo Group’s ways of working. ‘Volvo for all’ reaffirms our commitment to provide a workplace which is free from any discrimination and provides equal opportunity to all, based on capability and irrespective of the backgrounds. A case in point is our gender-neutral parental care support and POSH, workplace flexibility & celebration of special days like International Women’s & Men’s Day, Persons with Disabilities Day. Our recent International Women’s Day celebration was held with much aplomb.

The IWD2023 saw sessions like Language Matters, a special hour dedicated to understanding the ways to adopt inclusive language in personal & professional lives. It will build trust in the minds of both – aspiring candidates and existing talent – towards ensuring an inclusive work environment. It will also help us attract and engage the best and diverse talent, thus ensuring broader and varied perspectives towards our decision-making. This is another step forward towards our aspiration of “Being the most admired employer in our industry”.

Volvo Group in India has been running multiple initiatives to create opportunities to encourage more women participation in current workspace & future leaderships roles. Noteworthy are ExcelHer Program to bring women on career breaks back into corporate roles, Lean In circles for peer mentorship, skill building & inspiration, mPowerHER that aims to accelerate the leadership journey for women in their early & mid careers and ofcourse certain Focused Recruitment Programs.

The aim of these Focused Recruitment Programs is Breaking Stereotypes and busting myths surrounding women working on the shopfloor. Our ‘Women in Manufacturing Program’ is a special five weeks’ targeted training program which focuses on training modules like basic of assembly, quality checks, waste segregation, ergonomic to on-the-job role for sharpening of skills. While the Women Apprenticeship Program hires women trainees on the shopfloor to create a strong talent pipeline to achieve ambitious target of 25% women industrial workers by 2025.

This has led to a 6% rise in the diversity ratio on the shopfloor, and more importantly a mindset shift amongst the male workforce, and efficiency improvements. Our objective is to attain 35% women employees & women leaders by 2030.

Continuing this journey, we at Volvo Construction Equipment India is working with educational institutions to see how we can improve the intake of women in the mechanical engineering stream. We piloted a program called ‘Girls in Mechanical Engineering’ where school girls where mentored, and a visit was arranged to our Peenya manufacturing plant. These sessions helped build their confidence of aspiring for a career in this industry & improved their interest in pursuing the STEM stream. The girls also interacted with the women workforce at the shopfloor to understand the opportunities of pursuing a career in this field. This initiative gave them a first-hand experience of what working in a manufacturing organisation looks like which broke many of their perceptions. The girl students and the teachers will be the brand ambassadors for women to choose mechanical engineering and automobile engineering as a career.

While the construction and any heavy equipment industry in India is heavily dominated by men, there are some wonderful women figures who are making their mark as well. For instance, Jayashree Satyaprakash Mallapur, Proprietor at Vidyaranya Stone Crushers, at Gokak in Belgaum District of Karnataka has been running her organization through the 3Ps pillar – Planning, Preparation and Patience. Volvo CE India aim is to bring such stories of inspiration forward & create maximum visibility around this aspect, to inspire communities around us.

Dimitrov Krishnan

President, ICEMA & Managing Director, Volvo CE India

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