We have taken a number of key initiatives to ensure a comfortable & sustainable working environment for women.

BKR Prasad

Head – Marketing & Product Development, Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company

The manufacturing sector is witnessing a technology revolution with increasingly enhanced adoption of technology including IoT, AI, smart factories, robotics, to name a few. This offers a huge opportunity for women pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) degrees to consider shop floor roles that are aligned to STEM portfolios.

Being an Engineering company and having two large manufacturing facilities which deploy the best of manufacturing technologies, Tata Hitachi has taken a number of key initiatives to ensure a comfortable and sustainable working environment for women. We believe in providing flexible work opportunities for working mothers, promoting gender equality & merit-based growth. We recruit fresh engineers from engineering colleges and diploma holders which have a good representation of women.

Some of the key initiatives undertaken by Tata Hitachi towards enabling workforce diversity and inclusion of women in the workforce include:

• Formation of women affinity groups at all locations to build proximity among women employees, with a purpose to understand and engage with each other, identify underlying issues, and take collective action to resolve such issues through involvement of senior management.
• Identification of job activities for women on the shop floor and study of specific, ergonomically efficient requirements for women. In light of this, we continuously strive to make changes wherever possible to make the working environment more comfortable for women employees. Procuring safety equipment, vests, shoes and uniform specifically for women according to their convenience and comfort has enabled our shop floor colleagues to work comfortably.
• We conduct regular assessments to provide workplace amenities. Examples include supporting our women employees by arranging safe accommodation and transport facilities.
• Training of employees for gender sensitisation, coupled with regular feedback sessions with women employees helps identify problems and provide resolutions.
• We have initiated mentorship programmes, wherein senior women officers guide and mentor junior women officers and new recruits.  
• Providing challenging assignments to women employees like running CNC Machines and operating excavators. This has been highly appreciated and been well received by our women workforce who look forward to such opportunities.
• Engaging women in equipment operator training centres, upskilling them to operate heavy equipment as well as involving women officers in workshops for refurbishing of machines at our factories has been our endeavour. Today, women officers in Tata Hitachi are hand-holding fresh graduates to train them to operate heavy equipment and refurbish machines.

To further enhance the inclusion of women in the workforce and create awareness about gender equality and women empowerment, it is essential that the industry along with the government, social organisations and civil society at large, jointly initiate programs aimed towards creating a conducive working environment for women.

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