36% of senior positions in India’s mid-market businesses held by women: Grant Thornton report

Grant Thornton in its International Business Report on ‘Women in Business 2023 – The push for parity’, stated that all regions, (Africa, APAC, ASEAN, Latin America, North America, EU) crossed the 30 per cent figure for women in senior management for the first time.

The ASEAN region witnessed the most significant percentage points rise among the regions, from 37 per cent to 40 per cent-mark. In APAC, it increased to 32 per cent from 30 per cent in 2022, placing the region ahead of North America for the first time since 2018.

According to the report, North America was the only region to see a dip, from 33 per cent to 31 per cent.

With 36 per cent of women in leadership roles, India is ahead of the current global (32 per cent), BRIC (34 per cent), and G7 (30 per cent) averages, the ‘Women in Business’ report released on the occasion of International Women’s Day stated.

Businesses that offered hybrid, flexible, or work-from-home outperformed when it came to women in senior management, the report said.

Globally, 36 per cent of mid-market businesses are now working purely office-based, while 53 per cent have a hybrid approach, the report added.

In India, 62 per cent of such businesses are adopting a hybrid model, while 27 per cent are still primarily office based, 5 per cent of staff is permanently home-based and 5 per cent have a fully flexible schedule and choice to choose where to work from.

While there was only a slight increase in the percentage of women in senior leadership positions this year, the report stated, the percentage of women occupying roles of chief executive officer (CEO), managing director (MD) and chief information officer (CIO) has increased significantly.

On a global level, 28 per cent of businesses have female CEOs or MDs. In 2019, it was just 15 per cent, the report stated.

India Inc believes certain actions can help businesses attract and retain a strong pipeline of future leaders, a survey by Grant Thornton stated. The top three measures are:

a) 34.5 per cent: Investing in the right technology to boost engagement and inclusion

b) 31.7 per cent: Focus on implementing strong well-being training and/or support programmes

c) 31.3 per cent: Implementing cultural and behavioural change through training programmes

The findings in this report were drawn from around 5,000 interviews and surveys conducted between October and December 2022 with CEOs, managing directors, chairs, and other senior decision-makers from all industry sectors in mid-market businesses in 28 countries. In India, around 281 mid-market businesses were surveyed.

“As we continue to strive for gender parity in the workplace, it is encouraging to see progress in the representation of women in senior leadership positions. To push for better parity, businesses must adopt a hybrid or flexible approach, create a supportive and understanding culture, and focus on employee well-being and mentoring programmes that support women,” Pallavi Bakhru, Partner, Grant Thornton Bharat said, commenting on the report.

She added, “Working towards improving diversity, especially at senior levels, is not only the responsible thing to do but also the right thing to do commercially. It is a proven driver of performance. “