CII Centre for Women Leadership

Ensure all job descriptions are written using gender-neutral language and published across platforms that reach diverse applicant pools.

Implement structured interviews with standardized questions to ensure consistency and fairness in hiring decisions.

Expand and diversify talent pipelines proactively using targeted campus hiring, women-focused recruitment drives, structured referral programs, and inclusive job postings to widen access to underrepresented talent pools.

Address bias systematically in hiring and promotion decisions through mandatory bias-sensitisation workshops and inclusion training for hiring managers and structured evaluation frameworks.

Establish gender-balanced interview panels to mitigate unconscious bias and ensure fair, equitable evaluation of women candidates during the hiring process.

Implement blind resume screening processes by removing identifiers such as name, gender, and other demographic markers to reduce bias and strengthen the hiring of women.

Dedicated committees/resource groups can influence hiring committees towards pursuing inclusive hiring practices.

Select Examples:

Indian Hotels Company

Adobe

Accenture

Sector: Professional Services (Consulting and Technology Services)

Challenge Identified: Strengthening inclusive hiring and creating accessible and equitable career pathways for underrepresented groups.

Intervention: The company set measurable gender parity targets and strengthened inclusive hiring through structured recruiter training, bias mitigation, and expanded gender-based networks and Accessibility Centers globally.

Organisational Levers Used:

Established 120+ gender-based networks across 37 countries and Accessibility Centers in 36 locations.
Implemented inclusive workplace design including - automated doors, ramps, elevators and wide corridors accommodate wheelchairs and other mobility aids, while also providing braille signage, sound reduction surface treatments, adjustable desks and seating zones for unique needs
Invested in a recruitment learning program to train 3,500+ hiring-focused employees on bias mitigation, using the company’s own policies and materials.
Launched Aarambh and the Inclusive Internship Program in India, providing experiential internships for transgender people, people with disabilities and women from low-income backgrounds.
Delivered leadership programs such as Insight and Developing Our Women to support career progression.

Impact: Women represent 48% of workforce and 30% of managing directors; 680 people in India joined our flagship programs - Aarambh and the Inclusive Internship Program, 51% of Inclusive Internship participants were subsequently hired.

Source: Accenture. (2023). 360° value report 2023.

KBR

Sector: Engineering, Technology and Government Services

Challenge Identified: A 2020 internal analysis revealed gaps in gender representation and parity, requiring improvements in hiring, retention and leadership diversity.

Intervention: The company developed a sustainability policy aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, naming Inclusion & Diversity (I&D) as a priority.

Organisational Levers:

Formed a global I&D committee to assess and champion programs through the talent pipeline strategy.
The talent pipeline strategy focuses on three critical areas: targeted talent acquisition, technical and leadership development, and targeted talent reviews and succession planning, all underpinned by the company’s Global Talent Management Policy. This includes the Talent Review, Performance Management and Succession Planning procedures, which outline processes for forecasting hiring needs and actively developing existing and new pools of talent. Access to and visibility of real-time data in the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) via live dashboards allow business leaders and people managers to forecast hiring and develop new pools of talent and succession plans where and when they're most needed.
The company also implemented gender-neutral hiring and interview processes, gender-neutral job descriptions, expanded university recruiting and outreach.

Impact: Women employees across workforce, senior management, and executive management were 24 in 2023, up from 17 in 2021, while total workforce strength increased to 6,907 in 2023 from 5,815 in 2021.

Source: CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion. (n.d.). Increasing diversity and parity across the organization at KBR.

Also see: NITI Aayog. (2025). From intent to impact: A compendium of good practices on gender parity at workplace. Government of India.

HDFC ERGO General Insurance

Sector: Insurance (BFSI)

Challenge Identified: Improving gender diversity and expanding inclusion of underrepresented groups, particularly women and differently abled employees, within a traditionally male-dominated sector.

Organisational Levers:

The company launched Project Shakti to promote gender diversity across the organisation, Nari Shakti to encourage women to take up surveyor roles traditionally held by men, and Project Purple to hire differently abled individuals.
HDFC Ergo also focused on building an inclusive environment where diverse experiences are valued.

Impact: Gender diversity improved from 23% in FY23 to 25% in FY24. Over 40 differently-abled employees were hired in FY2023–24.

Source: HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited. (2024). Annual report 2023–2024.

Can Communicate & Collaboration

Sector: Media and Communications

Challenge Identified: Low representation of women in male-dominated technical roles such as cinematography and editing.

Organisational Levers:

Actively seeks women candidates for technical roles by using LinkedIn and employee referrals to broaden the talent pool beyond traditional applicants.

Impact: Broadened the talent pool for male-dominated technical roles.

Source: NITI Aayog. (2025). From intent to impact: A compendium of good practices on gender parity at workplace. Government of India.

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (Powergrid)

Sector: Power Transmission (Energy Infrastructure)

Challenge Identified: Low participation of women and underrepresented groups in technical roles such as engineering and project management.

Intervention:

Conducted dedicated recruitment drives and campus placements to attract women for technical roles in engineering and project management.
Waived application fees for certain groups (e.g., SC/ST/PwD candidates) to make the process more inclusive.

Impact: Enhanced inclusivity in recruitment and broadened access to technical roles.

Source: NITI Aayog. (2025). From intent to impact: A compendium of good practices on gender parity at workplace. Government of India.

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL)

Sector: Hospitality

Challenge Identified: Driving gender balance in the hospitality workforce and increasing women’s participation across all properties and projects under IHCL’s umbrella, including focusing on women customer’s experiences.

Intervention:

The company set a goal to increase women’s workforce participation to 25% by 2025. Towards this end, the company has implemented multiple initiatives to promote the hiring of women from diverse backgrounds into core operations at IHCL.

Organisational Levers:

Launched Diversity including Women at IHCL (DiWA), a six-month intensive training programme to induct women across hotel departments.
Committed at policy level that 50% of campus recruits are girls.
Advanced women-led operations including China Polis (Vivanta, Trivandrum) run exclusively by women and a 50% women workforce target at Taj Wellington Mews (Mumbai), currently at 45%.

Impact: Created multiple opportunities to support women-led businesses as well as integrated a gender lens in hiring and operations across all projects.

Source: The Indian Hotels Company Limited. (n.d.). IHCL announces special training programme for women from under-served communities and regions in India.

The Indian Hotels Company Limited. (n.d.). IHCL launches She Remains the Taj.

Moneycontrol. (2019). Hire, train and upskill: IHCL’s strategy to have 20% women employees by 2020.

Adobe

Sector: Technology (Software & Digital Media)

Challenge Identified: Improving representation of women globally, particularly in hiring and leadership pipelines within a technology workforce.

Organisational Levers:

Implemented inclusive recruitment practices through the Hiring at Adobe program to standardise fair hiring processes.
Required hiring managers to complete training on enhancing diverse candidate slates and inclusive interview panels.
Screened job descriptions using software to find and address biased language. Expanded a dedicated Diversity Talent Acquisition team—nearly doubling it in 2021—to focus on recruiting women and other underrepresented groups.
Ensured every hiring panel includes women and underrepresented groups, with panellists trained to focus on skills, increasing female hires in creative and tech roles.

Impact: In FY2021, Adobe hired 2,252 women globally. Women represented 33.8% of global employees, 27.2% of leadership roles, and 26.2% of technical roles.

Source: Adobe. (2022). Diversity & inclusion year in review FY2021.

Also see: NITI Aayog. (2025). From intent to impact: A compendium of good practices on gender parity at workplace. Government of India.