Trane Technologies emphasizes on achieving gender parity in senior leadership positions

Shirin Salis, Vice President- Human Resources, Trane Technologies

“We have seen and heard national conversations about gender diversity in technology area, women are still underrepresented in the technology industry. Women account for only 16% of senior level technology jobs and 10% of executive positions, according to the "Quantifying the Gender Gap" study by Entelo.

Several initiatives have been launched and many organisations are working towards overcoming this challenge. Also, there are government programmes like the Women Empowerment Program that provide funding and assistance to female technopreneurs.

Private businesses are also making efforts to encourage inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Several IT firms have put practices in place, such as blind hiring procedures and the creation of diversity and inclusion committees, to lessen biases in hiring and promotion. Moreover, several businesses have started mentorship programmes and employee resource groups exclusively for women in technology.

Also, there is a rising awareness of the value of STEM education for women and girls in India, with several organisations and projects aiming to improve access and opportunities for female students to study and succeed in STEM fields.

The achievement of gender balance is crucial for our organisation. For each business unit and function in India, we have established diversity targets, and we have revised our hiring procedures to support these efforts. We make sure that for every position we interview, we have a diverse slate of candidates. To make sure we are moving in the right direction, our leadership team meets every month to go through metrics related to gender diversity and take proactive measures in hiring, promotion and retention. Our programs like Sponsoring Women to Success, also target women in supervisory/managerial roles and allocate them sponsors who provides active support and are advocates of the sponsored woman employee. This is not a guarantee or promise for advancement but a representation of the sponsor for the woman employee in the right fora & to help them gain visibility for Career Advancement. It is also an opportunity for the beneficiary to obtain real time feedback and guidance on their career aspirations.

At Trane Technologies, we are committed to achieving gender parity in senior leadership positions, and dramatically increase women in management positions. Women now occupy five out of twelve seats on our Board of Directors, and representation of women in management roles increased from 21.7% in 2020 to 23.1% in 2021. Representation of women in senior leadership roles increased from 21.4% in 2020 to 24.6% in 2021. In total, women comprise 25.5% of our global workforce.  At our India Engineering & Technology Center, our hiring ratio of gender diverse candidates has increased to 40% women engineers over the past two years.

With various efforts, like the #ChooseToChallenge campaign for Women's History Month, Women in Leadership, and Men as Allies, the Gender Diversity Employee Resource Group (ERG) also helps to promote awareness of our gender diversity agenda. We required the Mitigating Unconscious Bias training from the Learning Management System last year for all our people managers in India. The biases in many facets of talent management, including calibration, onboarding, performance reviews, talent promotion, succession planning, interviewing, recruiting, and sourcing, are covered in this bite-sized course. To further consolidate their learning, we planned three facilitator-led sessions on the three important topics of onboarding, interviewing, and performance reviews. All our people managers participated in this course.

I strongly believe in the power of a collaborative culture.  In our organization, we encourage employees to balance personal & professional life and agree that this is possible when we have supportive leaders and collaborative focused teams.  Sharing best practices, supporting each other, and solving problems together is a way of life.  All this woven together in our culture makes work life balance a lesser challenge.   Some work principles I go by are as follows:

-              Getting my priorities clear at the current stage of my life. This requires some reflection and asking oneself – ‘What do I want at each phase of my life?’

-              It’s alright to decelerate or slow down; however, not lose sight of my ambition.

-              Like our fingerprints are unique, our lives are unique too.  Don’t get carried away with something that is working for someone else.

-              Move away from Mommy guilt – move from what I “should do” to what I “can do”.

-              Find the sweet spot to spend quality time. It need not be complex.

-              Being Honest about my limitations

I ensure that I have adequate “me time” to reflect and take care of myself.  I don’t get too hung up on work life balance – I work towards work life integration!”