Focusing on gender equality, IKEA India plans on creating 10,000 employment opportunities in Maharashtra

• IKEA India’s Mumbai store is all set to create employment opportunities for the localites with over 10,000 jobs in merchandising, store operations, supply chain and allied assembly services.
  
  
• The e-commerce retailer plans on having 50% of its workforce to be women as well as recruiting from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.
  
  
• More than just creating employment, the store plans on enforcing better employee policies to provide a conducive work environment.

Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA is ready to expand its operations in India employing 10,000 people directly and indirectly with the launch of its second store in India. In order to maintain a gender equal workplace, the company plans on making sure that at least half of its hires are women.

The store opening in India’ financial capital, Mumbai, is expected to be operational by 2019 and has opened its doors to hiring from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities as well.

The Mumbai store will create 5,000 direct employment opportunities, as well as another 5,000 indirect jobs, in the retail sector. That’s a total of 10,000 people being employed by IKEA that they say will contribute to the growth of the retail sector in the state of Maharashtra.

Their idea of inclusion and equality are very much in line with Maharashtra government’s development initiatives, said Rajesh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Labour Department, Maharashtra government in a conversation with India Today.

Coming to equality

Women empowerment in the workplace is currently a hotly debated topic in India with the advent of the #MeToo movement taking over social platforms. The world’s largest e-commerce retailer has thus decided to enforce an equal ratio of women onboard across levels.

And rather on focusing exclusively on the equality of women, the company reported that they are open to recruiting professionals from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.

IKEA’s strategic planning also includes employing better employee policies in order to have a healthy workforce such as day care facilities, pension plans, and mentoring.

Per Hornell, IKEA India’s Market Manager in Maharashtra, commented that the state is an extremely important market and unique in terms of its lively and diverse culture, entrepreneurial spirit and utilization of space.

Having invested ₹7 billion, the IKEA’s new store in Mumbai sprawls across 23 acres. The company also plans to launch its third store in Bengaluru with an aim of opening 25 new stores in the coming years at a total investment of ₹105 billion in the Indian market.

Right now, IKEA only one store in the city of Hyderabad with 1,000 employees on board.

In fact, IKEA is the first major single brand retailer that caters to individual customers that successfully got Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approval in India. In order to capitalise on that opportunity, the company plans on opening several stores in major cities across the country over the next 10 years.