PepsiCo India is hiring more women workforce to its top deck

Beverages and snacks giant PepsiCo India has more women in leadership roles than most of the companies and it is planning to improve the count further.

The company is planning to have at least 40% women among its top deck in India in the near future. Currently, the company has around 23% women at managerial positions and is already leading in gender diversity. The company currently has 5 women in its 14-member executive committee.

"I think there is enough empirical evidence globally now to show that higher representation of women on boards over a long period of time produce better results. That's what most people are seeking .Getting the numbers is just one part. The second is to create the culture, and the third is to have role models in the company. When women see women in the management team, they aspire to be there," PepsiCo India CEO D Shivakumar told ET.

"Anyone can provide policies, but providing a culture which fosters and encourages women at work is difficult. For big company initiatives and change agenda, the tone from the top is very important for the rest of the managerial cadre to say that this is the mandate in the company," Shivakumar added.

Women that are part of company’s executive committee are Suchitra Rajendra: vice president-HR; Kimsuka Narsimhan: senior vice president-finance; Deepika Warrier: vice president-nutrition category; Neelima Dwivedi: vice president-corporate affairs; and Poonam Kaul: vice president communications.

PepsiCo is said to follow a principle that is to hire the best women and have a performance culture in the company.

The company launched a programme in which it identifies senior managers who it sees as a leader in 10-15 years.
Except the managerial level, the company is also looking forward to increasing the gender diversity for FMCG sector.

"The objective is to familiarize and acquaint graduates and post graduates from tier I, II towns through skill-building workshops on skills required for the workplace, assess them and help them with job opportunities," Suchitra Rajendra told ET.

Around 1,000 students have been covered by the programme so far and the count is expected to go up this year to create an impact on 10,000 women in the country.