While the COVID 19 pandemic has been wreaking havoc on the world, all of the other societal issues have had to take a backseat, including the fight for gender equality. However, a company like Zomato, which has always been for equal treatment of all genders with policies like menstruation leaves and equal parental leave policy for – men, women, same-sex, surrogate or adoptive parents, is not about to sit down and let COVID overshadow all the other problems persisting in the world.
To that end, the company has now announced that it has five (5) independent members on its board of eight (8) people, four(4) of whom are women. This is a huge deal for any company, especially one as huge as Zomato, as boards of decacorns are usually filled with men, and while there is a lot of diversity at entry level profiles, it vanishes as you travel to the top of the command chain.
“We decided to turn the paradigm on its head by introducing diversity with our Board of Directors. We’re hoping this is another small step towards building a truly lasting organizational culture where everybody belongs. And everybody thrives,” said Zomato.
The company says that it is “gunning for cognitive diversity across levels” in its organisation, adding that a key prerequisite for innovation comes from cognitively diverse people.
Moreover, not only is the board a mix of different genders (as it should be), it’s also filled with people who come from a wide array of “occupational backgrounds bringing diverse cognitive skills and perspectives to the table.”
This is not the first time that Zomato has demonstrated how ‘for equality’ it is. The food delivery giant recently announced a policy, under which, women could avail 10 days of menstrual leaves per year.
This announcement comes as Zomato prepares for an IPO, according to several reports. Having a board as diverse as this could also be seen as a marketing strategy by many before the stock offering, but nonetheless, we appreciate the step.
