As an organisation, we are committed to enhancing the representation of women in frontline roles – a sector traditionally dominated by cisgender men. Women in these positions have consistently demonstrated strong professional skills while engaging with customers. To support the skills that our women employees bring with them, we launched “Her Canvas,” which is a programme designed to facilitate their career growth within our organisation.
Her Canvas is aimed at breaking barriers for women in the agrochemical sector, which has especially low women representation in functions like sales. The challenges faced by women on-ground in remote locations in rural India are real and the team at the Crop Protection Business were determined to facilitate inclusive hiring of women at a large scale, to set an example in the industry. After a rigorous search, 57 women candidates joined various teams across Sales, Trade Marketing, and our farmer contact centre, Hello Godrej.
They were selected after a detailed screening process involving technical tests and panel interviews. We invited them all to our head office for a thorough induction programme that acquainted them with all the business functions. We also arranged a special interaction for them with our MD and CEO. This was joined by inductions and market visits at regional offices, and a closely defined six-month-long learning journey towards on-roll positions. We worked closely with our National Sales Manager and Unit Managers to identify the right territories across India where women could be hired in sales roles for learning and safety mapping.
Starting 2025, we’ve also tried to ensure safer commutes by assigning cars with verified drivers, as needed, to HerCanvas women hires residing in remote locations. Our regional HR team connects with all HerCanvas hires once a week to address any issues that are brought to our attention. We also conducted two sensitisation sessions for the Crop Protection Business (CPB) Leadership Team and Sales team leads on Inclusive Leadership and Managing Diverse Teams to address some real concerns on ground, such as balancing performance with empathy, questions of safety, and being meaningful allies.
We’ve also hired in functions like Hello Godrej, an initiative for establishing a Farmer Contact Centre consisting of an all-women team including the supervisor (a first in the industry!) and Trade Marketing.
Text and Image by GAVL’s DEI team