Freshworks commits to more women in its offices globally
Every year on 8 March, companies around the globe release marketing campaigns centered around celebrating and empowering women. International Women’s Day is also usually a field day for florists! While we don’t question the sincerity of all the well-intentioned attempts at inclusivity and fighting gender disparity, it must be acknowledged that despite the best intentions of these companies, many of these campaigns lose steam after a few weeks or months.
We’d been caught in this rut, too, until we decided that we wanted to go beyond celebrating women just this one day of the year.
‘What one does is what counts’
Our founders and leaders have committed to the #pledgeforequality campaign—to ensure that by the end of 2020 women constitute at least one-third of the workforce at Freshworks. Our chief executive officer (CEO) and founder, Girish Mathrubootham, and our chief human resource officer (CHRO), Suman Gopalan, have, along with the entire force of over 3,000 employees at Freshworks, committed to increasing the representation of women in our offices.
This isn’t a token gesture. There’s a genuine business case for such a commitment. A study conducted by the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School has concluded that teams with lower percentages of women have lower sales and lower profits than teams with a balanced gender mix. And that profits increase as the share of women in the workforce increases to 50%.
Keep the numbers aside for a moment, because we don’t need statistics to convince us that women need to be recognized and given equal opportunities. We want more women in the workforce for one very simple yet hugely important reason—they are equally deserving, equally important, and we need them.
So this year, the good people of Freshworks have decided to live by Picasso’s words: “What one does is what counts. Not what one had the intention of doing.” We decided to challenge ourselves to ensure progressive growth and constantly encourage creating a more balanced and holistic work environment.
We are very proud of the women of Freshworks, who make their presence felt in every department, be it sales, marketing, finance, engineering, HR, or customer service. We are opening our doors wider, and welcoming more women to be a part of Freshworks and contribute to our growth and scale in a significant way.
We’ve taken the pledge and we urge you to also join us by taking the #pledgeforequality and contribute to making your workplace more diverse, holistic, and inclusive.
