At KAPITAL, we pride ourselves on being a workplace where inclusivity is not just a principle but a practice. However, as we’ve seen in recent discussions, upholding inclusivity in hiring presents unique challenges, particularly when balancing safety, performance, and logistical realities.
These challenges often push us to ask hard questions: How do we maintain our commitment to inclusivity without compromising performance? Can we truly be inclusive while acknowledging practical limitations?
As we reflected on these questions, a teammate raised concerns about the difficulty of hiring women for our Bangalore office due to the safety risks. This concern spurred us to seek creative solutions. It’s a complex situation that highlights a tension between our values and the operational realities, but it’s a challenge we’re committed to navigating with honesty and integrity..
Inclusivity at KAPITAL means offering equal opportunities to all, regardless of gender, background, or ability. However, the reality of night shifts and challenging commutes for our team in Bangalore introduces complications. Ensuring the safety of female employees working late shifts, for example, is a legitimate concern that impacts our hiring approach.
To address these challenges, we are evaluating several viable solutions:
Transportation Services: While providing transportation may seem like an obvious solution, it presents its own set of challenges. Reliable transportation requires thorough vetting to ensure employee safety. We continue to explore the
various alternatives.
Adjusting Work Hours for the Offshore Team: This option holds some potential but it doesn’t fully address our needs since our offshore team must support our North America-based clientele and would need to be available for
considerable overlapping hours
Remote Work: Although a significant portion of our team remains remote, some roles require a higher level of team engagement and partnership to achieve success, making this less feasible at this time.
These challenges don’t diminish our commitment to inclusivity, rather they compel us to confront the practical limitations we must navigate.
We have had our fair share of experiences focused on building inclusive teams for our offshore locations, leading to key lessons. While inclusivity is essential, it cannot come at the expense of performance and results.
In one of our offices, our primary goal was to build a team of young professionals eager for growth and learning, regardless of their backgrounds and experiences. If they wanted to work hard and learn, we were ready to give them the time, opportunities, and experience they needed to grow in their professional journeys. Despite our best efforts to create a diverse and inclusive workforce, the initiative didn’t align with the high-performance standards at KAPITAL.
We worship at the altar of consistent performance and results - a trait every Kapitalian must possess. Unfortunately, this team did not see either performance or results for an extended period. This experience served as a valuable lesson: inclusivity must be balanced with the demands of roles and the expectations of our clients.
For us, it’s not about choosing one over the other but about integrating both—ensuring our drive for inclusivity doesn’t compromise the quality of our work or the standards we uphold.
Also Read: Performance and Results: The Cornerstone of KAPITAL
For us, inclusivity isn’t just about hiring—it’s about how we treat people in every interaction. We are in the business of people and every conversation with a Kapitalian must be respectful, inclusive, and empathetic.
To ensure this, we are focusing on internal education and training:
Training on Bias and Communication: Our team receives regular training to help them recognize and overcome unconscious biases. This includes learning how to handle sensitive conversations with empathy and respect.
Inclusive Screening Processes: We’re refining our screening processes to ensure no candidate is disqualified due to personal biases or superficial judgments.
Recorded Calls for Training: By using recorded calls for training purposes, we can help our team learn from real interactions and improve their communication skills.
The key to success lies in being pragmatic. Inclusivity doesn’t mean ignoring the logistical realities of safety or performance. Instead, it means recognizing those realities and adapting without compromising on performance. Inclusivity and performance can coexist, but only with careful planning, thoughtful execution, and a commitment to creativity in problem-solving.
For example, while we may not always be able to offer night shifts to women in Bangalore, we can provide alternative options, such as flexible hours, transportation solutions, or remote roles. In addition, we have implemented a 4-day workweek policy that compensates for the challenges of night shifts.
This thoughtful approach ensures that our employees can maintain work-life balance while contributing to the organization’s success. Our commitment to a reduced workweek, even amid a challenging business environment, underscores our dedication to our employees and their well-being. We resisted the temptation to revert to a traditional 5-day work week, prioritizing our team’s needs and enhancing productivity.
Inclusivity isn’t just about ensuring everyone is treated equally—it’s about making sure everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed within the parameters of what is safe, practical, and productive.
At KAPITAL, we don’t compromise on our values, nor do we compromise on performance. However, we acknowledge that inclusivity is an evolving process. It’s not something we achieve and move on from—it’s a value we constantly refine as we learn from our experiences and adjust to new challenges.
Moving forward, we will continue to uphold our commitment to inclusivity while recognizing the realities that sometimes complicate its complete execution. By being sincere and transparent about the challenges we face, and remaining open to creative solutions, we can find the balance that allows inclusivity and reality to thrive side by side.
We’re committed to learning from these experiences, improving our processes, and ensuring that KAPITAL remains a place where inclusivity isn’t just a goal—it’s a core part of who we are.
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