• Great Place to Work Sri Lanka Co-Founder, CEO, and Director, Kshanika Ratnayaka explains the conscious and unconscious biases prevalent in the workplace

 According to the World Bank’s collection of developmental indicators, the female labour force in Sri Lanka was just 33.5% in 2021. According to Government reports, the unemployment rate for females in the first quarter of last year (2022) was 6.5%. While the statistics bear witness to some startling facts, what is not overt are employer perceptions in hiring women and being gender inclusive.

In our series celebrating the International Women’s Month on Kaleidoscope is the Great Place to Work – Sri Lanka’s Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Director Kshanika Ratnayaka, who works with organisations to build a high trust and high performance culture in workplaces.

Possessing 30 years of corporate, entrepreneurial, and management consultancy experience, Ratnayaka has demonstrated superior leadership and management skills as well as great planning and execution of complex projects and resources in multicultural environments.

Prior to setting up the Great Place to Work – Sri Lanka, Ratnayaka was the Founding Executive Director of the Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies, which is the industry body of the information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in Sri Lanka, Founding CEO/Executive Director of C-Level, LLC, and a Principal at the Washington Technology Partners (WTP Capital), United States of America. Given her expansive knowledge and familiarity with global IT/BPO business trends, Ratnayaka advised companies across the globe on business linkages and investment opportunities in Asia. She honed her skills in the local IT industry for 18 years, taking on roles such as the Director/CEO of Computer Systems Limited and Associate Systems Engineer at the International Business Machines Corporation World Trade Corporation in Sri Lanka. As a woman at the forefront of Sri Lanka’s workforce and with a finger on the pulse of these organisations, Ratnayaka knows what is going on.

Following are excerpts of the interview.

What are employers looking for when hiring women, especially post-Covid-19?

 The workplace has changed completely and the way we react and the skill-sets required have also changed. As a result, there’s more space for women’s true capabilities and opportunities to be absorbed into the workforce in the context of what is needed today. What employers seek are soft skills – resilience, adaptability or agility, and emotional intelligence.

For decades, there have been movements and organisations seeking to establish gender equality in the workplace. Have these movements made any headway especially when it comes to changing the mindset of employers?

 It has been a battle for about 50 years since the women’s rights movements gained momentum in the 1970s and there has been some headway. It is all about creating awareness and sensitisation. It is not that we are 100% there, but these movements have helped contribute towards employers being more aware of women’s rights, their competencies and capabilities, and what they bring to the workplace. 

As a result, more employers are open to bringing women into the workforce because they know their contribution, talents, skills, bringing balance to an organisation, and their value addition to the bottom line, overall creating a more gender-balanced environment. But, we still continue to deal with unconscious bias.

What are the myths or stereotypes associated with employing women that are still prevalent? Why does not good sense prevail in these instances?

 A primary myth is that women aren’t good for certain roles or that they cannot do certain types of work, including probably, leading and managing people, or collaborating, so they don’t necessarily get those roles to become managers or leaders in organisations. In science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related work, and in logistics, some specific roles may be perceived, and because of stereotyping, some roles are more male gender familiar, which means that more men are hired to take on these roles.

Another myth is that women are mostly interested in child-care and home-care and, therefore, it is their primary responsibility. Work and career development is second, which means a woman will not put the same amount of effort into developing careers as a man.

A third myth is that women take more time off, spending less time at work due to all the other responsibilities that they have.

While these myths have diminished, they still exist. Good sense doesn’t prevail as it is entirely a mindset and an unconscious bias, which we need to continue creating awareness about.

What can women – who are in decision-making roles – do to help more women cross that threshold?

 A greater part has to be done by the women who have been there before. They have to start by ensuring that their workplaces and environments are more women-friendly and inclusive. But, this is not just about hiring women now, although this is a top priority in workplace agendas. It is about increasing numbers, percentages, goals, objectives, targets, and implementing quota systems.

We need women who will mentor other women from start-ups to leadership positions, providing opportunities for leadership roles with training, development, skills and knowledge related gaps, and growing confidence. Most important in creating gender equality in the workplace is harnessing the energy and support of men to help women gain these leadership roles.

In what industry spaces can women contribute the most?

 Women are traditionally known as caregivers; hence, they are good at caring, servicing, and being detail oriented. By default, women get tabbed into healthcare and service related work, social services, education, training, hospitality, and even public relations, branding, and content development. However, increasingly, there are more women contributing to the agriculture industry, albeit informally, and also in the STEM areas.

When it comes to gender inclusivity, especially for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) community, have there been positive changes in employers’ psyche in terms of hiring policies?

 There’s a yes and no here. On the psyche front, there’s much happening in terms of diversity and inclusion; this is the buzz in the workplace. Of course, diversity is much more than just gender but gender identity and sexual orientation comes into the core context of diversity. So, there is awareness and the realisation of the value of diversity in the workplace. This is the yes part.

When it comes to the no part of the answer, nothing much has changed in terms of policy. People hire for diversity, not asking questions related to gender identity because of sensitivity, but except for stating fairness and not having an unconscionable bias when hiring, there’s no clear cut policy.

The country is not legally open to homosexuality or gay marriage and it’s not publicly spoken about, so if there is no policy for an organisation to adhere to in hiring or encouraging LGBTQ+ employees, there is a fundamental problem.

Where do we start initiating attitudinal change in Sri Lanka in order to enable a higher employment percentage of the LGBTQ+ community?

 We need continuous movement and lots of noise to be made by the community and communities supporting the movement. Just as women fought for rights and equal opportunities in the workplace, there has to be awareness created for the LGBTQ+ community as well.

Because it is not legal, we can’t collect data, which means that gender identity is hidden by most people. We don’t have data patterns to put out for discussion on what we need to do.

For organisations to change policy and be more open, we need more acceptance and change at the Government level. It is only then that organisations will start putting specific policies that address these concerns and harness that talent. There is a fully expansive pipeline of talent there and we’re missing out because we’re not pulling that talent in.

What trends are we seeing globally in adding gender inclusivity into the workplace?

 Diversity, equity, and inclusion are the biggest buzzwords in the workplace culture. These are all on the agendas of global and local organisations. At the strategic level, organisations invest in diversity programmes in order to ensure that there’s action and not just rhetoric.

However, diversity is only one aspect. The tricky part is in ensuring that your workplace is inclusive because while you can hire for diversity, they may still not feel included or part of the collaborative work environment. Global workplaces are establishing processes and policies, redefining job descriptions to be less gender specific and observing how people contribute via talent rather than their sexual orientation. These are helping organisations optimise their results in terms of diversity and inclusion.

(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media.)