Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM)

Balkumari, Lalitpur

Course: Organizational Behavior

Pair Based Assignment

Workforce Diversity

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Mrs Roshee Lamichhane Bhusal Celeste Munakami (167055)

Faculty Member Shristi Pant (167065)

Organizational Behavior

Date of Submission: February 11, 2017

1. Who are the companies?

a. Accenture PLC

Founded in 1989, Accenture PLC is a global management consulting and professional

services company that provides strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations
services. The Chairman & CEO of Accenture is Pierre Nanterme. Accenture partners with
more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500, driving innovation to improve the way
the world works and lives.

Accenture continuously seeks new and different opportunities to bring about the change
needed to achieve equality, embrace diversity and provide an inclusive environment for all.
In 2017, the firm was named 14th in the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by DiversityInc. It
was included for the first time in the Disability Equality Index (DEI), receiving a perfect
score of 100 out of 100.

No. of Employees Worldwide: 425,000 (2017)

Website: https://www.accenture.com/us-en/company

b. The SDC Swiss Cooperation Office Nepal

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is Switzerland’s international
cooperation agency within the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).This
development organization focuses primarily on conflict prevention and transformation, social
development, good governance, promoting economic structures and safeguarding natural
resources.

The SDC Swiss Cooperation Office Nepal provides the strategic orientation for the activities
of the Swiss Government to support inclusive democratic state-building and to promote
human security and socio-economic development in Nepal. The SDC Swiss Cooperation
Office Nepal is located at Ekantakuna, Jawalakhel.

The major principles of this organization to promote workforce diversity in Nepal are:

 Ensuring equitable development for men and women

 Fostering understanding between different cultures

Email: kathmandu@sdc.netINGO

Website: https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/nepal/en/home/representations/embassy-
kathmandu/embassy-tasks/cooperation-office.html
2. What are the policies?

a. Policies of Accenture

Accenture believes “that no one should be discriminated against because of their differences,
such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, religion or sexual
orientation.” So, some of its policies to promote workforce diversity are:

 Diversity training: The training within the company is broken into 3 different categories
 Diversity Awareness – to help people understand the benefits of working with a
diverse organisation
 Diversity Management – to equip executives to manage diverse teams
 Professional Development – to enable women, LGBT and ethnically diverse
employees to build skills for success.
 Accessibility for people with disabilities: The company recently created its
Accessibility Council, members of which are senior leaders who are charged with
decisions pertaining to accessibility at Accenture. The organisation also hosts a company-
wide celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
 Transparency of Data: For the first time in 2016, Accenture released its U.S. workforce
demographics, including breakdowns by ethnicity, gender, people with disabilities and
veterans. It plans to continue this disclosure in the future in order start a new level of
dialogue and collaboration to make progress on diversity and inclusion.
 Intense focus on hiring: Program for referrals of diverse individuals focusing on gender,
ethnic minorities, and veterans to increase the applicant pool from these groups.
 Diverse leadership: Placing diverse group of people on the executive level (manager and
above).
 Zero-tolerance environment: Code of Business Ethics and Conduct Counts will be
followed in the company to stop bullying and sexual harassment.

b. Policies of Swiss Cooperation Office Nepal

Swiss Cooperation Office Nepal believes in the work diversity and believes it as an inclusive
workforce made by the people of different cultures, thinking, believes and qualities. They
have also tried to strengthen their diverse workforce through implementation of different
policies within the organization to provide equal opportunities and eliminate discrimination:

 Affirmation action and priorities: To align its recruitment policy and procedures
toward social inclusion and gender equality, it has also introduced affirmation actions and
priority that changes according to the demographic context and district of the country.
They consider gender and caste/ethnicity as one of the selection criteria for recruitment
process and establishes following priorities:
 1st priority: Dalit woman Dalit man, Woman from Janajati, Madhesi, Ethnic
minorities, woman/man from discriminated Newar castes
  2nd priority: Woman from B/C/T(Bahun, Chhetri, Thakuri) and Newar caste man
from Janajati, Madhesi, ethnic minorities with poor economic backgrounds
 3rd priority: Man from Janajati, Ethnic minorities
 Reservation for “women and dalits” for positions at middle and senior levels (Programme
Officer, District Coordinator, Project Manager/Team Leader plus deputy positions of
these categories) until the staff composition reaches a benchmark of 30% women and
10% Dalits at these positions.
 In case of any deviation from clearly established gender and caste/ethnicity priorities, one
must justify in writing and get approval from the authorities.
 Equitable access of Information to wider populace especially to the Discriminated Groups
by announcing vacancies both in English and Nepalese languages.
 To encourage and promote participation of discriminated groups, the organization (i)
gives due attention to their needs and expectations on its staff policy (e.g. scholarship; (ii)
supports career development (performance evaluation, regular coaching & feedback
sessions, mentoring and training); and (iii) provides diversity awareness training.
 Under consistent monitoring of its performance and achievement, Swiss Cooperation
Office Nepal will conduct staff composition survey every year focusing on disaggregated
data – both quantitative and qualitative - on gender, caste/ethnicity, position, age, etc.
 Recruitment and selection processes are conducted internally as far as possible to ensure
conformity with its policies and core values.
 Potential candidate who falls under “1st Priority” group are offered Internship/
apprenticeship.

3. How do these policies attract and keep people?

The policies of Accenture keep and attract people in the following ways:

 The diversity training within Accenture ensures that executives can handle diverse teams
and their needs like in order to make them feel included and valued.
 As the people of all gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability can get additional
training and support from the beginning; they can develop their career and get
promotions. This helps to increase job satisfaction among employees, reduce turnover and
retain talent for a long term.
 Making the office usable by people with a range of disabilities along with flexible work
arrangements and technological assistance can help attract and keep differently abled
people with talent and potential.
 Transparency in Accenture’s work demographics data creates trust between the company
and its employees. It shows to the company’s workforce and general public that it
supports and promotes diversity.
 Those people who have faced discrimination and inequality based other factors except
talent and capabilities are attracted to Accenture because of its diversity friendly policies
and freedom of expression for all. So, workers from all backgrounds are more likely to
feel comfortable, confident and happy in such environment which boosts productivity.
 Its policies make the employees feel safe and secured which helps in retaining them.

Hence, inclusion and diversity are essential for a high performing, talent-led organization.
Their policies help people to understand the benefits of working in a diverse organization.
Accenture’s diversity makes it stronger, smarter and more innovative, which helps them
better serve the needs of their clients, people and communities.

In order to attract people and keep the people and promote the work diversity the Swiss
Cooperation Office Nepal has done a lot contribution in the policies and equal employment
opportunities.

 The organization believes that the workforce diversity is the responsibility of the
management and management needs to communicate and reinforce the fairness, equality
and inclusion through word and action. This attracts all those minority groups in Nepal
who seek equal opportunity to showcase their talent.
 By ensuring equitable access of information to all the employees mostly the discriminated
groups by the organization, the employees are able to do their work properly without any
complications to understand the related information which boosts their productivity.
 The organization also encourages the active participation of all the employees of different
ethnicity during mostly in the process of the selection and recruitment of employee or
trainee for the projects which motivates the employees positively.
 Through workforce diversity cooperation and coordination also increases with the
development and inflow of different information and knowledge to the individuals as
well. In addition it also promotes team morale within the organization.
 Its policies help employees of different gender, caste, religion, age and so on to learn,
grow, and become competitive in the job market through exposure and participation in
field visits, common events, internal workshops and training programs.
 The diversity awareness training helps to handle conflict in a constructive manner, reduce
stress and negative energy creating a favourable work environment.

Thus, the organization tries to maintain and retain their policies and promote the workforce
diversity as it can strengthen an organization by providing different ideas and views and
perspectives regarding the goals and the work which helps the organization not only to
achieve its targeted goals but it also might discover new goals and mission.