OUR APPROACH
Serein is founded on belief that diversity and inclusion is a science not art. We are a team of scientists and sociologists who are passionate about driving better business outcomes through diversity.
Serein partners with fast-growing companies to implement practical safety and inclusion solutions. We leverage your employee data and the latest research, to identify conscious and unconscious barriers to an inclusive culture.
Serein implements all mandated steps towards building a safe workplace in accordance to the Prevention of Sexual Harassment laws. Our team currently serves as external members for over 30 organizations. Our interactive, sensitization workshops on the law have trained over 5,000 participants. Additionally, our content on prevention of sexual harassment and culture are used by over 70 companies.
IN THE NEWS
Live Mint
Start by calming the voice in your head that makes you wonder, “Am I overreacting?” “Why am I so sensitive?” Take a moment and acknowledge your discomfort—it’s a start to respecting your own personal boundaries.
The Wire
There is something innately wrong about the way harassment is portrayed in the media and the effect it has on the reader
Live Mint
80% of women who experience harassment leave their jobs within two years. These women often choose to work in an environment perceived to be safer, but perhaps disconnected from their field of interest.
People Matters
Recognizing the impact that even subtle acts of harassment can have on the mental and emotional welling of the person facing the harassment, the law recommends an innovative redressal mechanisms. The institution of an IC in every organization ensures that complaints are addressed to in respectful and diligent manner
People Matters
In my work on organizational inclusion and safety, I have met an increasing number of leaders who believe that the success of an organization is not only dependant on business development or productivity alone but also on the culture of the workplace.
Live Mint
Chryslynn D’Costa, head, diversity and inclusion, at consultancy firm Serein, says recommendations for disciplinary action have to focus on correcting behaviour.
People Matters
While the cleanliness of the Mumbai local or the Delhi Metro may be up for debate today, this incident taught me a lot about organizational culture – It starts with picking up the little chocolate wrapper
The Wire
With the current attitude towards women in workplaces, we have to equip ourselves with stronger weapons to fight implicit biases and explicit social norms.
Live Mint
Despite advances, including legislation, over the past few decades, many companies still don’t do enough to contain workplace sexual harassment.
YourStory
Ishani puts it simply – “We don’t. We think physical is the only form, but sexist jokes are also sexual harassment – even on SMS, WhatsApp, or email messages.” She believes that it is an issue of culture at the company.
YourStory
Ishani Roy, Founder, and CEO, Serein, a Bengaluru-based consulting firm that is using a data-driven approach to promote diversity and inclusion at the workplace, says, “The Uber incident highlights that ‘growth at all costs’ approach that has been glamourised doesn’t really work in the long run."
Live Mint
“Most victims do not report due to fear of retaliation, embarrassment, lack of awareness and lack of confidence in the complaints mechanism,” says Ishani Roy, founder of Serein, a diversity and inclusion consulting firm in Bengaluru.
YourStory
Ishani and Chryslynn of Serein are positively changing work culture, dealing with sexual harassment and taking diversity beyond the two genders.
The Hindu
Class has many facets that affect employee’s recruitment and promotion in an organisation. In India, language, the accent with which English is spoken, sense of dressing and presentation are likely to influence a recruiter’s decision. Candidates that are assumed to belong to the higher class are thought to be worthy of being responsible for money, excelling at a task or seen as a representative of the best.
The Ladies Finger
Speak up against powerful, abusive men. Don’t cover for them, even if they’re mentors, family members, colleagues, or friends.They don’t need your support. Their victims do.
Business Standard
In a survey, Ficci and EY found that 36 per cent of Indian companies and 25 per cent of multinational corporations in India are not compliant with this Act. Even when companies form PoSH committees, parochial attitudes persist. It’s not uncommon to hear a business leader gripe that women use the law to their advantage or that it’s an unnecessary overhead for a business.
YourStory
According to Chryslynn D'Costa, Head: Diversity and Inclusion at Serein, “Some companies believe that merely having an anti-sexual harassment policy or forming an internal committee (IC) implies compliance with the law. A common misconception of many employees is that the law only covers physical forms of misconduct." She told YourStory,
The Hindu
How then does one explain the helplessness of the victim or the urgency of the law to someone who had never experienced harassment? How do you explain the need for gender parity to someone who has never been on the receiving end of gender inequality?
The Hindu
Addressing microaggressions is not a finite endeavour but requires consistent efforts to build a culture where microaggressions are recognised in the moment and addressed immediately by leadership and colleagues. It balances the onus of building an equitable space to all members of the organisation.
The Hindu
Inclusive hiring not only improves employee morale, but also impacts the bottom line as people prefer to do business with companies that look out for the disabled,” says Chryslynn D’Costa, who heads diversity and inclusion at Serein Inc.
The Hindu
There is a gap between good intentions and effective outcomes. Here's how a data-driven approach can help your organization track and meet its diversity and inclusion goals
The Financial Express
India’s new maternity law will only serve to widen the already dismal gender gap in the workplace. smaller companies, which are already reeling under the regulatory burden, who will be most impacted.
IIM-B Eximius Conference
This workshop focuses on finding practical insights that are impact-oriented and easily implementable.The session will be interactive and activity-based; a must-attend for both budding and established entrepreneurs.
The Hindu Business Line
Diversity is still viewed as a "woman's issue". While diversity groups and discussions are good, they are women-driven. But the workplace is predominantly male. Gender equality needs male champions.
FROM OUR BLOG
US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in June 2016, published a report that found that workplace incivility is extremely common, and often acts as a 'gateway drug' to workplace harassment
The argument of merit alone being the basis for recruitments is a just and valid one, but sometimes we have to consider the social setting we are a part of, and in which case, it becomes impossible to superimpose our presumptions of justice and idealism over a playing field which isn’t levelled to begin with.
In 2017, Joanne Lockwood, a Diversity and Inclusion Consultant herself was refused printing services by a firm due to her material being deemed ‘against religious values’.
A team of us is looking to answer some of these questions – and more – by studying startups and young organizations in India. So if you know of an Indian organization that is less than 15 years old, has at least 50 employees and would be interested in participating in such research (in return for free custom reports and recommendations from experts!), send them our way!
I am extremely proud of how much Serein has grown and achieved in the space of workplace culture and inclusion. Looking forward to an exciting and adventurous 2018 at Serein - To our new office, bigger team and all the new projects ahead.
This was a celebratory week here in Australia. The results of the marriage equality poll came through and votes in favour of legalising same sex marriage won by a landslide. It is odd that this country was the first to grant women the right to vote but the last of the English speaking countries to consider legalising same sex marriage when homosexuality is not a crime.
If the legislature is serious about introducing gender parity in personal laws, it should not focus all its energies on one particular religion.
Have specific leadership programs to promote under represented groups - they can comprise of women, LGBT employees or any other diverse set. Over the years, leadership will be inclusive and reflective of diverse society.
Very often on-lookers, investigators and the survivor’s family and friends inadvertently or deliberately reinforce the culture of silence.
Implementing technologies for the visually challenged: 3D printed Braille labels, specially designed computer keyboard with Braille scripts, AI-based mobile app (‘Seeing AI’ from Microsoft) can go a long way in making them feel comfortable and better interact with teammates & work with productivity.
Globally, on average, women work thirty-nine days more a year than men, with India topping the list.
Increasingly these days, the privileged, urban dwelling families from the middle and upper echelons of society (pick any country) study and read about gender issues – but how often do they talk about it in their households?
In how many parts of the world is it possible for a woman to walk back home alone on a long, dark and desolate stretch of road in torrential rain and not be concerned about personal safety? I have forgotten what it is to be cautious, alert or anxious when my young daughters or I walk home alone in the dark.
In America the top dream jobs for men were a professional or an Olympic athlete, and women wanted to be a teacher, veterinarian, or doctor.
So what’s wrong with expecting women and men to behave in ways that conform to their biological destinies? Shouldn’t women be expected to be nurturing, maternal, forgiving, submissive, collaborative and efficient? After all that’s what biology intended them to be. And as a corollary, since you are a woman shouldn’t you be arranging the coffee for a meeting? Or organizing the cake for a colleague’s farewell? After all it’s the extension of your nurturing instinct!
Flexi working hours, safe travel arrangements, generous leaves, and care facilities such as health check-ups, and child care options. The result? Most women don’t end up using these options available to them for fear of being singled out as having special needs and consequently being denied promotion and hike in the future.
Them 1: Women’s day is sexist.
Them 2: Why do you say so?
Them 1: Because they get all gifts and free vouchers to salon and spa and we get nothing.
Them 2: But that is not the point of women’s day...
Them 1: Whatever, it is unfair.
The organization has set up a women’s book club – not a bad idea in itself. But the leadership mandates what the women should read (red flag, anyone?!), and Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Meyer top the list. Again, wonderful and accomplished women, but his message here is that women’s advancement is the sole responsibility of women – organizations and (male) leaders have little to do with it.
High Courts and City civil courts ought to have more restrooms and baby changing stations for women (the latter is unheard of in our abodes of "justice"), women lawyers do not need to excel only in what some view soft subjects such as family law, power dressing to work does not automatically change my role to "sitting pretty" at a meeting, the length of my skirt had nothing to do with my ability to draft an SHA.
“Will this young female candidate leave after maternity?”
And rightly so! New recruits are expensive to train and onboard. Some studies peg the total cost of losing an employee anywhere from from tens of thousands of dollars to 1.5-2 times the annual salary.
In 2005, Larry Summers, the then president of Harvard, during one fine lunch talk wondered if among other reasons innate biological differences in men and women are to be blamed for women’s failure in holding tenure track positions. We have come a long way; hopefully Mr. Summers did too, but instances like these provide us with a template of our own intrinsic bias.
Building an inclusive workplace requires us to confront our biases - explicit and implicit. But biases aren't always about big issues. In most cases it's the little things that we think that add up.
‘bride price’ was common at weddings (where the bridegroom’s family paid a price to the bride’s family, in other words – not dowry!) and that there was an emphasis on equality and consent from both parties. What a wonderful idea – worship nature, respect each other and call it good.
It’s not because they are bad people and like to harass others in their free time. It’s mainly because they do not think these things happen often enough. Most men are also uncomfortable with the talk of physical harassment of any sort.
If we want a diverse and inclusive workforce, we need to start preparing for that at home. The gender pay gap is closing far too slowly - we need today's children, who are tomorrow's leaders, to understand why there should be no gender pay gap.
“You are brave” said some. “We admire your determination.” said a few others. These cheerleaders were silent when I needed them most.
Live Mint
“It is natural to be attracted or feel a sense of closeness to a colleague since we spend most of our time at the workplace,” explains Chryslynn D’Costa, head, diversity and inclusion, Serein Inc.