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‘I’ve never stopped & I don’t know how to’
While
motherhood may be an enriching experience, it is also a vulnerable phase
for women as their careers take a back seat. But Anjali Bansal, managing
director of Spencer Stuart, found a way around it. Then a consultant with
McKinsey, she put her data analytical skills to work. Bansal conducted a
dipstick study of 15 mothers — some of whom had continued with their
careers and some had bid goodbye. “For those who continued, the first few
years were hard but the payoffs were worth it. They felt happier and more
satisfied than those who opted out,” says the mother of two boys.
Years later, when she moved to Spencer Stuart to
set up the global corporate governance and leadership consulting firm’s
India business, she ensured that like her, the women employees under her
didn’t put their careers on hold because of motherhood. Though a secretary
is expected to be at the boss’s beck and call, in Bansal’s case, she has
given her assistant the liberty to work from home. The arrangement has been
on for five years.
This flexi-option has been extended to another four
“high-performing” women. “I don’t want to lose good people to maternity.
Motherhood is not a debilitating illness and those who have self conviction
can continue working. The mindset that you have to be in office needs to be
changed. All you need is the right connectivity and broadband,” says the
42-year-old.
An advocate of “job sharing”, a concept that is in
nascent stages in the country, Bansal says, “For the system to work, you
need a robust
back office team, besides mutual respect between those in the office and
those who work from home.”
Besides motherhood, a woman faces two other crucial
challenges in her personal life — when children reach the board exam stages
and when she has to take care of aging parents. “For both, the
responsibilities tend to fall on women. Companies should acknowledge this
and provide support for these bumps on the road,” Bansal says.
A computer engineer from Gujarat University, Bansal
never imagined herself as a techie. After a brief stint at Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO), she went to Columbia University for a
master’s programme in international affairs. Through campus, she got placed
at McKinsey’s New York office, where she also met her husband Sandeep
Singhal, now co-founder of venture capital fund Nexus.
In 2000, the duo moved to India with Bansal
continuing with McKinsey’s Mumbai office. After her second child in 2003,
she joined Egon Zehnder as a search consultant. Eighteen months later, she
was offered a chance to build Spencer Stuart’s India business. At that
time, her kids were aged three and one and half years, putting her in a
tight spot.
But a little prodding from her husband, who takes
the high risk of backing entrepreneurs, gave her the muchneeded push. She
has taken the firm from four employees to 35 people, advising the who’s who
of corporate India on top level hiring and is still going strong. “I have
never stopped and I don’t know how to stop,” she says.
Vipashana
V K & Reeba Zachariah TOI140106
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