Women Achievers – Pallavi Desai, Cummins India
Q. Could you tell us something about your professional achievements and career progression?
I joined Cummins 16 years back as a Management Trainee. I was hired directly from campus post my MBA. I have had a very fulfilling career journey with Cummins and feel extremely proud to be working with them. I was provided many opportunities for learning as well as career development which propelled my growth journey. Some of my professional achievements have been:
1. Early in my career when I was a Management Trainee, my manager saw the potential in me and offered me a larger role when there was attrition in her team.
2. I was the First Woman HR employee to be based remotely out of one of our field locations Delhi / Gurgaon and supported all our field-based employees PAN India.
3. Was chosen for a critical training in the US (2017) and for a company-sponsored holiday to South Africa.
4. Have done multiple roles in Line HR from Management Trainee to Senior Line HR Generalist with Distribution Business, DGM HR to GM HR with Corporate HR team, Components HR Leader to Director HR FOR Engines Business & Components Business.
5. Even though I was at a junior level but based on my experience and demonstrated performance I was given an opportunity to lead the HR for Distribution Business along with the JV CSSPL.
Q. What are the attributes that helped you to reach where you are in your career?
As I look back now at my journey, there have been multiple factors that helped me reach where I stand today in terms of my role, additionally, these factors have been responsible for me to stay committed to Cummins. The most important one has been meaningful and challenging work that I have always got to do in the organization followed by recognition for my efforts.
Throughout my career, I have worked with various managers and leaders who have believed in my potential, recognized my hard work, efforts and provided me with great learning exposure. They bestowed trust on me even when I didn’t have the necessary experience for a certain role. Timely investments in my development gave me an opportunity to improve and grow my leadership skills and be ready for bigger roles. I feel good about doing different roles in Cummins which have been significant and contributed to the long-term strategic initiatives and business results.
Q. How far have you succeeded in challenging the stereotypes?
I have been able to challenge some of the stereotypes at work quite well. And, I would like to credit Cummins for having the right policies, both essential and foundational, which give the confidence and rights to employees to get or demand what they deserve.
We have a DE&I framework and policies that promote initiatives to understand expectations around inclusion, self-awareness, and how each employee plays a key role around this agenda. Personally, I have not faced any stereotypes but have been in situations where I could coach managers and leaders to think differently about being fair towards considering women’s talent for roles despite their personal constraints and promoting women at par with men when they took on new roles. Cummins continuously checks for biases across various talent processes. This ensures that we consciously evaluate our decisions in a fair way which may have been impacted due to stereotypes.
Q. In both essential and digital functions, women suffered the repercussions of the economic and social effects of the pandemic. Your comments.
I agree pandemic has been challenging for everyone irrespective of gender but more for women. As the world transitioned to work from home, it led to considerably pressure on women to balance responsibilities at home and continue to contribute at work. This period has been a big test for work-life balance management, especially in India as we see women still playing a major role in managing households. With so much to deal with at home, it led to higher stress levels for women.
As read in many articles in 2020-21, the world has seen a decline in women’s employment as they made a choice to prioritize and quit their jobs to be able to manage things at home during the pandemic. At such times, what we at Cummins did was introduce more flexibility through the hybrid way of working, provided tools around employee assistance programs that help deal with mental wellness, did manager sensitization to deal with such situations, and encouraged women to hold up and keep working.
Q. What’s the message you want to send to young working women?
I would like to share some quotes I read recently and completely advocate for “A strong woman knows she has strength enough for the journey, but a woman of strength knows it is in the journey where she will become strong.”
“I’d rather regret the risks that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.”
My advice for all young working women will be to focus on self-awareness, self-development and continuously invest in upskilling themselves. Both good and bad experiences teach a lot so don’t give up easily. Ask for what you deserve and slow down at times if needed to suit your personal choices and be ok with it. I also urge every woman to inspire others around her.
