Erika Dianasari talks about the importance of having women mentors and open communication when developing young female talent.
Chapter: Nurturing and developing female talent
About: Erika Dianasari is a partner and venture capitalist at Alpha JWC Ventures with expertise in human capital, operations, and business transformation. Before joining Alpha JWC, she was the general manager at MPMX, a leading automotive business group in Indonesia. In 2016, SWA magazine named Erika as one of Indonesia’s Best Future Business Leaders.
Tell us about Alpha JWC’s diversity target. Does the company have a specific policy to address gender equity?
We might not have a specific timeline, but we always want to keep improving the gender balance. If possible, we aim for a global target of 50 percent, and we try to identify what we can do differently to achieve that.
“We need to provide more means and more support for female leaders and give them equal opportunities to grow in their careers.”
During the pandemic, we saw women’s great ability to cope with a lot of changes very well. We also discovered that people who work from home can be just as productive as when they are working from an office—and maybe even more. But before the pandemic, we hadn’t embraced that arrangement. By making this shift, we got a taste of what we can do to improve performance and productivity for our team. As an investment firm, the nature of our business requires high-potential capabilities. We can say our employees have these kinds of capabilities, and we can make some adjustments to tap into them even more. Therefore, embracing a new norm of work and setting a different policy is favorable because it helps us retain great talent too.
Based on your experience with Alpha JWC, is there a change in culture or mindset that can make the workplace more comfortable for women?
Since the pandemic, the mindset and working culture have changed so much. For example, before WFH, most workplaces had an attendance system: the person who was physically present had more opportunities to access information and was more likely to get involved in a certain project. At that time, men tended to work longer hours and have a faster response rate after the typical working hours. I think this is not something that we should normalize because women might have other responsibilities after working hours. In general, women tend to be slightly less responsive when it comes to work, especially after office hours, but their productivity should not be measured by this. The pandemic has taught us to prioritize productivity and performance instead of physical presence, which resulted in more equal opportunities for women.
Other than recruitment policies, what do you think the company needs to do differently to become a more equitable workplace?
First of all, having a female presence in a particular function, such as human resources, can be helpful. After all, we are looking into the culture and understanding talent from various perspectives. Seeing people who are part of strong or not-so-strong talent from a different point of view will provide new angles to develop. Therefore, having more women in HR is good because they can listen more and decide what’s next.
Second, have a female leader. When it comes to promotions, creates more opportunities for women. Sometimes, opportunities are not equal when women have families, so companies end up hiring more progressive and assertive women.
“The right thing to do is not make women choose between career or family. If a leader can offer similar opportunities for women, it’s like an investment that creates more sustainability.”
We are also going to attract talent by investing more in learning and development. Most of the time, women are working in operations and finance roles—roles that require precision and a level of service in a more sustainable manner. Yet, these roles are vulnerable to downsizing. The company needs to provide more development, training, and opportunities for women to expand their skills beyond the roles that they are currently in.
What are the keys to success in attracting more diverse talent to Alpha JWC?
Alpha is a good example of a company that does not stereotype a certain career path, perhaps because one of the partners is a woman. Another key difference is that I am also actively approaching most of these people who can put men and women in equal positions. Maybe in other firms, males tend to be less active. We also really care about our employees’ aspirations. Finding a great opportunity should go both ways. We provide an objective, but each of our candidates can also share their objectives with us. That’s extremely important if we see this as a transactional career.
“Most investment firms tend to be male-dominant, so I believe having a woman at the partner level will also attract more women to apply to join us.”
In your opinion, what are the best ways to grow confidence in female talent who are not in leadership positions yet?
Some leaders tend to ask male employees for their strategic advice rather than asking women. This is also a matter of communication. Women tend to not speak when they’re not asked for their opinion. Giving insight is also something to sharpen from both sides: women need to be ready to share their insights, and leaders need to give them equal opportunities to speak their minds.
“To foster confidence, female talent should be braver, and leaders need to give them more opportunities.”
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