Sarinah Abu Bakar talks about establishing an environment of support for women in the workplace to inspire confidence.
Chapter: Attracting female talent
About: Sarinah Abu Bakar is the chief human capital officer of Telekom Malaysia, the country’s leading integrated telecommunications provider. Prior to her current role, she gained extensive experience in various tech companies, including Honeywell International.
What are the most common challenges that organizations face when attracting women to a new position?
“When handed a new and challenging role, I’ve noticed that female talent can be critical or doubtful over their readiness for the position.”
For instance, if there were 10 skills required for a particular position, female talent with seven of those skills sometimes assume that they’re not yet ready— that they don’t qualify enough for the job and hold themselves back from taking the role. When presented with such a proposition, I’d strongly encourage female talent to take the job and focus on their strengths, such as the seven skills that they do have, and leverage them to learn the other parts of the job.
“I’d love to see more women eagerly stepping up when the opportunity presents itself— breaking the glass ceiling they often set for themselves and reaching new heights of success in their career.”
How can organizations promote confidence among female talent to take on those growth avenues?
While we strive for equity in opportunity, it is equally essential that female talent are courageous when they encounter new and exciting growth opportunities. Organizations should play the role of cultivating this confidence, which can be done through coaching, mentoring, networking, and projects.
“Support systems for women come in various shapes and forms, but the essential goal remains the same: to build a supportive environment and stimulate confidence among female talent.”
Complementing our existing initiatives at Telekom Malaysia, we will also introduce ASPIRE, a program where female employees are handpicked to be in a caucus group as part of our succession planning. We will support and develop them into future leaders through a structured series of learning, coaching, and networking. This is part of an intentional and deliberate effort to build our female talent and set them up for success in their journey to the top, alongside their male counterparts.
Can you elaborate on the key differentiators for attracting the top female talent in the hiring process?
Women increasingly seek flexible work arrangements where they can be a mother, partner, and daughter too—on top of being a professional. So, flexibility is now more relevant than ever, and companies must accommodate and communicate that.
“Talent, especially younger ones, are more attracted to companies that put efforts into sustainability. Beyond compensation and benefits, they want to be in an organization that allows them to contribute to the community, environment, and the greater good.”
Employees at Telekom Malaysia have multiple ways to do so through our volunteerism group, TM ROVers, which regularly organizes social, welfare, and environmental works. The company recently granted paid leave for staff who volunteered to help flood victims.
Other than the employee value proposition, how can employers expand and sustain their pool of female talent?
Everything starts early in the hiring process. You can establish a contract with recruiters to ensure a higher percentage of female applicants in the shortlisted CVs for job openings or set a rule to ensure that at least a third of the finalists are women. Furthermore, you can offer higher incentives for referrals when women are hired.
However, hiring a woman just because she’s a woman is an insult. The above initiatives are deliberate attempts to ensure an adequate pool of female talent for the selection, especially in jobs or roles with fewer women.
How can organizations ensure that after attracting top female talent, they stay with them?
“A career woman plays so many different roles: a professional, mother, partner, daughter. Therefore, a company with policies that cater to her needs in all these roles will be much more appealing.”
For example, we’ve found that women often take a step back in their careers for family reasons, such as after maternity leave. So, a company could assign buddies for new mothers to keep them in the loop and ease their transition back to the workplace. You can also have flexible leave policies that allow mothers to stay at home and take some time away to be with their kids during exam time or when they are sick.
"We should normalize female employees taking annual or unpaid leave to take care of their families without feeling guilty. A critical contributor to striking the right balance is flexible work arrangements."
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