With International Women’s Day held annually in March and the theme in 2022 being #BreakTheBias, it’s wonderful to celebrate the successes of our global community, working side by side to share stories of taking pride in what we do and working with meaning.
Unaiza Mulla, Head of Sales and Operations, Mumbai, shares her story about how she breaks bias in the workplace and how working at IDP brings meaning to her role and life…
“Last year, we lost a very dear colleague to COVID. His loss shattered the team and we miss him terribly. I am really touched by the response of our team in India and from across the company. Our initial team response was to raise money to support his family immediately. The response was over-whelming, and we were so honored to offer the cheque to the family. We are now connected with the family and chat regularly.
When IDP launched the Future Fund to raise support for our colleague’s children’s education, I was again so touched. Our colleague is gone, but not forgotten.
This experience reminded us all that targets and numbers come and go, but we are humans, and we need empathy. I’m proud to work with a global team that feels this way and feel lucky to belong to the IDP family.
I love that I find meaning in my work. I can build connection with others and provide a great experience. I have been able to discover myself whilst working at IDP.
Covid has made things difficult for many people, but I am grateful to be able to listen to people’s stories and help them achieve their ambitions.
I’ve been able to support people to have a career that is balanced with their personal commitments. As an example, I interviewed a young mother who had no support or flexibility from her existing employer, around her caring needs for her children. I’m proud that IDP could offer her the job, provide the flexibility and support, and now we have a respectful working relationship bringing great results for both parties.
I really love the culture of contributing at IDP, and how we go out of our way to look out for our people. For example, we have a creche within 2km of our office, that allows more parents to return to work, knowing they have support for their children, while they go to work.
IDP allows me to be myself and gives me the perfect platform to grow and discover, to be my best in my role, as well as providing learning and growth opportunities.
As a business, we are becoming more aware of stereotypes and unconscious bias. It is so crucial. I build my team to get a good balance of age, gender, style and experience. This balance brings better team dynamics, it enriches the team, and it allows more ideas, perspectives and sharing of concepts. We get brilliant ideas that we would not get if we worked alone or in unbalanced teams. We are working towards a common goal and our team is strengthened by its diversity. I am always asking, ‘Tell me how we can do this better.’
Getting to know people as individuals, consciously observing them and listening to their answers and opinions helps me to avoid making biased decisions.
When I talk about making our people feel comfortable and being conscious of bias, I recommend having an open mind in your interactions with others. Take the time to get to know your people and have a connection. Create the space where they feel comfortable talking to you and having a two-way relationship. Let them know that their opinion matters. Understand each other’s strengths, as well as weaknesses. The personal things matter!”
Thank you, Unaiza, for sharing your story and your passion! We encourage everyone at IDP to discover their meaning and passion to bring purpose to their everyday at IDP.