IIM Ally-Consult Club in partnership with Bain & Co.

Lets Get Brains Together- Towards more inclusive

workspaces
ZigZag Ltd. is a leading firm in the global FMCG industry and one of the biggest brands in the
Indian subcontinent. Although externally, the company enjoys remarkable brand equity,
recently, the company has been facing internal issues concerning work culture and diversity. The
problems started last year when Gaurav, a member of the LGBTQ community, raised serious
allegations with the HR department regarding the bias experienced by him in his promotion to
the Senior Brand Manager position. Gaurav alleged that he was discriminated based on his sexual
inclination & preferences and was thereby denied a promotion that he deserved. He was a
leading contender out of a total of 5 candidates in the fray for the new position. However, the
subsequent results left him heartbroken. The results were unexpected for his manager as well.

ZigZag followed a system of 360- degree review and feedback process. 360 Degree Feedback is a
system or process in which employees receive confidential, anonymous feedback from the
people who work around them. This typically includes the employee's manager, peers, and direct
reports. Since the given decision was for a senior management position in the company and was
therefore critical, even a single negative review from any of the stakeholders could result in
serious implications on the final decision. The HR department delved into the reported issue of
Gaurav and mapped the underlying cause to a few below-average reviews he got from his peers.
When probed further, it was found out that these employees seemingly got to know about
Gaurav’s sexual inclinations through the grapevine.

The diversity of ZigZag has been well admired in the industry. This diversity is credited to the
hiring process of the company. The company maintains a certain threshold for the proportion of
LGBTQ candidates from among the total candidates that it intakes. This is implemented via a
separate pool for LGBTQ applicants, the source of which is the “others” option available in the
“Gender” column in the company’s application form. A leading research organization published
a document reporting the most diverse firms in the industry, and ZigZag was ranked in the top 5
in terms of promoting diversity within the workplace. Although the company’s policy of hiring a
certain proportion of LGBTQ candidates is well known internally, the company does not reveal
the names of the candidates selected under this proportion internally to any person or
department.

To prevent such incidents further and to spread awareness and increase sensitivity within the
organization, the HR department, in collaboration with an external agency furnished an online
course to be taken by each employee of the organization. The course was mandatory, and course
completion certificate needed to be submitted by each employee to the HR department. The HR
department received all completion certificates well before time.

However, last month, another such incident came into notice. The HR department is now in a fix
as to why the existing training program via the online course was not impactful.

In light of the above case, answer the following questions:

1. Devise a drill-down approach to analyze the underlying issue in Gaurav’s promotion.

Suggest recommendations for improvement or change in the current system to prevent
such cases in future.
2. Structurally analyze the reason for the failure of the new training program. Highlight the
major underlying reasons for the initial problem that were not catered to in this solution.
What can be modified to address maximum possible issues leading to discrimination
against the LGBTQ community? Devise solutions that can be followed globally specifically
in the FMCG industry and across industries and companies.
3. Do you think the form options for the gender (Male, Female, Others) can be sensitized for
the applicants? Also, comment on the reservation policy of the company to maintain
diversity. Should such policies be followed across the corporate landscape?

NOTE:- The submission should be in the form of a powerpoint presentation. Maximum number
of slides are 12, including the title and the Thank you slide.