GE CitizenshipDiversity & Inclusiveness: GE in India
GE continues its focus to attract women technologists around the world. GE’s Global Research Center launched a program in early 2008 to effect retention and recruiting of the best female technology talent. The program, called “RESTART”, was implemented at the John F. Welch Technology Center in Bangalore, India. The program supports GE’s objective of attracting women technologists to GE who have taken a break from their regular career for personal reasons. This project led to additional workplace enhancements in India that included enhancements to maternity benefits.
The complexity to the project included aligning the John F. Welch Technology Center leadership team in India with the RESTART program and coaching them where needed to be receptive to hiring RESTART talent. The program took seven months from inception to idea realization, with one of the keys to success being a web campaign that ran for two months. During those two months, GE received 1.3 million site hits and 1,000 potential resumes for female technology talent.
GE has received external recognition in the United States and globally for its RESTART program. GE was a featured presenter at the Work Life Congress 2008 in New York City, and received the SMART Workplace Award 2008 in India. RESTART has also received coverage in Financial Times, Harvard Business Review and HR Executive Magazine.
