Accelerating female inclusion in the logistics sector

We helped Ecom to improve the representation of women in their workforce and embed diversity and inclusion as a key pillar in its organisational culture.

Ecom Express (Ecom) is a leading logistics solutions provider to the Indian retail and e-commerce industry. At the point of our investment in 2019, women represented 1.5 per cent of Ecom’s workforce against an industry benchmark of 7 per cent. This case study focuses on how we worked with Ecom to change this.

India’s e-commerce sector has grown significantly over the past decade and is expected to reach over $120 billion by 2026.  With the rapid growth of the sector, the demand for reliable staff across a range of roles is further complicated by the need to flexibly increase staffing capacity during busy delivery periods such as festive seasons.

Ecom recognised that greater diversity could mean an enhanced pool of candidates and wider business benefits. To seize this opportunity, we worked with it to carry out an in-depth gender diagnostic. This diagnostic uncovered specific opportunities for driving greater representation of women and a clear business case for doing so. This, in turn, paved the way for a Gender Action Plan, which we co-created with Ecom to support it in becoming an employer of choice for women in the e-commerce sector in India.

Since launching the action plan, Ecom have improved the workplace experience of women employees at Ecom and demonstrated an increase in organisational awareness and accountability for diversity and inclusion. Female representation across Ecom’s workforce has more than doubled in less than five years, with continued commitment from Ecom to employing circa 10 per cent of women by 2025.

Please note that the information in this case study was accurate at the time it was published in September 2024.