WOMEN-ONLY EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

This case flyer and the base article1 can be used for understanding the concept of designing HR

practices exclusively meant for women employees/executives. Do women employees get relegated

to being second-class citizens in such instances? One of the recent yet questionable practices has

been the ‘egg-freezing’ perk doled out by two of the silicon valley-based companies – Apple Inc.

and Facebook Inc., to their women employees. While many may opine that the only way to

break the glass ceiling is to encourage women to pursue sustainable and equal-footed careers and

dole out several exclusive perks in the process, several others question whether treating them

separately would only accentuate the glass ceiling effect rather than abating it.

Pedagogical Objectives

• To examine the prevalence and extent of pay differences based on gender in India

• To discuss and debate on some of the new age (‘questionable’) HR practices for women

executives, especially in the light of the ‘egg-freezing’ perk offered by a few silicon

valley-based companies

• To discuss on the practice of doling out a few exclusive perks to women employees and

debate on whether the same can tantamount to unwarranted differential treatment that

might accentuate the proverbial glass ceiling barrier than abating it?

Positioning and Setting

The Case Flyer can be used to teach the concept of ‘Employee Benefits and Services’ in the

‘Compensation’ module of any Human Resource Management course.

ABSTRACT

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1 Rajyasree Sen, “What Next? Divorce Fees?”, http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-citings/what-next-divorce-fees/, October 21st 2014, (accessed date: October 29th 2014)