Overcoming biases is a gradual process: Vedika Bhandarkar

A deal with her husband helped Vedika Bhandarkar overcome the dilemma of how to strike a balance between her job and family.
When Bhandarkar and her husband were planning to start a family, they took a decision that they would never travel at the same time, to ensure that at least one of them would be home every night to look after the kids. Sixteen years later - their son and daughter are now in their teens - the pact is intact.
"There was only one night when we couldn't make it," regrets the vice-chairman and managing director of Credit Suisse India. The arrangement ensured that Bhandarkar did not lose out in her career, which demanded a lot of travel. On a lighter note she says, "When the kids were small, my husband would tease me that Vedika loved to travel because that was the only time she could get a full night's sleep."
A strong support system in the form of maids also kept the 45-year-old dealmaker's career going. "Putting in place a strong support system is a lesson for all first-time mothers," says Bhandarkar, who had to take an additional three months off besides the usual three-month maternity leave after her first child was born. "Since my in-laws resided in Mumbai for a few months, I would drop my son and maid at their place in the mornings and pick them up after work. This helped me focus my energies towards work." Today, says the IIM-A grad, it has become easier for women to return to their careers thanks to technology. "Even for me, the second time was easier as I was back on conference calls two weeks after my daughter's birth, unlike the first time when I had to be physically present in office," says Bhandarkar, who started her career with ICICI and then moved to JP Morgan before joining the Swiss investment bank, Credit Suisse.
Bhandarkar says there is now a far better degree of acceptance of women at workplaces. "When I used to go on visits to clients' factories, more often than not, I used to be the only woman there," she recalls. Bhandarkar says discrimination against women is a thing of the past, but overcoming preconceived biases is a gradual process. "Soon after I started working, when I used to call clients, they would say 'Put him on the line', expecting a man to be on the other side," she says with a chuckle, adding that presence of women employees is important for companies as diversity is a nice thing to have.
At Credit Suisse, Bhandarkar has launched a mentoring programme to groom midlevel women executives for leadership positions. At present, 29 managers are being trained. "Informal mentoring is very important and you tend to mentor people similar to you. But you need two hands to clap. It is necessary for women to raise their hands and evince their interest in new opportunities," she says.