'Fewer women want to return to work'

India's workforce participation rate of women returning to work after a career break sharply declined by a fourth in the last one year to May as the pandemic doubly burdened many of them. The impact has been worse in the second wave of the pandemic, according to a survey of more than 300 companies by JobsForHer, a job search portal for women.However, the hiring of women at the middle to senior level increased to 43% after the pandemic began from 18% earlier as several top companies made a conscious effort to make up for the shortfall in leadership roles, according to the findings of the survey shared exclusively with ET.Diversity experts said while many progressive organisations have enhanced efforts to increase the representation of women in the workforce after the pandemic led to a large-scale adoption of remote working, it has also widened already existing inequalities and challenges.“Women are bearing double or triple the burden at home now. A lot of women have quit the workplace, while others don’t want to return,” said Neha Bagaria, founder and chief executive, JobsForHer. “With schools shut, no domestic help at home for many, and caregiving responsibilities for elderly parents, career has got deprioritised for many women.”83222948Experts said working women who earlier had a structure to their day with house helps, infrastructure of crèches and play schools are now under greater stress. “The Covid crisis has not only broken the back of many businesses, it has also rendered ineffective the many enablers women enjoyed in the workplace,” said Saundarya Rajesh, founder president, Avtar Group.“The flexibility, for which the woman once strove, has become a noose around her neck, especially when she is between jobs, reducing her chances of getting back,” she added.Some companies are making an effort to fix this leaky talent pipeline of women on a career break.“We acknowledge the additional pressures posed by the pandemic on the personal and professional lives of women and we are continuously working to see how our policies address the needs of a changing ecosystem,” said Richard Lobo, executive vice-president and HR head, Infosys. “We have a robust programme of assimilating women returning to work after a break and have not faced specific challenges,” he added.The company has launched a leadership development programme for women, where high-performing senior project managers are empowered to accelerate their careers and aim for the top. “They get an opportunity to work closely with the leadership, explore potential and showcase their mettle,” said Lobo.Similarly, diversified miner Vedanta has a focused programme on identification and structured anchoring of women by CEOs/CXOs to groom them as future leaders. “Currently, there are 67 executive bodies with 30% gender diversity, and we aspire to increase the percentage by identifying women leaders in ‘deputy’ roles and groom them in 6-12 months to take up senior leadership positions,” said group CHRO Madhu Srivasatava.TCS has specific policies and programmes that help women stay connected with the technological transformations, and cultural shifts, said Ritu Anand, chief leadership and diversity officer.Digital payments company Phonepe hired 300 people between January and March, one third of whom were women.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3pl0W3l