Despite the Indian IT-ITeS industry pushing hard for inclusion of more women in top management, gender balance at the managerial level and above remains a concern for the sector. According to a recent diversity study published by Nasscom and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), although the inclusion of women in the industry has been increasing over the last five years, the numbers have not altered proportionately at higher levels.
Data collected for the study shows that in large IT organisations, with 20,000 to 70,000-plus employees, the percentage of women is between 24-30%. Over a three-year time-frame, this ratio variation has remained small. The same was found to be true for large BPO organisations, where the percentage is between 35-42%. While some of the smaller firms have higher ratios, the study found that examples of sustained progression among female employees are few and far between.
?For India Inc, women constitute 38% of the workforce at the entry level. However, at the junior and mid-management levels, these numbers dwindle to 18% and 8%, respectively, while at the board level, it goes down to 5%. These numbers are reflective of the IT, ITes sector as well,? says Padmaja Alaganandan, executive director, consulting, PwC India. ?While the intentions are in place, doing more of the same thing is no longer working and enough progress is not being made. There is a need for new initiatives.?
At Infosys, currently, women form about 6% of managers at higher levels, while, at Wipro, they constitute about 8% at the senior management ranks. Barring a few exceptions, women in Indian IT-ITes companies have often had to stay away from pivotal roles due to pressures of family, excessive travelling, grueling work hours, and a dearth of active mentoring.
Experts point out that a mix of approaches is being taken to ensure faster growth progression for women in the sector. These include methodologies, such as role-model sessions, women leadership councils, mentoring and advocacy, shadowing, coaching, and focused leadership programmes.
Last year, Wipro started a nine-month mentorship programme aimed at top-performing women in the middle-management rank. For the first batch, 130 women were selected and, this year, it plans to have a batch of about 150 women.
?We break training into a three-stage life cycle. In the initial years, it is all about exposure, including travelling onsite and early opportunities; the second stage is all about flexibility that we give to both men and women. And, the third stage is about empowerment,? says Sunita Rebecca Cherian, vice-president, HR, EcoEnergy and head, gender diversity committee, Wipro.
?To groom our leaders we make them rotate across different functions and verticals. It is all about exposure to a corporate culture that they can thrive in,? she adds.
Wipro, which won an award for gender diversity at the recently concluded Nasscom Diversity and Inclusivity Summit, also conducts a two-day leadership workshop for women targeted at middle management focusing on enhancing their leadership skills. Wipro started the programme early this year and has trained about 200 employees.
Two years ago, Infosys started to evaluate the ratio of male to female eligible managers, and the male bias in that ratio pushed them to investigate the causes and bring about changes in policy, such as including at least one woman representative in promotion and hiring panels. The company introduced two new policies, one of which would groom first-time female managers on job-related competencies and educate them on behavioural differences from their male counterparts. The second was aimed at providing formal mentoring and counselling.
?Family counseling, letting women know that there are other women who go through similar problems, creating a support environment, policies, such as work from home twice a month and part-time options, are all helping us retain the best of female talent,? says Nandita Gurjar, head of human resources, Infosys.
Since grooming and retaining female talent is tied up closely with cultural concepts and mind sets, experts feel that it becomes necessary for companies to reach out to an extended eco-system. For instance, Anthelio Business Technologies, a healthcare BPO, which won an award for gender diversity in the Nasscom Diversity and Inclusivity Summit, reaches out to the spouses of their male employees to encourage them to go back to work in cases where they have quit after marriage or giving birth.
According to Hema Ravichandar, strategic human resources consultant, the industry still needs to work on four specific areas to further develop women leadership. ?Policy, which is the enabler. You need training, which is the technology skill or networking skill. You need culture, and involvement of the leader, and fourth, you need role models,? she says.
Nasscom has also launched its own initiatives to help develop female leadership. ?There is a need to understand how needs of women change through career trajectories as the work force matures, and there have to be changes based on these,? says Som Mittal, president, Nasscom.
The IT trade body has committed to a three year programme aimed towards understanding how needs of female employees change through their careers. ?This is necessary to help women carry on working or to come back to work after breaks,? says Mittal.