Wipro saw a sharp decline in its female workforce, shrinking to 82,595 employees in fiscal year 2024 from 90,721 the previous year — a drop of 8,126 employees, according to the company’s annual report.

This decline coincides with Wipro’s overall workforce reduction, which saw a year-on-year decrease of 24,516 employees, bringing their total headcount to 234,054 as of March 31. This downturn reflects broader industry trends, where Wipro experienced a consecutive quarterly decline over the past five quarters, marking a significant departure from previous years of steady growth.

Wipro is not alone in facing a reduction in workforce diversity. Industry peers such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also reported declines in their female employee numbers and their overall headcount.

Infosys, for instance, recorded a decrease in its female workforce by 10,786 to 1,24,569 in FY24, wile TCS saw its female workforce drop approximately by 6,000 to 214,000 in FY24. Meanwhile, Infosys’ overall workforce fell by 25,994 employees to 317,240, in the fiscal year gone by and TCS’ workforce stood at 601,546, marking a decrease of 13,249 employees compared to fiscal 2023.

Throughout FY24, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro collectively saw a dramatic workforce reduction of 63,759 employees, marking a significant pivot from the hiring frenzy that characterized the post-pandemic period.

Analysts attribute this decline in female headcount to various factors, including the waning effects of pandemic-driven hiring sprees and a shift away from remote work models.

“One of the main reasons there could have been a fall in number of women employees is since work from home and even hybrid model is dying down and also maybe since these companies did not hire many last year there was a decline in the number,” Pareekh Jain, CEO of EIRTrends and Pareekh Consulting, said. “…But the count did increase post COVID as IT companies made a conscious effort to improve their diversity and maybe when the IT demand comes back their initiatives towards hiring more women will also increase,” he added.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASES

Beyond workforce numbers, concerns over workplace culture at these companies also persist. Reports of sexual harassment complaints at Wipro more than doubled in FY24, with 182 cases compared to 70 in FY23. Furthermore, Wipro provided data specific to complaints under POSH, revealing 93 total complaints reported in fiscal 2024 compared to 141 in the previous year.

Similar trends were observed at Infosys and TCS, where instances of reported sexual harassment increased significantly. Infosys reported 98 cases in FY24, up from 78 in FY23, while TCS saw complaints rise to 110 from 49 in the same period.

During TCS’s 29th annual general meeting, chairman N Chandrasekaran emphasised that the increase might also be attributed to heightened awareness and encouraged openness within the company’s extensive workforce of over 600,000 employees.

“We are operating in a global environment and constantly enforcing and encouraging a culture of openness. We always want people to express themselves. If there is harassment, people should raise it; when they do so, the number goes up,” Chandrasekaran said.