India's largest IT company, TCS, which also has the?country's?highest number of female employees, is facing a rise in resignations as it resumes work from the office after three pandemic hit years.?
TCS has said that resignations among its female employees have raced past those among its male employees, hinting that the end of work-from-home may have a role to play in it.?Its Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Milind Lakkad, said that historically, the attrition among women employees, who constitute over 35 percent of the over 6 lakh-strong workforce, has been lower or similar to that of men and called the development "unusual".
"¡I would think working from home during the pandemic reset the domestic arrangements for some?women, keeping them from returning to office even after everything normalised," he said in an interview published in the company's annual report, as per PTI.
CHRO Lakkad acknowledged that the?higher attrition among women is a "setback" to the Tata Group company's efforts?to promote gender diversity and added that the company is focusing on reversing the trend. The annual report did not reveal the exact attrition rate on the basis of gender. Its overall attrition peaked in the middle of the fiscal year gone by and came down to over 20 percent at the end of March.
Last month, IBM's CEO, Arvind Krishna, warned employees by speaking in favour of working from home, mentioning that remote work can be hazardous to a career.?
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TCS' Lakkad said focused leadership development programmes like 'iExcel' are driving change on this front. The annual report said the flagship executive leadership development programme for women has completed 22 editions and 1,450 women leaders have benefited from it.
Women employees at?TCS?made up nearly?one-fourth of the leadership positions filled with internal candidates in FY23, even though they account for only 14 percent of the applicant pool, CHRO Lakkad said.
"This speaks well of the quality of the women candidates in our leadership pool as well as the supportive attitudes of our business leaders in promoting diversity," he added. Women constituted 38.1 percent of TCS' net hires in FY23, Lakkad said, as per the PTI report.
"Rebegin," a?TCS?initiative for experienced women professionals re-entering the workforce after a break, saw nearly 14,000 job applications in FY23, the annual report said. Of the nearly 30,000 employees classified as senior management, almost 4,000, or over 13 percent, were women, the annual report said.
It also said that?TCS has introduced a policy on flexible work arrangements, which provides necessary support and flexibility for carers of young children, expectant women employees, and persons with disabilities.
TCS, which has been pushing employees to resume?working from offices?lately to deepen the organisational culture, has also reportedly said that it does not discriminate between genders on remuneration.
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