IT companies drawing policies to tackle dismal representation of women in top posts

Though Bangalore has become a hot destination for international information technology (IT) companies, what remains a matter of concern is the underrepresentation of women in this sector.

In India, the percentage of women in the IT space is way low when compared with countries like the UK, Malaysia and the US. Sample this: In India, women’s representation in the IT industry is 21% at the entry level, way lower than Malaysia’s 55-57%. The numbers at the mid-level falls to about 14 –15%, while it is only 5-7% at the top managerial level.

The primary reason for women moving out of IT jobs is when they have to take care of their children, while some leave the job because of family reasons. At Google, male-female ratio is 52:48 at the entry level, way higher than many other companies in India. The ratio is good when compared with Microsoft, which has male female ratio of 78:22 at the entry level. The same goes down to 97:3 at the executive level, points out Nagarajan Ganesan, director, Knowledgefaber, a research and consulting firm.

Today, IT firms are increasingly recognising the benefits of hiring women. Firms have come up with practices such as providing transportation, flexible working hours and leave policy for attracting women to the organisation. For instance, IBM India hired 52% women in 2012, a quantum leap from the 38% in 2011 and 32% in 2010.

Policies like part-time work, work from home, flexi-timing have become a norm. We have given part-time work facility to our senior women employees. So in case they want to attend to their kid who have their board exams round the corner, they can work for four-five hours or come three days in a week,” says PB Karthikeyan, senior director, HR, Symphony Teleca, which has 12% women at the senior level.

“We definitely don’t want to lose our mid- and senior-level women employees. We allow them to take two-three months break or sabbatical for a couple of years if required. Today, women do not feel guilty to ask for work-from-home facility, something which was there eight-nine years ago. Policies are tailor-made according to requirement of an employee,” says Sathyanarayana TK, vice-president, human resource, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions.