They say the best time to plant the tree was 20 years ago and the second-best time is now. The country has created an India Stack, which has laid the foundation for a fintech revolution. It is a set of national APIs for payments, identity, KYC, e-signature, and document verification that has been scaled to a billion people. One of the key reasons why so many fintech firms have mushroomed in the last couple of years can be attributed to the widespread use and adoption of the India stack. UPI payments surpassing Debit Card transactions is the biggest testament to this. These have made me believe that we are going to see an unprecedented growth in the Financial sector in India and this will have a direct impact on the organization’s hiring capabilities. Needless to mention the role of Temp Staffing as the Financial Services sector is the largest adopter of staffing in India.

As a practitioner, I have closely observed the impact of COVID 19 and seen how the industry has coped up with this. Some of the key points for the future of work of the BFSI Sector:

Hiring Needs and Patterns – BFSI emerged as the top paymaster at double-digit salary growth while the sector’s intent to hire @ 36% for Q2. Financialization is leading to increased demand from the BFSI sector.

Adoption of digital tools processes by organisations – Pandemic forced digital literacy enabled and enforced positive outlook plus adoption of technology shifts for operational management. At TeamLease, 55% Hirings during FY2021 were done through digital mode.

Demand for Asset Sales and Tech roles – Analyst, Budgeting Manager based roles recorded high growth as per Jobs & Salaries Primer 2021, Asset Sales Executive (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance | 8.20%) & Sourcing Manager (BPO and IT enabled Services | 7.36%) asserted the respective salary growths for this fiscal. .

A surge in Upskilling and Training initiatives by organisations – Around 84% of respondents echoed that the upskilling initiatives have helped them get a better job/position.

Festive Hiring in logistics, food delivery, manufacturing, e-commerce, and automobile companies is expected to increase by 30 to 35 percent during the upcoming festive season. Almost three lakh temporary and gig jobs are expected to be generated during the upcoming festival period, from Diwali to Christmas”, as per the prediction of an Industry Expert who informed the India Staffing Federation. Almost 3 lakhs temporary and gig jobs are expected to be generated during the festive season this year, according to Farhan Azmi, Vice President, Indian Staffing Federation. Teamlease’s latest Employment Outlook Report Q2 FY22 showed 43% hiring intent for blue-collar jobs which may be an amalgamation of factors like the easing of clampdowns and restrictions, festive demand, or a positive economic outlook. Driven by the increasing adoption of digital platforms, retailers, e-commerce companies, logistics, etc.; the hiring for temporary staffing is also expected to see a sizable growth as companies ramp up their last-mile connectivity in order to meet the seasonal demand.

If the trends of last year are to be considered, hiring for blue-collar jobs had seen a spike of 27% over August-October 2020 (Research from Betterplace, a tech platform that manages the lifecycles of informal and semi-formal workforces). The demand was generated primarily from the e-commerce and logistics sectors, retail, and healthcare; which coincided with the onset of festivals. The nation is going through a revival and the hiring trends are indicating a sustained recovery in business activity after the impact of Covid-19. In 2021, the Indian job market registered an 11% growth in July over June when it grew 15%. The growth bolstered by a recovery in the travel & tourism, hotel & hospitality, retail & recreation sectors has further pushed the hiring market. As quoted by an article in Business Standard – Out of the 11% quarter-on-quarter growth; Information Technology (61 per cent), Financial Services (48 per cent), and BPO/ITeS (47 per cent) have shown standout growth.

Liberalisation of the Indian economy and the entry of mncs in the last couple of decades have provided the much-needed thrust to this segment. This followed with several foreign (global) flexi-staffing companies setting up their base in India in the last couple of decades or so to explore the growing opportunities across various sectors. The Adecco group from Zurich, Switzerland, the largest staffing firm in the world and a Fortune Global 500 company already has its presence in India. Besides, there are other global players like the Gi group from Italy; Randstad Holding nv, Kelly Services Inc and Manpower group, who have been expanding their footprint in India.

Role of MNCs

“Apart from other favourable factors, MNCs have played a big role in popularising flexi-staffing in India. They have been aware of the benefits in their experiences in other countries. The opportunity to concentrate on core areas as non-core areas are taken care of by experts, benefits of scale, long-term cost benefits and a responsible employer image. There is also a flexibility of employment and ease of recruitment and replacements. In addition to this, statutory complexities are also taken care of by the staffing company,” says Dutta.

“The Indian economy has undergone a transformation. The concept of flexi-staffing has taken shape in India as well. However, the potential is huge keeping in mind the demand-supply dynamics. Currently, most of the industry is in the informal segment. But the demand for organised supply is forcing the industry to organise itself in a big way and that will help the entire industry to acquire a much better shape in coming years,” says Asim Handa, ceo, Gi group (India).

The €1.6 billion Italian company, one of the largest staffing firms in the world, entered the Indian flexi-staffing market in 2009, by forming a JV firm, Gi Staffing Services Pvt Ltd (GiSS) with Elixir Web Solutions Pvt Ltd, a leading RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) and executive search firm. The Gi group has in excess of 280,000 employees in over 400 branches, servicing around 14,200 clients across the globe, operating in the fields of temporary and permanent employment, in the recruitment and selection of personnel, in outsourcing, training, outplacement and executive search.

GiSS, with its focus on compliance and accountability, established a robust base in India with offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Dehradun. The Rs.200 crore Indian entity, which currently has a manpower offering of around 15,000 people, serves the domestic industry across sectors with a focus on telecom, manufacturing, it and fmcg (90 per cent placement). The company, which has grown at a cagr of around 20 per cent in the last five years, is looking at opening up more offices in India.

“The Indian market is evolving and this presents a huge opportunity for players in the staffing industry. In the next couple of years, we are looking to more than double our capacity as the market is on the verge of a major traction. We are seriously evaluating inorganic expansion venues since the market is consolidating itself in order to achieve a greater degree of stability and maturity,” adds Handa.

The €22 billion Adecco group, the world’s largest staffing company, has also ramped up its operations in India. In 2004 the Swiss company, which has around 5,100 branches in over 60 countries, acquired a 67 per cent stake (for around Rs.60 crore) in Bengaluru-based PeopleOne Consulting India. PeopleOne Consulting was started in 2000 by Ajit Isaac with an equity investment from J P Morgan Partners and another financial investor. Adecco’s acquisition had included the 20 per cent stake that J P Morgan held in PeopleOne, and the rest from promoters and individual investors.

Pursuing its expansion spree, Adecco India acquired Ajinkya, India’s leading blue-collar temping company. The first of its kind organised acquisition in this space allows Adecco a significant footprint in the burgeoning market for blue collar temping in India and further consolidates its local market leadership. Incidentally, globally Adecco is the market leader in the blue collar temping market with a majority of its revenues coming from it. The Mumbai-based Ajinkya was a niche staffing company focussed on blue collar temping with over 150 reputed clients and 4,500-plus outsourced manpower.

Currently, the Rs.1,500 crore Adecco India, headquartered in Bengaluru, boasts around 100,000 associates with a distinguished list of over 3,700 clients across segments including retail, FMCG, telecom, pharma, IT, media & entertainment, agriculture, dairy, engineering & manufacturing, automobiles, aviation, logistics, garment & fashion, healthcare and education. The company, with end-to-end HR solutions, has a branch network across over 55 cities.

Helping employers

Randstad, the world’s second-largest hr service provider, is a Dutch multinational hr consulting firm headquartered in Diemen, Netherlands. Randstad India is a division of Randstad Holding NV. Its inception was in 1992 as Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd, a Chennai-based hr service provider, which merged with the Dutch HR provider – Vedior NV in 2004. In 2005/2006, with two back-to-back acquisitions of Indian recruitment companies – EmmayHR and Teams4U, Randstad stamped its entry in India. Randstad Holding NV acquired the operations of Ma Foi, through its 2007 acquisition of Vedio; and named its Indian operations Ma Foi Randstad in 2010. Eventually in April 2012, it was rebranded as Randstad India which currently boasts a revenue of around Rs.1,400 crore and over 60,000 associates.

“Flexi-staffing enables organisations to face economic cycles in a more effective manner. With government initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’, more jobs will be created in the lower and mid-sections, adding further impetus to contract staffing and formalising the workforce. India can very well beat other countries with the sheer size of temporary staff employed in the organised sector within the next decade,” says Moorthy K. Uppaluri, CEO, Randstad India.

“The flexi-staffing industry helps an employer to adjust manpower according to demand dynamics. It enables a company to promptly adjust its workforce with seasonal or unforeseen changes in demand. For companies that are growing rapidly and which need quick augmentation of workforce, flexi-staffing presents a very efficient model,” states A.G. Rao, trustee, Indian Staffing Federation, and group managing director, ManpowerGroup India, which has over 45,000 staffing associates (revenue: Rs.800 crore, 2015).

ManpowerGroup (formerly known as ManPower Inc) is an American multinational human resource consulting firm headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The world’s largest it staffing company entered India and expanded its presence by acquiring three divisions of Indian hr consulting and recruitment firm ABC Consultants to form a local joint venture Manpower India in 2005. In 2012, it acquired Kolkata-based Web Development Company (WDC). An it services and professional resourcing company, WDC would offer consulting, development and application support services to several large clients in India and across the Asia-Pacific region.

“For the Indian staffing sector, there are pretty exciting years ahead. The kind of skilled manpower pool that it has got, makes India a very favourable destination for all of us. Most of the companies in this sector are looking to expand their businesses in the coming years,” says Shiv Nath Ghosh, country director and senior vice-president of US -based Artech Infosystems. Present in India for over 20 years, Artech, with over 2,300 associates, is among the top five it staffing companies in India.

While major foreign hr and staffing companies have set up their base in India, domestic staffing companies have also seen phenomenal growth. Currently, the top ranked home grown staffing company is TeamLease Services with a revenue of around Rs.2,200 crore. Established in 2002, the company currently employs around 115,000 associates across over 1,200 companies (5,500 locations) in India. Backed by private equity funds Gaja Capital and ICICI Venture’s India Advantage Fund (IAF), TeamLease went public (IPO) early this year to raise Rs.500 crore. Despite subdued market conditions, the IPO generated an encouraging response having been subscribed a little over 66 times.

Indian companies

“Our performance has been well reflected in our recent IPO. It also indicates that investors are quite bullish on this space and India is well poised for exponential growth in the coming years. As a company, we have grown at a CAGR of over 20 per cent in the last five years,” says Rituparna Chakraborty, cofounder and senior vice-president, TeamLease Services. In fact, the second ranked company in the domestic market is also Indian – Quess Corp. Its Rs.400 crore IPO in July this year got an overwhelming response from investors, with the issue getting subscribed 144 times, the highest for an Indian ipo in nine years. Quess Corp is a business services provider in which 69.55 per cent stake is owned by Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, which, in turn, is owned by Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (ffhl). ffhl owns a 67.82 per cent stake in Thomas Cook. Quess, India’s leading integrated business services provider was established in 2007. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company has a pan-India presence with 52 offices across 27 cities, as well as operations in North America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Powered by around 120,000 associates, it serves over 1,300 customers across four segments – global technology solutions, people & services, integrated facility management and industrial asset management. The company, which completed nine successful acquisitions in the last eight years, reported a revenue of around Rs.3,442 crore in fiscal year 2016.

“No doubt, the Indian staffing industry is at an influx point with huge potential for growth going ahead. All the micro and macro indicators are in the favourable zone, and hence it has been able to attract huge investments and efforts. The process will only gain further momentum in the coming years as the industry gets more organised,” says Farhan Azmi, chairman and managing director, FuturZ Staffing Solutions. Mumbai-based, R250 crore FuturZ Staffing Solutions has been in existence since 2008 and is among the top ten staffing firms in India with an associate size of over 15,000 people with a focus on blue-collar jobs across various sectors like it, ITeS, manufacturing, and e-commerce. Apart from major Indian cities, the company also operates in overseas destinations, including the UK and Philippines.

“In developed countries like the US, UK, and Japan, flexible staffing is an enabler for initial employment. The Indian market has now accepted flexi-staffing and I am sure it will continue as an enabler to create huge employment for the young,” says R.P. Yadav, CMD of Kolkata-based Genius Consultants (revenue: Rs.550 crore), which in the last couple of decades has emerged as one of the major players (ranking 7th) in the domestic market with 45,000 associates and 16 offices across India.

Changes needed

“Corporate India now needs to respond quicker to transient, seasonal, and structural volatility in fast-paced business dynamics. A mechanism needs to evolve to address transitory manpower needs and minimise the search cost and time in recruiting activities. Increased competitive pressure also makes it imperative to focus on core activities and optimal utilisation of resources. This is where staffing sector will play its role,” states Mehul Shah, MD, Collabera India, which is a part of the Rs.550 million Collabera Inc, and one of the major it staffing firms in India. The company has proactively been engaged in creating a pool of technology manpower through various training programmes.

“Labour laws have to be calibrated to address the service sector-dominated economy (currently accounting for more than 60 per cent of India’s GDP), new technology intensive manufacturing sector and transient demand for high skill manpower. It is high time that we brought about the much-needed changes in our labour laws and facilitate the growth of the staffing sector in a meaningful manner,” says Narayan Bhargava, chairman, NSB group.

“The labour laws should reflect the needs, aspirations and realities of the current economic and business environment. Keeping this in mind we have to carry out the required modifications. There should be consolidation and simplification of laws governing terms and conditions of employment,” adds Vikram Wadhawan, founder and CEO, Maven Workforce.

Experts are of the view that a conducive atmosphere against a backdrop of suitable changes in the existing laws, will pave the way for a more developed market for flexi-staffing. It is high time that the sector, which has been contributing significantly to the economy, is given due recognition by according it an industry status. The globalisation of the Indian economy has brought to the fore the need for flexibility and adoptability in our organisational set-up and that is where flexi-staffing is going to play a crucial role. The concept, in its formal structure, is fast catching up in India and the country is emerging as a major force in the global business. Our favourable demographics, where 50 per cent of our population is below the age of 25, will be a driving factor.

This article was published in Business India Magazine

Ajoy Thomas, business head (retail, e-commerce, logistics & transportation) at TeamLease Services, said that additional hiring of two to three lakh staff is likely across profiles such as delivery staff, packers, data entry operators, tele-callers, and business developers.

“Hiring in logistics, food delivery, manufacturing, e-commerce, and automobiles companies is expected to increase by 30 to 35 per cent during the upcoming festive season. Almost three lakh temporary and gig jobs are expected to be generated during the upcoming festival period, from Diwali to Christmas”, as per the prediction of an Industry Expert who informed the India Staffing Federation.

India will celebrate 100 years of Independence in 2047. We are at the cusp of a structural reform fuelled by the pandemic digital literacy oil, and it is reflective of the policy changes from education to labour to PLI schemes. The policy agenda is clear. Economic policy must raise the productivity of our regions, sectors, firms, and individuals to reach goals in formalisation. India@100 now in sight, can we combine this democracy with mass prosperity in the next 25 years?

Read the Employment Outlook Report Q2 FY22 for detailed industry insights

Distribution 4.0 – Reimagining FMCG Distribution for 2030

The evolution of distributor models from the generic push from manufacturer to end consumer with channel partners to deploying sales reps to categories and SKUs, thereafter culminating in inventory tracking systems plus outsourcing sales reps for better performance and coverage in General Trade (GT) and Modern Trade (MT) paved the way for necessary interventions.

Given that FMCG and FMCD companies are at the vantage point where they are staring at a major disruption in their existing distribution models, the pertinent issues of distributors are forcing the FMCG/CD companies to massively expand their scale and reach in terms of presence and workforce. Essentially, this resulted in increased adoption of technology and an effective plan for workforce management for both core and temporary employees.

So, what could FMCG companies do as they plan for the next decade? If we fast forward to 2030, the overall retail in India is expected to double to $1.5 trillion from today’s $700bn, and while it is difficult to predict how large each retail channel will be, we can expect GT’s share in overall retail, though still dominant, to come down to 50% (from today’s 85-90%). In addition, many GT/Kiranas in Metros and Tier 1 & 2 cities are expected to upgrade to look and feel more like MT, a trend that is already prevalent. MT will continue to grow and could have a share of 25-30% by 2030, driven by its expansion into Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities with different formats and sizes. E-comm could easily account for 15-20% of total retail by 2030 (our research shows that it accounts for almost 50% of retail in China today) driven by higher smartphone and internet penetration, growth of digital & mobile payments, and expanding logistics infrastructure

The scenario, which is more likely, will be the game-changer. It will require Consumer Goods companies to give up the ownership of the distribution model, and partner with multiple players for the best market coverage between urban and rural markets, focusing their efforts on marketing, branding and in-store merchandising to create a best-in-class shopper experience (“retailtainment”). In this scenario, they are likely to partner with aggregators, e-commerce delivery companies, rural distribution companies, and distribution arms of modern trade to drive coverage.

As per Jobs and Salaries Primer Report 2021, with new-age businesses, various hot and upcoming jobs in the space are making entries like Digital Tailor and Virtual Store Sherpa, Customer Experience Leader, 3D Designer, Communications Manager, Sales Consultant for Virtual Brands and numerous other well-paying roles in metro cities.

Click here to read the full report covering all data points and insights

After the pandemic-induced wretched employment scenario resulting from mass employee layoffs and economic uncertainty last year, things are finally beginning to look up this year as far as India Inc’s intent to hire across industries and skill sets is concerned. Aided by the government’s much-improved vaccination policy over the last couple of months and it’s balancing act between ensuring strict adherence to Covid protocols and allowing periodic relaxations from stringent restrictions at the same time, the Indian economy is much better prepared on its road to recovery than it was last year. Favorable growth forecasts ranging from 11.5% by the IMF to 12.8% by OECD and FITCH have only bolstered business sentiments and hiring intent in India for the next few months.

A look at the current trends and sentiments across some of the emerging sectors, rather re-emerging sectors post Covid second wave, like – Agriculture & Agrochemicals (increasing demand for agricultural inputs and allied services along with initiation of PMKSY), Construction & Real Estate (government focus on ensuring affordable housing and demand for commercial office spaces steadily growing again), Automobile & Auto Ancillary (growing awareness about social distancing resulting in increased demand for private vehicles in order to avoid public transport and the booming Logistics & E-commerce sectors leading to increased demand for commercial vehicles) as well as Energy & Infrastructure (Energy heavyweights like Adani, ReNew Power and Shapoorji Pallonji investing huge in India’s renewable energy space and government’s increased focus on highways and road projects, metro rail projects and dedicated freight corridors) indicates that there is a definite need to hire increased manpower in these sectors over the next 6 months or so to address the demand-supply gap resulting from an increased government spending along with a business and consumption friendly budget announced earlier this year.

The steady revival in commercial activities in these sectors is likely to sustain the growing demand for entry and junior level jobs which will see the biggest share of hiring across the hierarchy in these re-emerging sectors. With improved Covid vaccine and testing facilities becoming accessible to more and more people and acting as a consumer confidence booster, the Indian workforce is readying itself to return to the workplace and TeamLease on its part is ready as ever with its rich and immensely effective manpower database to help Corporate India not only achieve but beat pre-Pandemic growth levels.

Now the big question is how equipped, rather, how digitally equipped, is India Inc. to be able to benefit from the vast resource pool available at its disposal? There is no debating the fact that digitisation of HR processes (none more important than attracting & retaining top talent) is the need of the hour if an organisation wants to overcome the challenges posed by the Covid crisis and stay ahead of its competitors with an eye on healthy financials. As per Jobs and Salaries Primer Report 2021, with states recognising agricultural activity as essential and allowing it during lockdowns, the sector is accelerating its way back to pre-Covid levels. Whereas, the prevailing uncertainty ensures that the Automobile and Allied Industries slowly inch back on their path to post-Covid recovery. The second wave has spelt mixed fortunes for the Construction and Real Estate sector as some states have halted activity even while some others have not. The sector does better than the slump of the previous year, though.

Click here to read the full report covering all data points and insights

The data also shows the strength of businesses and the economy, where key skills are still valued highly, and the future roadmap is showing strong signs of preparation for recovery. Many industries are not reducing their hiring activities and outlook, while many job roles continue to have strong demand and increasing salaries. So, the report clearly indicates the cautious readiness of businesses for the turnaround. Things will get better, but as with any shakedown, the brave and the prepared will come out much stronger.

Here are the Top 5 Staffing Trends that all Businesses need to take note of while planning their future strategy for a post-Covid world:

1. Remote working is here to stay and is important for businesses to bounce back quickly. Top sectors benefiting from work from home and remote working are: Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, BPO & ITeS, E-Commerce & Tech Startups, Educational Services, Information Technology and Knowledge Services.
2. Highly skilled workforce is becoming costlier, hence highlighting the need to hire from cheaper locations. Top super-specialised profiles attract salary growth rates between 10% and 13%.
3. ‘Smart’ Staffing is the way forward to balancing long- and short-term business needs and ambitions. 8 out of 17 sectors continue a gradual progression towards recovery and to pre-Covid business activity levels with salary growth rates of 6% to 8%.
4. Pay-parity gap is reducing, making on-demand staffing more favourable. Top 3 sectors with pay parity between salaries for permanent and temporary job profiles are: Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Healthcare and Allied Industries & Information Technology and Knowledge Services
5. Adopting technology solutions for managing end-to-end staffing requirements is becoming key for future resilience. With technology  becoming ubiquitous and a necessary condition to operate during the pandemic, the IT function has grown in stature across businesses over the years. The hiring of Sales roles has gained momentum ever since the lockdowns were phased out.

Click here to read the full report covering all data points and insights

Beyond the broad extremes of job categorization TeamLease had found, in our 2020 edition of this report, rare gold in the form of COVID proof job roles and super-specialized job roles – those roles that are critical for business survival and growth and commanding substantial salary increment, and deservedly so, for the coming year. While employers have lowered their lens of scrutiny and are highly selective in rewarding job roles, this big trend continues unabated.

Employers in many sectors are also betting big on innovation and making smart investments in new-found job roles – which we have named “Hot” and “Upcoming” job roles – that will stand them in good stead in the near and not-so-near future. Foresight is a virtue the virus has not been able to take away from the well-meaning amongst us. Technology start-ups are seen to be occupying the front row seats in this spectacle of innovation.

Besides the Covid-warrior fraternity, frontline job roles in conventional business are spearheaded by the Sales and Service functions, and remote work is led by the IT function – all of this across sectors and cities. These droves of talent are keeping the engines running for businesses. And are instrumental in helping businesses effect the pay actions with aplomb.

At TeamLease, we put lives and health above everything else. But we take cognizance of the criticality of livelihoods in a situation of clear and present emergency. We wish our readers and stakeholders, and humanity as a whole, good health and better times.

Godspeed!

Click here to read the full report covering all data points and insights

Let’s explore some factors that have worked for the IT industry’s diversity program:

Socio-Economic Factors

The ever-growing middle class of India loves growing engineers in their family. Sons or daughters are pushed and pressured to build a career in engineering. While it sounds a little tough on the children, in the long run, this strategy has paid off for most households with children doing phenomenal work in their STEM careers. This drives the family out of poverty and builds a solid future for their generations. This traditional mindset has helped build a strong DNA of the country. Today in this technology-driven world, India is home to the best talent in the world, including some very talented women who sit in tech leadership roles.

Indian Schooling System

While most of us agree that there is a lot of work still to be done in India’s education system. We cannot disregard the fact that our education system has always been very emphatic about the importance of math and sciences. Early on, our children are motivated to learn more about math and science rather than any other subject. Both girls and boys are tasked with many mathematical problems and concepts, and they gradually integrate a second nature into themselves, which answers the question of why so many Indian students are good at math. They grow up to become world-class mathematicians, engineers, and doctors, including women whose average IQ is much higher. Also, about 50% of the technology graduates in India are women, and the youth under thirty significantly contribute to gender parity.

The Boom of India’s IT Industry

The IT industry accounted for 8% of India’s GDP in 2020. Exports from the Indian IT industry are expected to increase by 1.9% to reach US$ 150 billion in FY21. Growing at a rapid speed, the industry has to hire at a rapid pace too, and thus, the IT industry could not ignore any gender, religion, or race in their hiring; otherwise, their productivity would take a hit. Women in India can speak good English coupled with their ability to do good mental math and their engineering background, they made perfect candidates to depend on.

Skills that give women an edge up and helped IT organisations think better:

Networking Skills and Multitasking: Women are masters at navigation and brilliantly putting their ideas to work through their network. They intuitively are gracious and generous in building relationships, and this helps to build strong professional relationships, which is one of the most important ingredients to drive a profitable business. They can hold any business together like their household. Managing people, profits, and processes all together without batting an eye because they know each of those buckets matters in the long run.

Natural Nurturers and Givers:

Women seek to give back to their families, organisations, and communities. They feel indebted to do so—it’s natural to them. It’s ingrained in her to think about others first and then about her. This loyalty pays off for most organisations that promote women as their leaders. Any investment in her will give a better ROI. They make great long-term strategic partners for any organisation. Their motherly nature also makes them brilliant talent nurturers, for once they see the talent, they seek to grow it as much as possible, which makes way for future leaders of those organisations.

Natural Nurturers and Givers:

Women seek to give back to their families, organisations, and communities. They feel indebted to do so—it’s natural to them. It’s ingrained in her to think about others first and then about her. This loyalty pays off for most organisations that promote women as their leaders. Any investment in her will give a better ROI. They make great long-term strategic partners for any organisation. Their motherly nature also makes them brilliant talent nurturers, for once they see the talent, they seek to grow it as much as possible, which makes way for future leaders of those organisations.

All of these factors coupled together have today helped India’s IT industry grow a strong portfolio in diversity hiring, and they are not done yet, they aim to drive a 50-50% gender neutralization into their systems. It’s a benchmark the world needs to follow and learn from. The tech industry is in progression and tech-based roles receiving high traction from other industries as well. As per Jobs and Salaries Primer Report 2021, the tech industry is in progression with 6-8% growth, and tech-based roles are receiving high traction from other industries. The salary growth for jobs in this space has been rewarding as well. This surely aids in the fact that the future of work is not gender-dominated but gender-diversified.

What other industries should learn?

It’s incredibly important to have different perspectives from different genders for any healthy organisation. A boardroom filled with 9 men out of 10 is not a balanced boardroom. Senior leaders should not listen to any alibis when it comes to why enough women aren’t getting hired or promoted at certain levels. The makeup of a boardroom should be a priority for shareholders too.

Lack of diversity in any organisation undermines its ability for strategic thinking and inhibits long-term growth. Comparing a veteran male candidate’s seamless work experience with a woman who started her career at a later stage or with breaks due to motherhood is a wrong comparison. Give her a chance, even if she is too young, too inexperienced, too forgiving, or too emotional, and see how your organisation gets four times the return on its investment.

#PutWomenToWork

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund recently held a flash mob for the first time at its Mumbai corporate office to tell its employees about the importance of systematic investments. “It gets people interested with most even sharing the message among a larger group. The flash mob took our employees by surprise and became a talking point,” CEO A Balasubramanian said.

Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, arranged a flash mob to inform the guests of various offers. “On the one hand, the associates welcomed the refreshing change, and on the other, the guests were thrilled to see them perform,” said the company spokesperson. “We try and theme our performances on festivals …”

“These not only help strengthen the bond among colleagues from various departments, but also refresh them, helping them perform better at the workplace,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of staffing firm, Teamlease Services.

—

This article was published in Hindustan Times

Information technology

In case of IT, a sector seen as the most progressive in terms of human resource practices, this gender gap was shockingly high at 34 per cent in 2015. In median, men earned Rs 360.9 per hour whereas women earned only Rs 239.6. While men’s wages have increased marginally between 2013 and 2015, remuneration for women has recorded a significant drop by Rs 55, finds Monster.

IT is also one sector that carries less historical baggage. The companies have a global clientele and are more aware of international best practices and importance of gender diversities. Being a people-driven industry, the management of human resources too is key to the success of an organisation. The employees are largely younger compared to other sectors and the men-women ratio too is much better balanced than in other sectors.

“Women, as in other sectors, face challenges when it comes to taking care of their children and family. But IT companies have always tried to get them back to work. They are proactive in taking steps to provide better work-life balance to their employees, especially women,” explains Hema Parikh, director HR, Ajuba Solutions.

IT companies always claim to adopt women-friendly policies and measures to provide a better work-life balance, but it comes at the cost of pay, increments and promotions. Most companies are flexible in their timings if women have other responsibilities to meet, with some providing options like work from home. Women are also allowed to opt out of overseas assignments, odd-time projects and extensive travelling. But being a constantly evolving sector, employees have to keep pace with changes. There have been occasions when women who take a break find themselves outdated when they join back.

“In IT, performance alone matters. A person who runs around, takes up additional responsibilities and assignments, is going to grow. Women are encouraged to take more responsibility at work with passion. But at the end of the day, women who seek more work-life balance will be recognised accordingly, not equivalently,” admits Parikh.

That’s why, the strength of women staff tapers down as people move up the career ladder. At the junior and mid-level, the ratio between women and men is almost 40 to 50 per cent in IT. But when it comes to the top-level, it is just 10 per cent. Parikh adds: “It was four to five per cent a few years ago, but has moved up to 10 per cent now.”

Says Teamlease’s Arora: “The percentage of women in leadership roles in IT is much better than the entire industry, which is around 5 per cent. But the salaries are significantly higher in the top positions in IT. When you take the weighted average, men will be earning more, as 90 per cent of the highly paid employees are men. This increases the disparity in pay between men and women and hence we are seeing such a gender pay gap in IT.”

Manufacturing

In manufacturing, where the women workforce constitutes hardly 20 per cent, the gender pay gap in 2015 was pegged at 34.9 per cent. The average hourly wage for men was Rs 259.8 and women Rs 192.5. This is a difference in wages of Rs 67.3. Men’s wages have increased slightly over the years (a yearly average of Rs 2.45), while women’s wages have slipped from 2013 to 2014, but has picked up slightly in 2015.

“Manufacturing is an old-economy sector with a traditional mindset and heavily dominated by men. In most of the segments, including auto and ancillaries, power and capital goods, we would largely see men across different levels. The mindset is that women are not capable of doing heavy jobs in the sector, though most of the companies have become fully automated,” says Arora.

Manufacturing also does not figure in the list of sectors traditionally preferred by women. “Women find manufacturing less attractive than services. There is a perception that women are inflexible to the needs of the sector like doing night shifts, odd hours and reaching factories away from the cities,’ adds NCR Corporation’s Rudra.

In addition, labour laws for the manufacturing industry do not allow women to work in night shifts, as it is not considered safe. But women in IT and ITeS work on night shifts and odd hours and travel far to get to their offices. The industry has understandably been seeking labour reforms to change some of these archaic perceptions.

Indeed, finding women on the shop floor is difficult in India. Most of them get employed in support functions like administration, finance and human resource management. Even within the manufacturing sector, women employment is different is different segments. Textiles, especially garment manufacturing, employs a lot of women. But textiles have always been driven by cheap labour and women are inadequately paid for the work they put in.

Adds Rudra: “The number of women is slowly increasing in segments which need patience and fine motor skills like electronics, hardware, telecom products.”

Healthcare

A 26 per cent gender pay gap exists in this sector, as men earned Rs 240.6 per hour in 2015, but women only Rs 178.3. In healthcare, women constitute a healthy 22 per cent of the workforce. The numbers, naturally, come down to 16 per cent in mid-level and four per cent at the top level.

The bulk of this women workforce is concentrated in the role of nurses. A nurse takes home a salary, which is a pittance compared to what goes into the pocket of the doctor. In cities, a starting salary of nurses would be Rs 6,000-Rs 8,000 per month, while doctors take away Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh. While the salaries of nurses would have gone up 20 to 30 per cent in the last 10 years, that of doctors have risen by 10 to 15 times. Unfortunately, the number of women doctors in India is a lot lesser compared to men. Due to the rock-bottom salary structures, every year a large chunk of Indian nurses move out to West Asia, the US and the UK, despite scarcity back home.

Points out Ashwajit Singh, managing director, IPE Global: “Nurses work long hours, do night shifts and their working conditions are far from desirable. But their pay is not even comparable to doctors. Even among nurses, male nurses are paid better than their female counterparts. Hospitals, which pay differentiated salary to male and female nurses, justify that men are made to do nursing jobs which need more strength like lifting patients and heavy equipment. Men also get easily promoted to supervisory roles.”

He adds: “The differentiation is evident even among specialised doctors. Generally, women are found in specialties like gynaecology and paediatrics. Cardiology, orthopaedics and neuro surgery, which are the forte of men, are better paid than gynaecology and paediatrics in many private hospitals.”

Missionary hospitals have always propagated the perception that nursing is a social service and hence looking at it as just another job and demanding salaries, is not proper. Women getting into the service are expected to be meek, never demanding salaries due to them. The absence of workers’ unions among nurses too adds to the problem.

In the biotechnology and pharma sectors, which are also part of healthcare, the presence of women is strictly limited. “One has to dedicate more years to education in order to get into research and the job too requires extended hours at work. So women tend to opt out of research,” admits Teamlease’s Arora.

Construction

Wage discrimination is rampant in the construction sector as well, which is also highly unorganised. Organised players account for hardly 10 to 15 per cent of the industry. Women in this sector are unskilled labourers at the worksite. For years, their wages have been at least 50 to 60 per cent lower than that of men. Wages go up for skilled labour like masonry, carpentry and plumbing, but these again, are men’s domains.

In supervisory roles too, there are hardly any women. Even within construction companies, women take up support functions like finance and accounting. “Educated women hardly prefer construction-related jobs, as they are expected to deal with labour unions, liaison with government departments and on several occasions, pay a bribe as well. There are very few at leadership positions in construction companies, apart from those women who belong to the promoter family,” points out Arora.

Way ahead

Studies indicate that only 33 per cent women in India are part of the workforce. The contribution of women to the country’s GDP is 17 per cent and India can add at least 16 per cent to the national income if women joined the labour force in proportionate measure, finds a study by Teamlease. Achieving this requires the country to recast its outdated societal outlook substantially. Outdated attitudes and beliefs perpetuated through decades of cultural sanctions and patriarchal hierarchies have set gender roles that hinder equal opportunity.

Says IPE Global’s Singh: “Lower the workforce, lesser will be the salaries. We need to get more women into the workforce and this will automatically raise the pay levels.” He has a point. But typically, efforts to get more women into the workplace needs initiatives from different levels — the government, industry and family.

Extending maternity leave is one such recent initiative to encourage women to get back to work after a break. The recent Model Shops and Establishments Act allow women to work late hours in stores. It will also push up their employment in the retail sector.

“The government should undertake labour reforms for the manufacturing sector, allowing women to work in night shifts. This will increase availability of labour in this sector, especially textiles. Initiatives like startup India should reserve a portion of their funds for women entrepreneurs and also help them with mentoring,” opines Rudra.

Adds Singh: “The government has to fix a minimum wage structure for nurses in order to avoid exploitation by hospitals and drain of nursing talent.”

A proactive industry can bring back the women workforce, which drops out after the proforma maternity break. Some IT companies are beginning to provide creche facilities, flexibility in timing and training to keep women updated, post a break.

When women too find that they are not being discriminated against for bearing a child and taking up family responsibility, they will be motivated to get back to work. Some multinational companies have been setting such examples for others to follow in the industry.

Points out Vinita Shrivastava, senior director, Harman India, HR & global mobility: “There have been occasions in our office where women who had returned from maternity leave were promoted within a week. Also, there are women on our shop floor. There was a glass ceiling a few years ago, but it is breaking at least in the top cities and among companies like ours. Women account for 22 per cent of our workforce and we expect this to go up to 30 to 35 per cent in the near future.”

Companies have also been conducting programmes to sensitise employees about gender diversity at the workplace. “These sensitisation programmes should also be conducted for families of the employees. If families are willing to share household responsibilities, women can dedicate more time and energy for their work,” says Arora. If all goes according to plan, hopefully, this gender-gap would get a lot less narrow than it is now.

This article was published in Financial Chronicle

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