Saving seats to start at ease: How Wipro is bringing moms back to jobs

The technology industry should innovate to offset challenges for women in the workforce to make sure that more women reach leadership positions, said Wipro chairman Rishad Premji at a time when female participation in the Indian workforce is dipping.

Premji, while speaking at the Nasscom Technology Leadership Summit (NTLS) 2023, detailed the company's initiatives in this direction.

“We (at Wipro) said if somebody left the program, when they come back, they can take back the exact same role, which helps as they almost have their seat saved. It helps in an easier start,” Premji said.

According to the Wipro chairman, women do not typically leave the workforce when they marry; rather, they leave for the first time when they have children.

“They come back to work and then leave the workforce when their children go to standard 9th or 10th because they are going to give their board exams. They again tend to leave the workforce when they have to take care of aged parents or in-laws. If we as the tech industry could find ways to offset those challenges, it can be very powerful,” he added.

According to a Nasscom report, the industry employs 5.4 million people, with approximately two million of them being women. The report also said that the industry has created about 2.9 lakh new jobs in FY2023, out of which there are about 1.4 lakh women employees.

Wipro chairman said that while almost 50 percent of what the industry hires today is women, the number goes down to 36 percent if we look at women's participation in the workforce today. Further, he said only 10 percent of leadership roles are occupied by women executives.

“If you want to move more women into leadership, you have to build a supply chain, and you've got to ensure that 50% is not dropping down to 36% and then 10%,” Premji said.

He added that organisations must create avenues and ways that make it much simpler for women to either not leave the workforce or rejoin it.