Women who take mid-career breaks struggle to get back into the workforce. However, companies in India are actively pursuing gender diversity initiatives. It is essential for women to be aware of such opportunities and invest in training themselves to make the best of the opportunities. SoaringEagles is an innovative talent development organisation with a range of training programmes and personalised career counselling services. For more details visit www.soaringeagles.in.

1. What Is Holding Women
Back From Soaring?
Women’s Day
Gender Diversity Initiatives

2. No Dearth Of Talent Among Indian Women
Sources: Indiastat, Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI
45.9%
of all enrolled
undergraduate
students are
women
40.5% of all
enrolled PhD
students are
women
28.5%
40.2%
35.6%
32.0%
Engineering / Technology
IT and Computer
Management
Law
Percentage of women enrolled in specific
undergraduate degree programs: 2012-2013

3. More Women Entering The Corporate World
Total 15.4%
Public Sector
13.4%
Private Sector
20.2%
Total 20.5%
Public Sector
18.1%
Private Sector
24.3%
1995
2011
Women employment in organized sector as a percentage of total employment
Source: Directorate General of Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour and Employment.

4. But Drop-outs
Are High!
Source: McKinsey 2012 report titled Women Matter: An Asian Perspective.
Entry level
29%
Mid to Senior
Management
level
9% CEO
level
< 1%
Percentage of women in the workforce

5. Childcare
Eldercare
Career not
satisfying or
enjoyable
Career
progression
is stalled
Extreme
work
conditions
Mobility and
Safety issues
Reasons
why women
leave mid-
career

6. Source: The Great Place to Work Trust Index
Areas Where Women Rated Their Workplace
Lower Than Their Male Co-workers
Everyone has an opportunity to get special recognition.
People avoid politicking and backstabbing as ways to get things done.
I feel I make a difference here.
Management does a good job of assigning and coordinating people.
People here are paid fairly for the work they do.
Areas
Where
Women
Struggle

7. Challenges Of Returning After A Mid-career Break
91% of Indian
women want to
return to work
Face salary
penalties
Are
offered
lower level
openings
72% don’t
want to
return to
former
employer
Source: On-Ramps and Up-Ramps India,
Center for Talent Innovation
58% are able to
rejoin full-time
mainstream
workforce

8. Opportunities Exist: Some Examples
Intel India - Home to Office
Tata - Second Chance
Internship Programme
GE - RESTART Program
IBM - Bring Her Back Program SAP - Stay in Touch
Axis Bank - Reconnect
Philips – Back in the Game
(B.I.G.)
Hindustan Unilever Limited -
Career by Choice Program

9. See What The Heads Of HR
In Top Companies In India
Have To Say On
Gender Diversity

10. Since our customer base comprises of significant proportion of women, for
true customer centricity we need to focus on including similar proportion of
women in our employee base so that we can understand our customer
preferences better. In our usual hiring process we are striving to attract more
women applicants.
Kinjal Choudhary
Director & Head HR India Operations
Amazon.com

11. Creating a diverse and equal work environment where everyone’s
perspective is valued is critical to our success as an organization. Diversity is
not just the right thing to do, it is good for business. On the occasion of
International Women’s Day, we reinforce our commitment to helping
women succeed at the workplace.
Amit Vaish
Head Human Resources
Barclays Technology Centre
India

12. Having gender diversity in middle and top management is an imperative which
cannot be debated today. Not only does it improve the overall performance of
the organization , but also the overall EQ of the leadership team. It helps the
organization to build a long term focus and makes them resilient in long run.
Manoj Garg
Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)
Dr. Lal PathLabs

13. At Ericsson we believe that Diversity is directly correlated to better productivity
as it enables teams & individuals to think and do beyond what is expected. One
cannot afford to ignore 50% of the potential workforce and expect to be
competitive in the global economy.
Ericsson started a movement called the “Blue River Project” in 2014 with
respect to our commitment towards achieving gender balance at workplace."
Sameer Khanna
VP and Head - Human Resources
Ericsson India

14. Diversity and Inclusion is a critical priority for us. It's a fundamental aspect of being an
employer of choice in our industry. Especially in a manufacturing intensive
organisations in auto industry, traditionally, gender diversity has taken a back seat. We
recognise that, and have been taking decisive steps. Our ratios have started
improving.
We believe, having a more diverse organisation is a critical enabler to achieve
organisation effectiveness. Towards that intent, we have several initiatives and
policies that are aimed towards having women as part of our workforce across levels,
as we don't see that as a nice thing to do, but a fundamental need to do and represent
the ecosystem that we are part of.
Sanjay Jorapur
Chief Human Resources Officer
Hero MotoCorp

15. One of the things we are incredibly proud of is the Returning Moms program, which is
an umbrella of efforts across different parts of the organisation coming together to
support women coming back from mat leave.
The key highlight of this program is our assurance to returning moms that upon return
we will find them a role with a shift and location of their choice. This is a stretch promise
in our 24 x 7 work environment but I'm proud to say that we continue to deliver on our
promise!
Check out the Twitter hashtag #ReturningMoms to read their stories!
Rajnish Sinha
Senior Vice President Human Resources
Genpact

16. A Diversity & Inclusion focused organisation is a great enabler to a successful
career for a woman, whether it's flex work, child care, extended maternity,
focused mentoring or networking opportunity. These are great support
mechanisms at different stages in the career of a working mother.
Springboard at Microsoft is a very successful initiative of attracting returning
moms, in our services organization.
Oindrila Chauhan
Director - Global HR Operations, India
Microsoft Corporation (India)
Pvt. Ltd.

17. At Philips Innovation Campus, we believe in developing, engaging and nurturing women to
make them champions of tomorrow. In fact we always tell our women employees- “Why
walk when you can fly?”.
We have various programs to attract, engage and develop talent including, Second Innings
for returning women employees, Sounding Board for mentoring by senior women leaders,
Knowledge Sharing sessions by senior Philips women leaders, Next Gen Women Leaders
Program to nurture women leaders, Extended Maternity break, Lactation Rooms for new
mothers, Gift for new parents, Counselor at work, Reduced work hours, Flexible working
hours and Work from home option.
Deepak Shetty
Sr. Director, HR
Philips Innovation Campus

18. If India can increase
women's labour
force participation by
10 percentage points
(68 million more
women) by 2025,
India could increase
its GDP 16%.
So are gender
diversity initiatives
only about being a
good corporate
citizen?
No!
103.4%
69.5%
Returns for Companies
During women
CEO tenure
(Fortune 1000)
Avg. Return for
S&P 500 over
same time period
Sources: Fortune and McKinsey Global Institute, “The Power of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality in India” (2015).

19. Then, Where Is The Gap?
Building up
the
confidence
to apply for
jobs
Need for a
refresher
course to
bridge skill
gaps
Learn to
market one’s
transferable
skills

20. Desired Endgame
More women in
senior
management
roles
More
representation
on boards – not
just on quota
but talent
Retain Train Soar

21. Companies Are Actively Looking
For Women Returning To Work
After A Career-break
Diversity hiring targets
Paying more for women candidates
Offering flexible work arrangements
Diversity &
Inclusion
Agenda

22. Don’t Let It Remain A Tokenism
Invest in yourself
Go Ahead And Grab The Opportunities

23. For career interest assessment and counseling support
Call 8080809115 or write to us at contact@soaringeagles.in
Self Awareness Goal Setting Self-Promotion
Professional
Networking
Leadership Skills Critical Thinking
Resume Writing Interview Skills Career Counseling
SoaringEagles Programmes
www.soaringeagles.in

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