Comeback conundrum stare at women techies
Women form a large percentage of the IT workforce. But nearly all women take certain mandatory breaks from their work. The reasons are primarily marriage, maternity leave, relocation or medical necessity.
The stipulated break sometimes lasts longer than envisaged. Some of the companies offer very long leave and often give them back the same position.
However, with automation of services replacing the work done by people, most companies are no longer offering the same position in which the woman had served before going on leave. The primary reason is that with the dynamic upgradation that is constantly happening in the IT world, matching pace would be difficult. Inter-estingly, many companies are now offering skill upgradation workshops and training before taking the women back in service, making it easier for them to step back into corporate space.
Companies like Accenture, GE, TCS, Intel Amazon, IBM, SAP, CapGemini run this career comeback programme under various names like ‘Bring her back Program’, ‘Restart’, ‘Stay in Touch’, ‘Tata Second Chance Internship Programme’, among others.
Ms Kaberi Bhowal, a techie who restarted her career said, “I had to take almost a year off from work due to pregnancy and change in work location of my husband. However, when I returned to the company, I was trained on a new technology and placed in the client project. Such things are needed to bring back women into the workforce.”
While IT companies in Hyderabad have a designated program for women to restart their career, returnee internships by some companies have become a powerful comeback strategy for women. Several companies like Jobs for Her, Internshala are giving opportunities for women to make a comeback.
According to Internshala, since the inaugural of the prelaunch program in July2017, 675 women have done internships with them from across India. 49 women from Hyderabad have been hired through this re-launch initiative.
Ms Pallavi Bhaskar left her job in Bengaluru to live with her husband in Hyderabad, “I had never thought that I would be actively looking out for internships at the age of 30. Having worked continuously, a break was somehow not as relaxing as I had imagined it would be. I was asked why I was looking for an internship after 5 years of work experience. I simply replied that learning never comes with an expiration date. I got hired for a content writing internship through Internshala.”