Draft Standing Orders on Work From Home for Service Sector
The labour ministry has published its draft standing orders on work-from-home formalization for the service sector. Experts believe that work-from-home formalization can encourage women, especially from small cities and towns, who have discontinued work because of personal responsibilities, to re-enter the workforce. The remote working model has completely changed the world of work for women. Also, the future of work looks quite promising for women, especially those who come from smaller cities.
Impact of Work from Home on Women’s Workforce Participation
The statistics around female labour force participation show that nearly 50% of women exit their jobs at the mid-career stage. The talent deficit that is created due to this is huge, which in turn results in fewer women in leadership roles.
The formalization of the work-from-home model that is now being adopted by more and more companies will create more job opportunities for women in small cities to re-enter the workforce, especially in tier-2 and 3 cities. The main reason for higher employment now in these cities is the women on career breaks and retired personnel who want to rejoin employment on a part-time basis. According to a survey conducted by CIEL HR Services, up to 50% of women in tier-2 and 3 cities and rural India might have lost their jobs during the pandemic. However, as the country is coming back to a normal level of economic activity, many of those women who lost their jobs during the pandemic have now found new jobs for themselves. CIEL estimates there are about 70 million working women in tier-2 and 3 cities.
Corporate Initiatives to Hire Women from Smaller Cities
Many IT firms like Tech Mahindra, Capgemini, and CavinKare are expected to hire more women, particularly from tier-2 and 3 cities where many women lost their jobs during the pandemic. Here are the steps taken by these companies to create more job opportunities for women from smaller cities:
- Tech Mahindra has built an external marketplace by the name of Flex.ai that allows employers to hire talented women and men who are working as freelancers.
- Capgemini is hiring women from tier-2 and 3 cities to work remotely through its ‘Sakhi Drishtikon’ initiative. Through this initiative, Capgemini will be able to hire women in non-tier-1 cities. Women, to benefit from this initiative, need to be graduates or postgraduates from technical streams with a few years of experience. Even freshers are considered for entry-level positions.
- CavinKare has reserved some positions, especially for women from tier-2 and 3 cities.
A Promising Future for Women in the Workforce
These are just a few examples of how companies are going the extra mile to provide better job opportunities to women from smaller cities. If more and more companies keep joining in and there is necessary help from the government, the future of work for women looks promising.
References:
- WFH’s formalisation to help women in small cities find jobs | Prachi Verma & Yogima Seth Sharma | 5 February, 2021
- Standing orders on work from home | Formalisation of WFH to spur second-career women to re-enter workforce | Shreeja Singh | 10 February, 2021.
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