Consumer Durables and Electronics Workforce is 94% Male as Product Category Appeals More to Men than Women

Balasubramanian A, SVP & Business Head, TeamLease Services speaks to India Employer Forum about the key findings in the consumer durables industry, attrition in FMCD and more.

He says, “This report is not just any other sort of an industry or market report. This is more of a staffing perspective on consumer durables and electronics as an industry so we believe it’s the first of its kind. We try to analyse the workforce in this industry because this is one of the biggest contributors to the GDP of our country and it employs a huge workforce with numbers to several lakhs. TeamLease is one of the, if not, the largest players in this space, and hence, we’ve used a lot of our primary data to gain some insights into some of the demographics, behavioural patterns and also what could be the business impact of not being able to optimise your people supply chain in this industry”. 

“To begin with, number one from a demographic standpoint, this may come as a surprise for some people but in this industry, especially among the store promoters which is what we’ve taken as the primary set of people for this analysis, only 6% are women, 94% are men, and that’s a miserable statistic. But more than it not being an attractive industry for women from a working condition standpoint, it has more to do with the product categories themselves which don’t lend themselves to be very attractive to women”. 

“So, for example, many of these store promoters usually work in modern trade outlets, which could be in organised locations such as malls or maybe big markets, so they are relatively safe environments and it’s not very demotivating or discouraging or deterring for women to work there but then right next door in a lifestyle or apparel or fashion outlet you would find more women. So, it has more to do with the product categories unlike in FMCG where it has more to do with working conditions which dissuades women from joining the workforce. That’s one important data point”. 

Watch the full interview: In Conversation with Balasubramanian A | SVP & Business Head | TeamLease Services Ltd.

About Balasubramanian A

Balasubramanian A has been with TeamLease for more than five years and currently heads one of the largest verticals in TeamLease: Consumer, Retail & E-commerce. He brings about 13+ years of management experience working with leading organisations including Nokia, GEP and Ola. He has also co-founded a start-up ZuperMeal. He has a strong background in Management Consulting, Enterprise Sales & Account Management. 

In his role at TeamLease, Bala is responsible for managing about 3,200 cr in Annual revenue, leading a multi-layered team with 3 distinct functions – Business Development, Key Account Management and Mobilization. Bala plays a critical role in developing and nurturing CXO connects across our client base and other large organisations pan-India across various industries. In his last role, he was part of the leadership team of Ola Corporate, the B2B distribution arm with a focus on Travel Policy Compliance, Cost Optimisation and Employee Convenience.

He holds an Electrical and Electronics Engineering Degree from PSG College of Technology and earned his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

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