Women line up for firms offering WFH

In the post-Covid world, women are gravitating toward organisations that provide the work-from-home perk. Companies that offer work from home (WFH), work from anywhere (WFA) or even hybrid models, said they are seeing a spike in the number of women applying. Some of them have already started feeling the impact in terms of better gender diversity numbers.

At RPG Group, there’s been a 15-20% jump in the number of women applying for jobs, which the company said will help it reach its diversity goals faster. Edtech unicorn Eruditus group has seen the proportion of women increasing from 41% pre-pandemic to 51% across levels; at mid-senior leadership levels, it’s gone up from 37% to 47%.

HR technology startup Springworks, which has 100% WFH, has seen the proportion of women going up from 30% to 35%. Axis Bank says that work from anywhere has given it access to talent in tier 2-3 cities the lender couldn’t have accessed otherwise.


“Our remote working policy encourages a lot of women to apply,” said Supratik Bhattacharyya, chief talent officer at the RPG Group. “There’s a lot of interest, literally on a daily basis, from women who appreciate that we are making the workplace more friendly, more inclusive for them.”

The Mumbai-based conglomerate has categorised employees based on roles, offering most the option to work from home for up to 50% of the time, while some categories are even entitled to 100% remote work.

“A lot of women who wouldn’t have applied earlier opted in when we took the decision to go 100% work-from-home,” said Ashwin Damera, CEO at Eruditus. “We saw this across the country, how this move encouraged women’s participation in the workforce.”

‘A Win-Win Situation’
Hiring women–including those exploring a second career–has become a staple talent strategy in most industries and offering them flexibility goes a long way to attract and retain them, experts said.

At a women-only job fair held by diversity consulting firm Avtar earlier in July, about 35% of the roles mentioned that location was not a constraint and 41% of other available posts offered options for hybrid work. Ather Energy, Amazon, Mastercard, ICICI Lombard GIC were among the companies that participated.

“The efficacy of WFH and flexibility allows employers to become geography-agnostic while hiring women,” said Saundarya Rajesh, founder-president of the Avtar Group.

“Most companies lean towards a hybrid set-up, which is a win-win situation for both diversity talent as well as employers.”

Manisha Mohan, director of design at Emeritus India and APAC—she joined the group at the end of March--is among those for whom the option of full-remote work was a key draw.

“I’m pursuing my PhD and the time I save on the commute to and from work allows me to pursue my research and give more time to my family. It wasn’t possible in my earlier organisation, which required me to go to office,” said Mohan, adding that such flexible work models go a long way toward attracting women.