Gender Diversity to Lead Inclusion Agenda in the Indian IT-BPM Industry

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today share its findings from its report titled, “Gender Diversity & Inclusivity trends in the IT-BPM Sector”, stating that the industry is increasingly turning women centric, with women constituting 51 per cent of entry level hiring, and having a 50 per cent higher chance of getting IT-BPM job offers. The findings were shared on the sidelines of the 9 th edition of the NASSCOM Diversity and Inclusion Summit 2016 in Bengaluru.

To assess the gender diversity and inclusivity situation in the IT-BPM domain in India, NASSCOM and PWC conducted a survey of NASSCOM member companies to get a perspective on how the IT-BPM industry is strengthening its current practices and embracing new emerging trends. The study was aimed at understanding the role of women in the sector, and help companies formulate practices which can further accelerate inclusion in the industry. According to the industry focus is shifting from inclusivity & diversity to empowerment, stating that women are also moving away from support roles and growing in core business operations through added focus on training and development.

FACTS ON GENDER INCLUSION IN IT –BPM INDUSTRY:

• Women constitute 28% of job applicants, up by 5% over 2012 

• Women constitute 51% of entry level hiring & have a 50% higher chance of getting job offers

• Evolution of job profile from support roles to core business; increasing by 2% over 2012

• Women in overall managerial roles as a proportion of total women employees has increased by 2 per cent over FY2012

• Average hours spent on training has increased by 38 per cent over FY2012, while that for men has only increased by 26%

Over the years, NASSCOM has been working with various stakeholders across the industry to enable organizations to build a work environment that embraces diversity where employees, customers and other stakeholders thrive and succeed. NASSCOM has been instrumental in creating platforms of knowledge exchange across various forms of inclusion and across different cultural context for companies to share and learn best practices. The organization is also working with the government and the society to create a legal and commercial framework for support the same.

Speaking on the rise of women participation in the sector, Mr. BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman, NASSCOM said, “I am extremely proud of the progress that the industry has made to promote gender inclusivity. At NASSCOM, we believe that development is never complete unless it is across all sections though participation and inclusion of people irrespective of their gender, creed or color. Today’s summit is part of our continued efforts to build an inclusive work environment in the sector, I hope that we wil l continue with this trend in supporting more women to break the glass ceiling”.

While the trend of diversity and inclusion is promising in the sector, we still have a long way to go to become a fully inclusive sector. While gender equality has been established at entry levels, women still constitute a far lower share of CXO roles; the trend of women resigning at a higher rate than men as their personal priorities change is hampering this growth.

The summit also witnessed the announcement of The NASSCOM Corporate Awards for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion 2016, aimed at celebrating best practices of companies in Diversity and Inclusion. This year, NASSCOM honored winners under 6 different categories who have made an effort to create an inclusive environment within their company.

Winners:

Best IT BPM Company less than 500 employees

Goldman Sachs Services Private Limited

Best IT BPM Company with more than 5000 and less than 10,000 employees

SAP Labs India Pvt Ltd

Best IT BPM Company - more than 10,000 employees

Wipro Limited

Best program for excellence in inclusion of PwD

ANZ Bengaluru Hub

Most Innovative Programme 

EMC India Center of Excellence

Excellence in Leadership for Promotion of Diversity &Inclusion

Bhuvaneswar Naik

SAP Labs India Pvt Ltd

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPM industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1800 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM's member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPO services, e-commerce & web services, engineering services off-shoring and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 3.1 million professionals.