 "women in jobs, work life balance")
Work-life balance is a bigger concern for employed women in India as compared to their male counterparts, findings of a report released on Thursday showed.
According to the "Women in India Inc HR Managers Survey report", 34 per cent of women leave jobs over work-life balance, but this is true for only 4 per cent of men. The report was released by The Udaiti Foundation in partnership with Godrej DEi Labs, Centre for Economic Data & Analysis, Ashoka University and Dasra, based on a survey of 200 senior human resource managers.
It said the top three reasons for women leaving their organisations were salary concerns, career opportunities and work-life balance. For men, the reasons are salary concerns, career opportunities and future employment direction.
"This suggests that policies to retain women in the workplace need to specifically address this issue," the report said.
It also highlighted that hiring managers are far more likely to consider a female applicant's marital status and age when considering her for a role than a male applicant, which can create barriers to hiring more women.
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"38 per cent of human resource managers considered the women's marital status, whereas only 22 per cent did so in the case of male candidates," it added.
Similarly, age and location were slightly more likely to be considered in the case of women than men. In women, 43 per cent and 26 per cent of managers are likely to consider age and location, respectively, compared to 39 per cent and 21 per cent in men.
On the other hand, HR managers were found to be more likely to consider men's academic background and work experience (79 per cent and 80 per cent) compared to women (73 per cent and 72 per cent).
Moreover, 59 per cent of the survey respondents said that their organisations had not set up Internal Complaints Committees that are mandated by the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, indicating a substantial gap in addressing sexual harassment concerns impacting women.
"This can deter individuals from coming forward due to both lack of knowledge and absence of established procedures, signalling a disregard for workplace safety," said Shruti Vidyasagar, lawyer and POSH Law practitioner.
It also added that 36 per cent of companies did not offer maternity leave benefits, and "this did not vary substantially by sector, size, and women's representation".
"Women face many constraints at home, which are familiar and oft-discussed. but they also face significant barriers in accessing jobs, and if they get in, continuing and advancing at the workplace," said Ashwini Deshpande, professor and head (Department of Economics) and founding director at CEDA, Ashoka University.
"Employers can play a huge role in changing the status-quo by taking concrete steps to ease barriers to women's employment, retention and re-entry."
