How is the Rise of Female Employees Changing the Face of the BPO industry?

By: Ms. Sushma Singh, Chief People Officer at ICCS

Women are not only the backbone of the family, but they also play a significant role in the country's economic success. India has long been a patriarchal society, with little economic participation by women. However, women make up about half of the entire population, so it is vital to encourage women's economic involvement at all levels. However, it goes without saying that women in India have always had work goals that have the potential to transform the entire industry scenario with the shifting landscape.

According to Bain and Company report, India will have the world's highest working-age population of over 1 billion people in the coming decade. When combined with an increasingly educated population, this demographic dividend has the potential to transform India's economic and social growth. However, the private and public sectors combined have not been able to produce enough jobs, but they are growing the female workforce for the benefit of society. Women's employees are an essential component of the overall solution.

Women At Workspace-In the Past Decade

Historically, women have only worked as caregivers for their children, families, and others. There is a societal presumption that they are less than any other man out there. Society has always believed that it’s real and has not supported the fact that women can work and handle everything. It gets more difficult for women who have the freedom to work wherever and whenever they desire. However, the percentage began to decline due to the scenario of life events such as marriage and childbirth, which are big speed blocks.

Traditionally, the war scenario began to offer prospects for women in the workforce. When the male went to war, both single and married women were recruited for jobs to fill the positions. However, when the war ended, women were compelled to quit, and their employment was handed to returning troops. However, with the changing system, the working scenario has shifted and began to level up, allowing more women to enter the working sector.

Modern Trends Supporting the Workforce

Women's employee roles are no longer limited to specific sectors; with the transition, their rate of engagement in technology-based firms as well as other fields is also increasing. They now have the capacity to contribute to the progress of the country. With the changing era, firms are establishing and growing businesses and the challenges they encounter remain the same in a few areas. As a solution, empowering and raising female employees is indeed changing the industry scenario by keeping business and the country's growth potential on track.

According to the Nasscom report, the sectors employed 1.8 million women, comprising 36% of the total workforce. Industry experts say an estimated 200,000 women will be hired by the industry by the end of the fiscal year 2022. The report further states that driven by the high demand for talent, companies are pulling out all the acts to hire women in IT, ITES, BPO, and other sectors across the globe.

Changing the face of the industry

With the changing era, women's participation in the workforce has been a hotly discussed topic in recent years. The presence of women, especially in leadership positions, is key to leading the way to a more equal and productive workforce in the country's rapidly changing labor market. We've noticed that tech-enabled industries like ITES, BPO, and banking, to mention a few, have a higher percentage of women than others. They are now playing at the forefront with the self-dependent attitude and leadership skills to reach out at a higher level.

Despite the significant economic contribution of women to the Indian BPO industry, there are numerous hurdles and benefits that can stymie the advancement of gender equality in the workplace. As a result of this circumstance, junior-level employees feel free to speak out against topics such as workplace safety measures, working from home, and the graveyard shift. The business and the employees are working together to complete the chore with a beneficial impact on work.

The Advantages of the BPO Industry

Nowadays, women are self-independent and can take care of their own decision in the process of standing out on any wrongdoing they face in their organization. Businesses nowadays are offering more flexibility, especially to women in BPO sectors by providing them work from home, rotational shifts, and pick drop facilities. Adding to it, the firm for the women who work in the graveyard shift is also providing hotline and SMS services that monitor commuting employees, and background checks on all services offered to employees.

New-age organizations are not only supporting the female workforce but also empathizing with them by enhancing and emerging the benefits while working. Also, resolving their issues in the interim by improving anti-harassment policies of the firm for the employee, especially for the women workforce. It is supplemented with healthcare and awareness initiatives, women's recreational activities, and family days.

With the rise in the workforce, women are now playing a pivotal role by becoming more financially independent and by breaking the dry spell of the traditional sluggish environment in the workforce sector.  With the headwind, women are now shining and dominating in the BPO sector with their leadership skills and positioning rise. Hence, with the rise of industrial evolution, employing women in the workforce will change the face of the BPO industry.