9 JUNE2023INFOCUSINFOCUSWOMEN ATTRITION HIGHER THAN MEN SAYS TCS; END OF WFH PROBABLE CAUSEIndia is planning two initiatives for female personnel from South East Asia later this year in response to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's proposal from last year for an initiative on "Women in United Nations Peacekeeping (UNPK) Operations" as a part of enhancing defense cooperation between India and ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).The 75tt U.N. Peacekeepers Day was observed on 29 March and India, one of the countries that supplies the most troops to UNPK, has around 5,900 troops deployed in 12 U.N. Missions.In order to provide training for Peacekeeping Operations, the Indian Army created a CUNPK in New Delhi. The Center presently trains more than 12,000 troops every year. In addition to that, India has sent Female Engagement Teams, the second largest deployment of women after Liberia, to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei. India has also sent female staff officers, military observers, and women military police to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, among other missions. INDIA TO TRAIN ASEAN WOMEN FOR UN PEACEKEEPING MISSIONTata Consultancy Services (TCS), the largest technology company in India, said that attrition rates among its female employees have surpassed the number of male employees. The main reason for this situation is the end of work-from-home (WFH) policies.TCS's Chief Human Resources Officer, Millind Lakkad stated about this issue. He said that earlier attrition of women has comparatively been lower than men, they made up over 35 per cent of the workforce of over 60,000. Millind has also stated that some women may not have been able to return to the office even after normalcy has been restored because of the domestic arrangements that had been reset during the pandemic.Millind further added that TCS believes in gender diversity and to acknowledge the setback to the company's efforts, they are working to reverse this trend of attrition. The annual report did not provide precise attrition numbers. Although it gradually increased in the middle of the previous fiscal year, overall attrition had dropped to over 20 per cent by the end of March.Development programs such as 'iExcel' has been implemented to address this problem by TCS. The annual report made note of the fact that 1,450 female executives have benefitted from the 22 editions of this program's flagship executive leadership development. Despite making up only 14 percent of the applicant pool, women held nearly 25 percent of the internal leadership positions that were filled in FY23 which is commendable.Women made up to 38.1 per cent of TCS's net hires in FY23 as per the annual report. In addition to this, during the same fiscal year, nearly 14,000 job applications were submitted for positions through the "Rebegin" initiative, which is aimed at experienced women professionals returning to the workforce after taking a career break.More than 13 percent out of the 30,000 employees are women in senior management positions, reported by TCS. The company also provides flexible work arrangements for expectant females and people with disabilities.
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