The Hindu Business Line : Gender difference in attrition levels?

Given the `right environment,' women tend to stay longer than men in a job. And right environment most often only means one thing: work-life flexibility

Bangalore , Jan. 14

Women are more stable; less influenced by peer pressure and clearly have a better loyalty quotient... No, not some strident utterance by female activists, nor a leaf out of the Venus versus Mars relationship theory propagated by Dr John Gray, but real-life experiences of HR managers and recruiters in an industry that's battered by the `attrition' bane.

Says Mr C. Mahalingam, Senior Vice-President, HR, Symphony Services, "I find that women tend to be less susceptible to peer pressure and outside influences. A marginal increase in salary or some perk doesn't really motivate them into quitting." He goes on to add that it's only marriage or motherhood that could lead them to jump jobs.

Mr Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech — an IT recruitment firm — agrees that the longevity issue is gender-laced, but is more cautious, "Women tend to be more stable. Of course, their sample size in the industry is now relatively smaller than their male peers. The ratio is changing and we'll have to wait and see whether they display the same behaviour three years from now."

Attrition levels

The Indian IT industry employs close to 1.3 million people now and women form about 35 per cent of this population. The industry is witnessing an employee churn of about 30 per cent per annum and women contribute hardly `five per cent to this', says an HR practitioner.

Mr Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom, says that there is not enough data available on the subject and most of it is anecdotal inference, but "companies have said that there is a definite difference in the attrition levels among men and women employees". Women are less prone to move to another job for a 10-15 per cent hike in salaries, he says.

Ms Kalpana Margabandhu, Program Director at IBM India Software Lab at the IBM Software Group, who has been with the organisation for close to 14 years, voices out the critical factor here, "I find that given the `right environment,' women tend to stay longer than men in a job." And right environment most often only means one thing: work-life flexibility.

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