As more and more young women enter the white collar segment, it is becoming a big challenge for human resource (HR) managers to retain female talent, especially after child birth. For, ironically, a woman’s productive years are also her reproductive years.

There have been instances of many mid-career women calling it quits to take care of children and family — something that’s not good for the company or the employee. Thankfully, there is a gradual realisation in companies across the world that investing in women makes good business sense, and retaining female talent makes even better sense — both for the company’s profile as well as its political correctness.

Mazars, a French audit and advisory services company, has been trying to do its bit to make some changes in the workplace, not only in terms of giving women a bigger role in decision-making, but also ensuring diversity across its offices in all the 61 countries where it is present, including India, where it has offices in Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurgaon.

“My company realised this when women between the ages of 30-35 started leaving to start a family,” Ms Muriel de Saint Sauveur, Mazar’s Director of Group Diversity and International Marketing and Communications, told Business Line.

“Our Board President understood that there was an issue there — the company was losing money, as the women who left, later chose to rejoin another company”, she said.

Ms Sauveur, who has been with Mazar’s since 1993, said she travelled across the company’s 61 offices and realised that in many cases the problem was country and culture-specific.

“We have a guidance policy at the global level, but the solutions need to be country-specific,” she added.

For instance, in Mazar’s offices in France they have an employee who does all the household chores that take up a woman’s time. “So, if I park my car, he will arrange for a car wash, pick up groceries, pay my bills etc,” she said. While the staff have to pay a nominal amount for this, it takes a huge load off the staff’s minds.

However, while most problems are country-specific, there is one big issue that is almost global — work-life balance!

That’s the most challenging issue right now for HR managers. “Flexibility in work hours is good but that has to go along with evaluation. You can work from home or part time, but at the end of the day everyone has to be evaluated,” she said.

Ms Sauveur admitted that a three-month absence (maternity leave) is an issue for many companies, even as she added that careers need to be attractive for women.

She has a piece of advice for working mothers. “Women have to realise that they need to take care of their jobs, along with the child. You can’t take off for six months, join, and then say bye-bye I’m going. That’s not professional.”

It’s a two-way game. Ms Sauveur says in her team they avoid keeping meetings at 9.30 a.m, except on rare occasions, as many women have a problem reporting that early, “My colleague said she wanted to start late and finish late, but I prefer to start early and finish early, as I have social life. So, we have worked it out that way. At the end of the day, the work needs to be done,” she added.

On India, Ms Sauveur is perplexed by what she calls its “complexity”. “You have extremely powerful women in politics, business and governance, but at home, it is a different story. Men still do not help in household tasks.”

Also, she feels that marriage seems to be a key goal for women here as well as in China. “If women are not married till they are 30, they get all worked up. These stereotypes and mindsets need to change. Both men and women are victims of these. I am sure men, too, want to breakdown or cry at times,” she added.

Ms Sauveur, who has written a book A Women’s World, a Better World? based on 100 interviews of working women across developed and emerging economies, says almost all these women are clear — they do not want total power, all they want is a share in power, not for their own benefit but to change the course of events.

aditi.n@thehindu.co.in

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