PTI

Chennai, Nov 12(mb): Information Technology companies in India are increasingly becoming proactive towards promoting women workforce across all verticals by taking special efforts to recruit, retain and develop their talents.

Rising number of women among their customers and lesser attrition rate of women employees are some of the factors which make the fairer sex more attractive to the IT giants.

Kalpana Margabandhu, Director, Websphere Development, IBM, said maintaining women in almost all verticals has become a business imperative to understand the needs of a wider customer base that include a large number of women.

"We find our women employees stable and committed," said Sunita Rebecca Cherian, General Manager, Talent Engagement and Development, Wipro Technologies.

The attrition rate of women employees was comparatively lower than that of men, she said.

"Our exit analysis indicates that most women leave due to personal reasons like setting up a family or relocating with their family or to provide a support system at home."

When women step back and re-prioritise to fulfil these personal commitments, companies tread that "extra mile" and extend innovative and personalised support, she said.

According to Tracy Ann Curtis, Senior Manager, Diversity &Inclusion- Asia Pacific, Cisco, despite the fact that women made up half of the world's population, they constitute only 28 per cent of workers in the IT industry. Cisco's main focus was to bridge this gap and develop the untapped talent.

IBM, which was named 'top company for women engineers' by Women Engineer Magazine in 2005, has taken special efforts to "recruit, retain and develop" women workforce, said Margabandhu.