Companies put their best foot forward to hire women in blue-collar jobs, ETHRWorld

Bengaluru | Mumbai: Leading Indian manufacturing companies are putting in place a host of initiatives to try and fix the problem of women’s underrepresentation in blue-collar jobs.

Safety audits, job training and upskilling programmes, accommodation and free transport, female security guards and CCTVs and encouragement to business partners to onboard more women are among measures the likes of ITC, Titan, MG Motor India, and Godrej & Boyce are deploying to induct more women into blue-collar roles, traditionally a male-dominated domain.

This comes at a time when women’s workforce participation — especially in blue-collar roles — continues to be low despite India Inc’s increasing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. A recent ET story, with data from constituent companies of S&P BSE India Manufacturing Index, showed that women make up about 5% of blue-collar/factory roles, less than half their 10.8% representation in white-collar jobs.

Companies are accelerating efforts towards creating a more inclusive workplace, and these are starting to pay off.

“ITC has been betting big on employing women as a majority workforce across factories, enthused by their regularity, dexterity and discipline leading to better efficiency in operations,” said Amitav Mukherji, head, corporate human resources.

ITC, which…