MPW 2022: HCL's Roshni Nadar urges tech industry to support women returning after career breaks with deserved promotions

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, the chairperson of HCL Technologies, has called on the technology industry to create a welcoming atmosphere for women returning to work after career breaks.

Speaking at Business Today's 'The Most Powerful Women in Business' event, held in Mumbai, Nadar noted on Wednesday that many women leave the workforce due to various reasons by the time they reach senior levels and often find themselves in positions lower than where they left off when they return.

“We, as an industry, have a decent percentage of women when they enter the workforce and India today, by sheer numbers, is the largest producer of women STEM graduates in the world. There are those many STEM graduates and women coming into the workplace, at least in tech, but a lot of them are actually falling out by the time they reach the senior levels. So I think creating an environment for them to come back into the workplace and when they come back, to get promoted, and not actually go a step down, is like creating entrepreneurial opportunities for them,” she said.

The shift towards hybrid workspaces has had a positive impact on the productivity of women in the workforce, according to Nadar. She highlighted that in the past, flexible work arrangements were often perceived as a benefit requested solely by women, but with the hybrid work becoming a norm and technology supporting it, the demand for work-life balance has become more widespread. Nadar said that the flexible nature of hybrid workspaces has created a more supportive environment for women in the workforce, and hopes to see more women return to work on equal footing with their male counterparts.

She urged established organisations to offer more opportunities for women to explore entrepreneurial ideas within the company. She said organisations need to create an environment within that encourage women to bring their entrepreneurial ideas forward, and be able to navigate and negotiate these ideas with their managers to turn them to reality.

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