WFH can boost women's participation, says Arundhati Bhattacharya

Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2020, Bhattacharya said the Covid-19 pandemic has not only changed the perception of WFH not being effective but is also re-shaping the workplace.

Women's participation in workforce could get a boost with enterprises embracing the work from home (WFH) model as they will get flexibility in managing both their homes and work, Salesforce India CEO Arundhati Bhattacharya said on Thursday.

Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2020, Bhattacharya said the Covid-19 pandemic has not only changed the perception of WFH not being effective but is also re-shaping the workplace.

She said the workforce participation of women in India is actually falling but the country has a large number of well-trained women who are sitting at home, not able to work because they can't get out of the house as they are the primary caregivers.

"Imagine the flexibility which these women can then get because this can be the primary caregiver and work."

The former SBI chairperson said that when women quit their jobs to be caregivers, it is often difficult for them to get back in and even when they re-join the workforce, they join at lower levels than their peers who have moved up in careers by then.

"So, I think the flexibility that this (situation) has created is actually very good for all of us," she said.

The former banker said people tend to believe that allowing people to work from home would not be very productive.

"However, the lockdown has forcefully conducted that experiment and shown us that WFH can be just as productive...we've got to not only change the way people work, but our thoughts about what a workplace should look like," she added.