When Swarna Pothapragada returned to her hometown Chennai from the US last year, she decided to take a break from her job as an HR professional. “I had to be there for my boys: help them settle down in the Indian way of life, the Indian schools,” says Swarna, who has two sons aged seven and 11. “The Indian education system is vastly different from the American one,” she explains.
In January this year, Swarna began looking for jobs once again. However, ever since she became a mother, she prefers jobs with flexible timings. “My husband’s work involves a lot of travel, and I want at least one of us to have flexible work hours,” she says.
Even though the company she used to work for in the US offered her a remote job, she couldn’t cope with the night shifts, given the time difference. That’s when she began looking for work from home opportunities.
Swarna now works as a virtual assistant for Wishup, providing HR to multiple clients. The company is a part of a minority in India that has discovered, and tapped into, the potential of virtual or remote employees. This allows, on one hand, a reduction in infrastructure costs for the employer — especially for startups in need of fresh talent — and on the other, wider access to jobs for those who can’t afford to travel.
“ Around a year ago, we realised that there are a lot of experienced people who have for some reason or the other taken a break from their jobs, be it an injury or childbirth, and who want to ease back into work,” says Neelesh Rangawani, co-founder of Wishup, over 95% of whose employees are women — a good majority, new mothers.
Wishup filters around 300-500 resumes per month, in the age group of 28 to 45. “Most of them have experience in computer-based roles,” says Neelesh, who hires people for tasks ranging from social media management, marketing, and recruitment to secondary research and secretarial work like managing emails and setting up meetings for clients from different companies.
No glass ceiling
JobsForHer founder Neha Bagaria is especially proud of one of her employees, Shilpi Shah, calling her a ‘success story’.
“Shilpi’s husband works for the Aditya Birla group and he was moved to a remote location in Devakoot. But Shilpi wasn’t ready to give up her career. Instead she used this move as an opportunity to rebuild her resume through JobsForHer, and found success as a content writer.”
At JobsForHer, Neha and her team recruit exclusively women who are looking to rebuild their careers from their homes. “We have women working in sales, tele support, writers, designers, trainers — basically, any role that doesn’t involve managerial to coordination work,” says Neha. She has also collaborated with companies like PayPal, Accenture, and Fidelity, to hire women as part of their returnee programmes. “We provide outreach and supply qualified candidates,” says Neha.
All of the women she hires are in their early 30s, with five to eight years of experience, who have taken a break in their careers and are now returning to work. In fact, back when she started the company in 2015, she herself was one such woman. “After my second child was born, I had taken a break from work for three-and-a-half years. Eventually, I was itching to go back to work. I felt that it completes me. To be a happy mother, I would first have to be a happy person,” she says.
“When I spoke to my family members and friends about it, I found that many of them wanted to do the same, but found it difficult.” This stemmed from a major confidence crisis, according to Neha, “You feel that you can’t catch up, shuttling between work and family. Add to that, the pressure of being a good mother…”
It was to smoothen this journey that Neha started JobsForHer. And yet, she hopes there will come a time when society wouldn’t need something like this exclusively for women. “That’s why I bought the JobsForHim domain name too,” she laughs.
JobsForHer is holding a workshop ‘Reskill Her’ for women, with talks by industry leaders and networking opportunities in Chennai on December 8. Fee is ₹750 per head. Call 9591173535.