Companies shopping for workers floored by women

Shop floors across the manufacturing spectrum in India are looking to hire women for their precision work and dexterity skills as they excel at assembling tiny components as well as soldering and other technical tasks, said companies and staffing firms.

They are also good learners, less liable to leave jobs and good at skilling up to operate robots and other machinery remotely, adding to the qualities prized in modern factories, where physical strength isn’t as big a requirement as it used to be.

“There is a preference to hire women on assembly lines,” said Lohit Bhatia, president of workforce management at leading staffing company Quess Corp. “Many automobile, EV and component makers as well as electronics and mobile manufacturers want to specifically hire women in roles that require precision work.”

Maruti Suzuki, MG Motor and Lumax among others are hiring an increasing number of female apprentices on the shop floor.

“Our workforce encompasses women in various roles across the entire spectrum of automotive operations – from the supply chain and press shop through welding, brazing, spray painting, and assembly activities, to sales and aftersales,” said Yeshwinder Patial, senior director, HR, MG Motor India.

A strong business case for diversity
“Currently, our diversity stands at 37%. Our 50,000th car was assembled by an all-women crew,” according to MG Motor’s Patial.

At auto part maker Minda Corp., women make up about a fourth of the people on the assembly line.

“With women comprising 25% of our nationwide shop floor workforce, their invaluable contributions resonate across our operational landscape,” said Ajay Singhroha, group CHRO, Minda Corp. “In particular, at our Noida plant, where precision in manufacturing smart keyless systems is paramount, women lead the shop floor operations, constituting an impressive 36% of the workforce. Additionally, our production line at the Pant Nagar plant is staffed entirely by women.”

Leading auto component manufacturer Lumax has an all-women workforce soldering micro components, said MD Deepak Jain.

“All electric components like PCB (printed circuit board) assembly need soldering, and this requires nimble skills,” he said.

Quess Corp’s Bhatia said women have nimble fingers and are good at work such as putting small components and parts together.

“In many of the projects for auto and electronics manufacturers where we have deployed third-party staffing resources, 60-90% are women,” he said. “The common thread that runs through many of these profiles is that women are more attentive and focused in precision or accuracy.”

That apart, attrition is much lower than their male counterparts, making a strong business case for companies to increase the number of women and enhance productivity.

Lower attrition and better productivity are major reasons for companies to prefer women in assembly line roles, said Kartik Narayan, CEO, staffing, TeamLease Services.

“Attrition of the blue-collar male workforce employed in manufacturing is 5-6% a month. The same is 40% less for women at 3% to 3.6%,” he said.

That apart, learning ability and being able to operate remote machines which do the heavy lifting are also contributing to women being enrolled for such roles.

“On the mobile phone and EV side, the nimbleness is an added plus,” said Narayan. “There are also studies that prove women are better listeners and that’s a plus in a manufacturing shop floors’ ‘taking instructions’ environment.”

There’s a certain social effect at play as well, said Bhatia of Quess.

“When one group of girls from a village comes to work in a factory it creates a chain of supply, thus addressing the challenge of supply shortage,” he said.

Experts also pointed to the shortage of skilled labour and the need for companies to widen the pool of people they’re hiring from.

“Factories are conducting dedicated drives to hire women as they are facing a big talent shortage,” said Sumit Kumar, chief strategy officer, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship. “Many of these factories are located on the outskirts and as a result there is a lot of mobilisation of young girls from the neighbouring villages. We have seen a 4-5x surge in demand in the last six-eight months. Some of the OEMs have up to 80% women in their assembly lines.”

India has a shortage of about 130-150 million skilled workers across various sectors, according to industry estimates.